Ark. Code Ann. § 3-3-201 (2020)
Unknowingly furnishing or selling to minor
- Any person who unknowingly sells, gives away, or otherwise disposes of intoxicating liquor or a confectionary containing between five-tenths of one percent (0.5%) and five percent (5%) by volume of alcohol to a minor is guilty of a violation and shall be punished by a fine of not less than two hundred dollars ($200) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500) for the first offense.
- For the second and subsequent offenses, he or she shall be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor.
History. Acts 1943, No. 257, § 1; A.S.A. 1947, § 48-902.1; Acts 1993, No. 875, § 1; 2005, No. 1994, § 332; 2017, No. 1035, § 3.
Publisher's Notes. The Arkansas Supreme Court, in State v. Jarvis, 244 Ark. 753, 427 S.W.2d 531 (1968), held that this section, which appears to be superseded by § 3-3-202 with respect to the offense of knowingly furnishing alcoholic beverages to minors, is still valid with respect to the offense of unknowingly furnishing alcoholic beverages to minors.
Amendments. The 2005 amendment deleted former (a) which read: “The sale, giving away, or other disposition of intoxicating liquor to a minor is declared to be a misdemeanor”; redesignated former (b) as present (a) and (b); in present (a), inserted “unknowingly” and “guilty of a violation and”; and, in present (b), inserted “or she” and substituted “guilty of a Class A misdemeanor” for “punished by a fine of not less than five hundred dollars ($500) nor more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) or by imprisonment in the county jail for not less than one (1) year, or both a fine and imprisonment in the discretion of the jury or court” from the end.
The 2017 amendment, in (a), substituted “unknowingly sells, gives away, or otherwise disposes of intoxicating liquor or a confectionary containing between five-tenths of one percent (0.5%) and five percent (5%) by volume of alcohol to a minor is” for “shall unknowingly sell, give away, or otherwise dispose of intoxicating liquor to a minor shall be”, and inserted “shall be” preceding “punished”.
Cross References. Contributing to delinquency of minor, § 5-27-220.
Case Notes
Effect on Other Laws.
There is no conflict between this section and § 3-3-202, as this section makes it a misdemeanor to unknowingly sell, give, or otherwise dispose of intoxicating liquor to a minor and § 3-3-202 makes it a misdemeanor to knowingly do so with a second or subsequent offenses constituting a felony. State v. Jarvis, 244 Ark. 753, 427 S.W.2d 531 (1968).
Knowledge Not an Element.
This section governs the sale of intoxicating liquor to minors where knowledge of minority is not an element. State v. Jarvis, 244 Ark. 753, 427 S.W.2d 531 (1968).
Negligence.
Jury should not have been told it could consider the fact that the fraternity had furnished intoxicating liquor to a minor in determining whether the fraternity was negligent. Alpha Zeta Chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity v. Sullivan, 293 Ark. 576, 740 S.W.2d 127 (1987).