Indecent Exposure

Indecent exposure is the offense of intentionally displaying one's genitals or other intimate body parts in public or to another person without their consent, in circumstances likely to cause affront, alarm or offense, making it one of the more commonly charged public-order sexual offenses despite generally being graded well below offenses involving physical contact. Most statutes require that the exposure be deliberate and that it occur where the offender knows or should know it is likely to be observed by someone who has not consented to see it, distinguishing the offense from accidental or private nudity that carries no criminal liability. Repeated or aggravated indecent exposure, particularly when directed at children or accompanied by other threatening conduct, is generally treated more seriously and, in some jurisdictions, can trigger sex-offender registration requirements similar to those applied to more serious sexual offenses. Criminologists studying the offense have long debated its relationship to more serious sexual offending, since a minority of indecent-exposure offenders go on to commit contact sexual offenses, making the offense a subject of continuing interest in risk-assessment and forensic-psychology research.