ARS 13-1404: Arizona Sexual Abuse Penalties and Defenses

Arizona Revised Statutes section 13-1404 is the state’s sexual abuse statute, and every violation is a felony. It covers intentional or knowing nonconsensual sexual contact with a person 15 or older, and breast-only sexual contact with a child under 15. When the victim is 15 or older, sexual abuse is a Class 5 felony carrying a presumptive prison term of one and a half years. When the victim is under 15, it becomes a Class 3 felony classified as a dangerous crime against children, with a presumptive 10-year sentence.¹

What the State Has to Prove

The statute splits into two tracks by victim age. For a victim who is 15 or older, prosecutors must show the defendant intentionally or knowingly engaged in sexual contact without that person’s consent. For a victim under 15, the statute reaches only sexual contact involving the female breast. If the touching of a child under 15 involves the genitals or anus, prosecutors typically file the more serious offense of child molestation under a separate statute.¹

The mental-state requirement matters. The state does not have to prove advance planning, but it does have to prove the touching was deliberate rather than accidental. A bump in a crowd is not sexual abuse. A purposeful grope is.

What Counts as Sexual Contact

Arizona defines sexual contact broadly. It includes any direct or indirect touching of the genitals, anus, or female breast, by a body part or an object. It also covers causing another person to touch those areas. The contact does not need to be skin-to-skin; touching through clothing qualifies. Routine caretaking of a child or vulnerable adult that a reasonable person would recognize as appropriate is excluded from the definition.²

What “Without Consent” Means

Consent is not defined by physical resistance. Arizona law says consent is legally absent in four situations:

The victim is coerced by the immediate use or threatened use of force against a person or property.
The victim cannot consent because of a mental disorder, drugs, alcohol, sleep, or a similar impairment, and the defendant knew or should have known.
The victim is intentionally deceived about the nature of the act.
The victim is intentionally led to believe the defendant is the victim’s spouse.

The incapacity prong catches situations people sometimes overlook. If someone is passed out, heavily intoxicated, or medicated to the point of confusion, sexual contact with that person is treated as nonconsensual as long as the defendant knew or reasonably should have known about the impairment.²

The Position-of-Trust Rule for Ages 15 to 17

When the victim is 15, 16, or 17, consent is normally a valid defense. That defense disappears when the defendant holds a position of trust. Arizona defines the term broadly. It reaches parents, stepparents, grandparents, legal guardians, foster parents, aunts, and uncles. It also reaches teachers, school employees, coaches, instructors, clergy, employers, and employees of group homes or residential treatment facilities where the minor lives or previously lived.²

Two categories often surprise defendants. Anyone in a sexual or romantic relationship with the minor’s parent, guardian, or stepparent qualifies. And any blood or marriage relative within the third degree who is at least 10 years older than the minor qualifies. In either situation, the minor’s apparent willingness to participate does not matter. The law treats the contact as nonconsensual by definition.¹

Penalties When the Victim Is 15 or Older

Sexual abuse of a victim 15 or older is a Class 5 felony. For a first offense with no prior felonies, the presumptive prison term is one and a half years in the Arizona Department of Corrections. The court can impose a mitigated sentence as low as nine months, or an aggravated sentence up to two and a half years, depending on the circumstances.¹

The court can also impose a fine of up to $150,000 plus statutory surcharges, which add significantly to the total owed.³

Sexual abuse sits in Chapter 14 of Arizona’s criminal code, the sexual offenses chapter. Probation for a Chapter 14 offense can extend well past the three-year cap that would normally apply to a Class 5 felony. The sentencing court has authority to order probation for any period up to and including life if it finds a longer term serves the interests of justice.⁴

Penalties When the Victim Is Under 15

When the victim is under 15, the charge escalates to a Class 3 felony classified as a dangerous crime against children. The sentencing structure changes dramatically. For a first-offense adult defendant, the minimum prison term is 5 years, the presumptive term is 10 years, and the maximum is 15 years. The defendant is not eligible for early release, pardon, or suspension of sentence and must serve the full term imposed.⁵

Prior felony convictions make things worse. A defendant with one or more prior predicate felonies faces the same sentencing range but loses any possibility of probation. The court must impose prison, and the term must be served in full.⁵

Fines remain capped at $150,000 for both the Class 5 and Class 3 versions of the charge, with surcharges added on top.³

Sex Offender Registration

A conviction under ARS 13-1404 triggers mandatory sex offender registration whenever the victim is under 18. Registration is not discretionary in that situation; the court does not weigh whether to impose it. It is automatic.⁶

Registration requires providing home address, employment details, and a photograph to the county sheriff. The registrant’s information appears in a public database maintained by the Department of Public Safety. Registration affects where a person can live and work, and any lapse in compliance carries its own criminal penalties. For many defendants, this consequence outlasts the prison sentence by decades.

When the victim is 18 or older, registration is not automatic, but the court may still order it under a separate provision of ARS 13-3821 if it finds the offense was sexually motivated.

Available Defenses

Arizona’s sexual offense defense statute, ARS 13-1407, provides several potential defenses. What is available depends on the victim’s age.

One defense applies regardless of the victim’s age: that the defendant was not motivated by sexual interest when the contact occurred. This covers incidental touching or contact that served some non-sexual purpose. It requires the defendant to show sexual gratification was not a factor.

Two additional defenses apply only when the victim is 15, 16, or 17:

Reasonable mistake about age. The defendant did not know and could not reasonably have known the victim’s age, and the victim otherwise consented. This defense exists because the only reason the contact is nonconsensual for someone in that age range is the victim’s minor status.
Close in age. The defendant is under 19 or still in high school, is no more than 24 months older than the victim, and the contact was otherwise consensual.

None of these defenses are available when the victim is under 15. For the youngest victims, the statute treats age as strict liability: the defendant’s belief about the child’s age is irrelevant.

Probation Conditions and Long-Term Consequences

Even when a defendant avoids the maximum prison term, the aftermath reshapes daily life. Arizona courts routinely attach conditions to probation for sexual offenses: sex-offender-specific counseling, polygraph monitoring, restrictions on internet use, no-contact orders, and GPS tracking. Violating any condition can trigger revocation and a return to prison for the remainder of the sentence.

The lifetime probation provision matters most here. For any Chapter 14 offense, including sexual abuse, the sentencing court can impose probation for the rest of the defendant’s life. That means ongoing supervision, periodic check-ins with a probation officer, and compliance with every court-ordered condition indefinitely.⁴

A felony conviction under 13-1404 also strips civil rights under Arizona law, including the right to vote while incarcerated, the right to possess firearms, and the right to hold certain professional licenses. Restoring those rights requires a separate legal process after the sentence is complete. Anyone facing a charge under this statute is looking at consequences that reach well beyond the courtroom and well beyond the prison term.

1
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 13-1404 – Sexual Abuse; Classification
2
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 13-1401 – Definitions; Factors
3
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 13-801 – Fines for Felonies
4
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 13-902 – Periods of Probation; Monitoring; Fees
5
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 13-705 – Dangerous Crimes Against Children; Sentences
6
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 13-3821 – Persons Required to Register; Procedure; Identification Card; Assessment; Definitions