A person commits the offense of permitting abuse of a minor if, being a parent, guardian, or person legally charged with the care or custody of a minor, he or she recklessly fails to take action to prevent the abuse of a minor.
It is a defense to a prosecution for the offense of permitting abuse of a minor if the parent, guardian, or person legally charged with the care or custody of the minor takes immediate steps to end the abuse of the minor, including prompt notification of a medical or law enforcement authority, upon first knowing or having good reason to know that abuse has occurred.
Permitting abuse of a minor is a:
Class B felony if the abuse of the minor:
Consisted of sexual intercourse;
Consisted of deviate sexual activity; or
Caused serious physical injury or death to the minor; or
Class D felony if the abuse of the minor:
Consisted of sexual contact; or
Caused physical injury to the minor.
As used in this section:
“Abuse” means only sexual intercourse, deviate sexual activity, sexual contact, or causing physical injury, serious physical injury, or death, which could be prosecuted as a delinquent or criminal act; and
“Minor” means a person under eighteen (18) years of age.
Legislative Survey, Juvenile Law, 8 U. Ark. Little Rock L.J. 591.
Survey of Legislation, 2001 Arkansas General Assembly, Criminal Law, 24 U. Ark. Little Rock L. Rev. 429.
Survey of Legislation, 2003 Arkansas General Assembly, Criminal Law, Crimes Against Children, 26 U. Ark. Little Rock L. Rev. 374.
Case Notes
Evidence.
Evidence held sufficient to convict mother of battery in the first degree under § 5-13-201(a)(3) for her abuse of a newborn infant and for permitting abuse of a child under this section. Reams v. State, 45 Ark. App. 7, 870 S.W.2d 404 (1994).
Appellate court affirmed defendant's conviction under this section as there was evidence that defendant knew her son was being abused by her husband and she did nothing to prevent it. Graham v. State, 365 Ark. 274, 229 S.W.3d 30 (2006).
Defendant's conviction for permitting the abuse of her 23-month-old child by her boyfriend, in violation of subsection (a) of this section, was supported by the evidence because the medical evidence established that the child was covered with visible scars and older injuries that would have been apparent to a care giver; an older child testified to telling defendant of earlier instances of abuse, and defendant's only response was to deny the abuse.
Sullivan v. State, 2012 Ark. 74, 386 S.W.3d 507 (2012).
Sex Offender.
Circuit court did not err in finding that it lacked discretion to order defendant to register as a sex offender because she pleaded guilty to permitting abuse of a minor, which was listed as a sex offense in the sex offender statute, and defendant failed to obtain a ruling from the circuit court on her overbreadth arguments.
Pedraza v. State, 2015 Ark. App. 205, 465 S.W.3d 426 (2015).
Cited:
State v. Watson, 307 Ark. 333, 820 S.W.2d 59 (1991).
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 15
cases (3 in the last 5 years), 1991–2026 · leading case: Sullivan v. State, 386 S.W.3d 507 (Ark. 2012).
Sullivan v. State, 386 S.W.3d 507 (Ark. 2012). · cites it 13ד2009) (stating that permitting abuse of a minor, without any distinction for sexual or physical injury, is one of the crimes expressly designated for sex-offender registration); see also Ark. Code Ann. § 5-27-221 (b)(l) (Supp.2005) (defining “abuse” for purposes of permitting…”
Graham v. State, 229 S.W.3d 30 (Ark. 2006). · cites it 5דPrior to trial, Edith Graham moved to dismiss the charges against her, arguing that the statute under which she was charged, Ark. Code Ann. § 5-27-221 (Supp. 2003), impermissibly shifted the burden of proof of an essential element of the crime to the defense; she also asserted…”
Rackley v. State, 267 S.W.3d 578 (Ark. 2007). · cites it 2דAccording to a footnote in Rackley’s brief, 1 Cynthia was initially charged with permitting abuse of a minor, a felony violation of Ark. Code Ann. § 5-27-221 (Repl. 2006); however, the charge was subsequently reduced to the misdemeanor offense of endangering the welfare of a…”
Pedraza v. Circuit Court of Drew Cnty., 426 S.W.3d 441 (Ark. 2013). · cites it 2ד2011) and permitting the abuse of a minor as provided in Arkansas Code Annotated section 5-27-221 (Repl.2006) by felony information on March 20, 2012.”
Johnson v. State, 25 S.W.3d 445 (Ark. Ct. App. 2000). · cites it 2דRobin was charged with permitting abuse of a child under Arkansas Code Annotated section 5-27-221 (Repl. 1997). Robin filed a motion to sever the trial and a separate motion to suppress statements she made during her interview with police.”
State v. Watson, 820 S.W.2d 59 (Ark. 1991). “§ 5-27-221(a)(l) (1987). Ms. Watson filed a motion to dismiss Count I, alleging that the state could not prove she was a parent, guardian or person legally charged with the care of Daniel Toric.”
Ross v. State, 2015 Ark. App. 613 (Ark. Ct. App. 2015). · cites it 2ד” Arkansas Code Annotated section 5-27-221(a) (Repl. 2013). It is a defense to this crime if the parent "takes immediate steps to- end the abuse of the minor, including prompt notification of a medical or law enforcement authority, upon first knowing or having 'good reason to…”
Reams v. State, 870 S.W.2d 404 (Ark. Ct. App. 1994). “Arkansas Code Annotated § 5-27-221 (1993) provides: (a)(1) A person commits the offense of permitting abuse of a child if, being a parent, guardian, or person legally charged with the care or custody of a child, he recklessly fails to take action to prevent the abuse of a child…”
Fountain v. State, 285 S.W.3d 706 (Ark. Ct. App. 2008). “sex offender, § 5-14-123; (q) Kidnapping pursuant to § 5-ll-102(a) when the victim is a minor and the offender is not the parent of the victim; (r) False imprisonment in the first degree and false imprisonment in the second degree, §§ 5-11-103 and 5-11-104, when the victim is a…”
Pedraza v. State, 2015 Ark. App. 205 (Ark. Ct. App. 2015). “” She argued that because all “crimes” under § 5-27-221 trigger the requirement to register as a sex offender, the sex-offender registration statute was over-inclusive, improper, and violated her constitutional rights.”
Alyssia Kirby-Snow v. State of Arkansas, 2020 Ark. App. 474 (Ark. Ct. App. 2020). · cites it 4ד§ 5-27-221 (a) (Repl. 2013). A “minor” is a person under eighteen, and “abuse” means “sexual intercourse, deviate sexual activity, sexual contact, or causing physical injury, serious physical injury, or death, which could be prosecuted as a delinquent or criminal act[.”
Sullivan v. State, 386 S.W.3d 507 (Ark. 2012). “2009) (stating that permitting abuse of a minor, without any distinction for sexual or physical injury, is one of the crimes expressly designated for sex-offender registration); see also Ark. Code Ann. § 5-27-221 (b)(l) (Supp.2005) (defining “abuse” for purposes of permitting…”
Ross v. State, 2015 Ark. App. 613 (Ark. Ct. App. 2015). “” Arkansas Code Annotated section 5-27-221(a) (Repl. 2013). It is a defense to this crime if the parent "takes immediate steps to- end the abuse of the minor, including prompt notification of a medical or law enforcement authority, upon first knowing or having 'good reason to…”
Alyssia Kirby-Snow v. State of Arkansas, 2020 Ark. App. 474 (Ark. Ct. App. 2020). “§ 5-27-221 (a) (Repl. 2013). A “minor” is a person under eighteen, and “abuse” means “sexual intercourse, deviate sexual activity, sexual contact, or causing physical injury, serious physical injury, or death, which could be prosecuted as a delinquent or criminal act[.”
— Ark. Code Ann. § 5-27-221(a)(l) — 1 case
State v. Watson, 820 S.W.2d 59 (Ark. 1991). “§ 5-27-221(a)(l) (1987). Ms. Watson filed a motion to dismiss Count I, alleging that the state could not prove she was a parent, guardian or person legally charged with the care of Daniel Toric.”
— Ark. Code Ann. § 5-27-221(d)(l) — 1 case
Sullivan v. State, 386 S.W.3d 507 (Ark. 2012). “2009) (stating that permitting abuse of a minor, without any distinction for sexual or physical injury, is one of the crimes expressly designated for sex-offender registration); see also Ark. Code Ann. § 5-27-221 (b)(l) (Supp.2005) (defining “abuse” for purposes of permitting…”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.