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Criminal charges

indecent exposure

A person commits the crime of indecent exposure by exposing the person’s body or private parts (usually genitals, anus, buttocks, or female breasts) in a public place and in the presence of another person who might be offended, alarmed, or annoyed. Laws vary from state to state—including definitions of exposed body parts—and some states require the exposure to have been made with the intent to attract attention or to sexually gratify the person making the indecent exposure, or to sexually gratify another person, or to offend another person.

Indecent exposure laws are generally located in a state’s statutes—often in the penal or criminal code.

In Montana, indecent exposure is addressed under Montana Code Annotated 45-5-504. According to this statute, a person commits the offense of indecent exposure if they knowingly or purposely expose their genitals under circumstances in which they know their conduct is likely to cause affront or alarm in order to: (1) abuse, humiliate, harass, or degrade another; or (2) arouse or gratify the person's own sexual response or desire or the sexual response or desire of any person. The law specifies that this does not apply to acts of breastfeeding or care of an infant or a young child. The offense can be classified as a misdemeanor or a felony, depending on the circumstances and the presence of any previous convictions for the same offense. The intent behind the exposure, such as the intent to sexually gratify oneself or another, is a key component of the crime in Montana.


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Montana State Code