It would be difficult to exaggerate the seriousness of an arrest for lewd conduct. If convicted, you may be ordered to pay steep fines and be sent to jail or prison, depending on whether you are charged with a misdemeanor or a felony. Even after your release, you could continue to suffer the consequences of the conviction, due to the fact that you may be required to register as a sex offender. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement maintains a sex offender website which is available to anyone in the community and which features the offender's personal photograph, home address, physical description and details about the conviction. You could suffer from major personal and professional repercussions such as having difficulty finding suitable housing or even employment.
Lewd conduct is prohibited under the statutes of Chapter 800 of the 2012 Florida Statutes, which describes several different criminal offenses. Charges of this type may be filed under "unnatural and lascivious act," which makes it a second-degree misdemeanor to commit any "unnatural" or "lascivious" act with another person. These terms, unnatural and lascivious are vague and may be applied to any of a wide variety of behaviors. Generally, any type of behavior which an ordinary citizen would be likely to find offensive or immoral may fall under these terms.
"Exposure of sexual organs" is another of the statutes in the lewd conduct category, a first degree misdemeanor which is charged in cases where the defendant has exposed or exhibited his or her sexual organs in public or on another person's property. The elements of the crime include exposure which is vulgar or indecent, or being naked in public places which have not been set aside for that purpose. Lewd conduct is also charged in many cases of child abuse, with "lewd or lascivious battery," a second-degree felony, being charged when the perpetrator engages in sexual activity with a person between the ages of 12 and 16 years old. These are only a few of the many different types of lewd conduct charges. Lewd conduct is often filed along with other charges such as prostitution, solicitation or solicitation of minor.
If you have been arrested on lewd conduct charges, come to the Law Offices of Richard Tendler for knowledgeable legal guidance and hard-hitting representation from a West Palm Beach sex crime attorney!
