What defines Indecent Liberties with a Minor-Children?

Whether its Rape or Taking indecent liberties with a child, the punishments for such a crime nonetheless can and most likely will result in a jail sentence. Don’t let this happen to you. If you or a loved one is accused of Indecent Liberties with a Child, or Indecent Liberties with a Minor, it is important that you act soon, even before a charge is brought.

The elements of G.S. 14-202.1

In North Carolina, taking indecent liberties with children is defined by G.S. 14-202.1 and is a Class F felony. The offense has a status requirement and a conduct requirement. The status requirement is that the defendant is “16 years of age or more and at least five years older than the child”, and that the child is under the age of 16.

The conduct requirement is satisfied in either of two ways. The first is that the defendant wilfully takes or attempts to take “any immoral, improper, or indecent liberties with any child of either sex under the age of 16 years for the purpose of arousing or gratifying sexual desire”. The second is that the defendant wilfully commits or attempts to commit “any lewd or lascivious act upon or with the body or any part or member of the body” of such a child. Either route supports the same Class F felony.

The statute is deliberately broad, and that breadth is the point

The phrase “immoral, improper, or indecent liberties” is not defined by a list. That is a drafting choice: the section reaches a range of conduct that the more specific offenses in Article 7B of Chapter 14 do not, because those offenses require either vaginal intercourse or a defined “sexual act”. Indecent liberties fills the space beneath them.

Two features of the language are worth noting. Attempts are written into the offense itself, so an attempt to take indecent liberties is charged as the completed offense rather than as an attempt under the general attempt rules. And the first route requires proof of a purpose — arousing or gratifying sexual desire — which is a state of mind the State must establish from the surrounding circumstances.

Indecent liberties with a student is a different offense

G.S. 14-202.4 creates a separate offense for school settings and it does not depend on the student being under 16. Subsection (a) applies to a teacher, school administrator, student teacher, school safety officer or coach at any age, and to other school personnel at least four years older than the victim, who takes indecent liberties with a student. Subsection (b) covers school personnel other than those roles who are less than four years older than the student. Both are Class I felonies. Subsection (a) also provides that a person is not guilty of the offense if lawfully married to the student.

G.S. 14-202.4(c) provides that “consent is not a defense to a charge under this section”. The parallel provision for intercourse or a sexual act in a school setting is G.S. 14-27.32, sexual activity with a student, a Class G felony under subsection (a) for the listed roles and for other school personnel at least four years older than the student, and a Class I felony under subsection (b) for other school personnel less than four years older.

Indecent liberties is a reportable conviction

In North Carolina, a conviction under G.S. 14-202.1 requires sex offender registration. The definition of “sexually violent offense” in G.S. 14-208.6(5) expressly names “G.S. 14-202.1 (taking indecent liberties with children)” and also names “G.S. 14-202.4(a) (taking indecent liberties with a student)”. Either therefore produces a reportable conviction under G.S. 14-208.6(4). Subsection (b) of G.S. 14-202.4 is not on the list.

Registration is maintained for at least 30 years from the date of initial county registration under G.S. 14-208.7(a), with the possibility of petitioning the superior court after ten years under G.S. 14-208.12A. It also brings the residence restriction in G.S. 14-208.16, which makes it a Class G felony for a registrant knowingly to reside within 1,000 feet of any property line of a property on which a public or nonpublic school or child care center is located, and the employment restriction in G.S. 14-208.17, which makes it a Class F felony to work, with or without compensation, at any place where a minor is present and the person’s responsibilities or activities would include the instruction, supervision or care of minors.

Whether the conviction is an aggravated offense matters a great deal

Lifetime registration under G.S. 14-208.23 applies to a recidivist, to a person convicted of an aggravated offense and to a person classified as a sexually violent predator. G.S. 14-208.6 defines an aggravated offense as any criminal offense that includes “engaging in a sexual act involving vaginal, anal, or oral penetration with a victim of any age through the use of force or the threat of serious violence”, or such a sexual act “with a victim who is less than 12 years old”.

North Carolina appellate decisions have held that whether a conviction is an aggravated offense is determined by the elements of the offense of conviction, not by the facts underlying it. Because penetration is not an element of G.S. 14-202.1, the elements-based inquiry is the reason indecent liberties and aggravated offenses are treated differently even where the underlying conduct described in a plea transcript overlaps.

The conditions of pretrial release that G.S. 15A-534.4 requires

In North Carolina, a person charged with taking indecent liberties with a minor is within G.S. 15A-534.4, which requires the judicial official setting conditions of release to impose three conditions in addition to bond: that the defendant stay away from the home, temporary residence, school, business or place of employment of the alleged victim; that the defendant refrain from communicating or attempting to communicate, directly or indirectly, with the victim, except under circumstances specified in an order entered by a judge; and that the defendant refrain from assaulting, beating, intimidating, stalking, threatening or harming the alleged victim.

The waiver provision is narrower than it is often described. Only the conditions in subdivisions (1) and (2) may be waived; the third is not waivable. A waiver requires a request from the defendant, and the judicial official may grant it only on written findings of fact that it is not in the best interest of the alleged victim that the condition be imposed — not, as is sometimes assumed, on findings that a waiver would serve the victim’s interests. Where the alleged victim lives in the same household, the effect at first appearance in Mecklenburg County is usually an immediate removal from the home.

A social services assessment normally runs in parallel

Because the complainant is by definition a child, G.S. 7B-301(a) requires any person or institution with cause to suspect abuse, neglect or dependency to report the case to the director of the department of social services in the county where the juvenile resides or is found. A criminal charge under G.S. 14-202.1 in Charlotte therefore typically sits alongside a Mecklenburg County social services assessment. The offense in G.S. 7B-301(b) is narrower than the duty: it punishes as a Class 1 misdemeanor only a knowing or wanton failure to report, or a knowing or wanton act preventing another person from reporting.

The two proceedings have different rules, different timetables and different consequences, and material generated in one regularly becomes evidence in the other. Recorded forensic interviews, medical examination findings and social worker notes are all standard features of the discovery in a case of this kind.

Common questions

What are indecent liberties with a child in North Carolina?

Under G.S. 14-202.1, a person 16 or older who is at least five years older than a child under 16 commits a Class F felony by wilfully taking or attempting to take “any immoral, improper, or indecent liberties” with that child for the purpose of arousing or gratifying sexual desire, or by wilfully committing or attempting to commit any lewd or lascivious act upon or with the child’s body. Either route supports the same offense.

Is taking indecent liberties with a child a felony in North Carolina?

Yes. G.S. 14-202.1(b) provides that “taking indecent liberties with children is punishable as a Class F felony”. The separate offense of taking indecent liberties with a student under G.S. 14-202.4 is a Class I felony under both subsections, and sexual activity with a student under G.S. 14-27.32(a) is a Class G felony where the defendant is a teacher, school administrator, student teacher, school safety officer or coach, or other school personnel at least four years older than the student.

Does an indecent liberties conviction require sex offender registration in North Carolina?

Yes. G.S. 14-208.6(5) names G.S. 14-202.1 among the sexually violent offenses, making a conviction a reportable conviction under G.S. 14-208.6(4). Registration is maintained for at least 30 years from the date of initial county registration under G.S. 14-208.7(a). A petition to terminate may be filed after ten years under G.S. 14-208.12A, and is decided by the superior court on the findings that section requires rather than granted as of right.

Can the pretrial no-contact conditions in an indecent liberties case be waived?

In part. G.S. 15A-534.4 permits the judicial official, upon request of the defendant, to waive one or more of the conditions in subdivisions (1) and (2) — the stay-away and no-communication conditions — and then only on written findings of fact that it is not in the best interest of the alleged victim that the condition be imposed. The third condition, requiring the defendant to refrain from assaulting, beating, intimidating, stalking, threatening or harming the alleged victim, cannot be waived.

Written for North Carolina law and reviewed by David P. Sheehan, attorney, Charlotte. General information, not legal advice — see the disclaimer.