§ 314 PC – Indecent Exposure – California Law & Penalties

California Penal Code § 314 PC prohibits indecent exposure, which is defined as willfully exposing your naked body or genitals in a public place to others who would be offended or annoyed.

While a California “indecent exposure” conviction may not seem like a very serious offense, the repercussions can be dire: You must register as a Tier one sex offender for at least 10 years. Plus the court can impose hefty fines and incarceration:^1-5

The good news is that there are several legal defenses that a skilled attorney can present on your behalf to get the “indecent exposure” charge reduced or even dismissed. Some of these defenses include:

• What happened does not meet the definition of indecent exposure,
• You were falsely accused, or
• You were the victim of mistaken identity.

To help you better understand the law, our California criminal defense lawyers will answer the following key questions:

• 1. “Indecent Exposure” Defined
• 2. Penalties
• 3. Best Defenses
• 4. Related Crimes
• Additional resources

If you have additional questions after reading this article, we invite you to contact us at Shouse Law Group.

A classic example of indecent exposure is the trenchcoat-wearing flasher.

1. “Indecent Exposure” Defined

The legal definition of “indecent exposure” revolves around several key facts that the prosecutor must prove. These are known as “elements of the crime.”

The elements of indecent exposure in California are:

1. that you willfully exposed your genitals,
2. in the presence of someone who might be reasonably offended or annoyed by your actions, AND
3. that you intended to direct public attention to your genitals for the purpose of either
   • a. sexually gratifying yourself or someone else, OR
   • b. sexually offending someone else.⁶

Let’s take a closer look at some of these terms to better understand the legal definition of indecent exposure in California law.

Willfully

You must “willfully” expose yourself in order to commit indecent exposure.  “Willfully” means willingly or on purpose. However, it does not necessarily mean that you intended to break the law or hurt someone else.⁷

This means that accidentally exposing yourself will not suffice.

Example: While Peter is swimming in the ocean, his trunks get ripped, exposing his genitals. When Peter walks back on shore, everyone on the crowded beach sees his genitals, and many people are offended.

However, Peter did not commit the crime of indecent exposure because he did not expose his genitals willfully.

Expose yourself or your “private parts”

To “expose” yourself means to reveal your naked body.  To expose your “private parts” means to reveal your bare genitals.  You do not commit indecent exposure if you

• Expose your underwear (no matter how revealing),⁸ or
• Reveal a bare female breast (regardless of whether it was revealed for sexual purposes or while breastfeeding).⁹

In the presence of someone who might be annoyed or offended

To commit the California crime of indecent exposure, you need to expose yourself

• in the presence of another person,
• who might be reasonably offended or annoyed by the exposure.¹⁰

This is one place where clever California criminal defense attorneys will look for flaws in the prosecution’s case.  Even if you were in a “public” area, if it was a secluded area (behind some bushes at a park, for example) – where you did not believe others would see you – then the action probably does not meet the definition of indecent exposure.

But for people being “offended or annoyed,” California’s “indecent exposure” law does not take into account the “audience.”  This means that exposing yourself to a prison guard, an undercover cop, or an unsuspecting young woman will all suffice for an “indecent exposure” conviction, assuming the prosecution proves the other elements of the crime.

Example: Joe, a prison inmate in a unit for sexually violent offenders, stands in his cell wearing only a T-shirt and masturbates while a female prison guard walks by. Because she works in the sex offender unit, the guard has training in sexual misbehavior and has witnessed incidents like this before.

However, Joe is still guilty of indecent exposure. The guard was less likely to be shocked by his behavior than many people, but that does not mean she would not be offended or annoyed by it.¹¹

With intent to direct public attention to your genitals

California Penal Code 314 PC requires that you specifically intend to draw attention to your genitals.¹² This means that exposing your genitals is not enough: They must be exposed with the intent of directing attention to them.

Example: Chad goes to an isolated public beach where he hopes to sunbathe nude. He takes off his clothes, lies on his back, and falls asleep. While he is sleeping, other people arrive at the beach. Eventually the police show up and arrest him.

Chad is not guilty of indecent exposure because he did not intend to direct public attention to his genitals. When he fell asleep, he assumed no one was going to see him.¹³

But, importantly, if you do intend to draw attention to your genitals, prosecutors can still convict you of this offense even if no one actually sees them.¹⁴ This might be the case, for example, if you exposed yourself to someone in a dark alley.

For the purpose of sexual arousal or sexual offending

Simply exposing yourself (even if you intentionally draw public attention to your genitals) will not support a California Penal Code 314 “indecent exposure” conviction unless you do it with a “lewd” or sexually motivated intent. This can mean either

• An intent to have sexual gratification,
• An intent to gratify or arouse someone else’s sexual desire, or
• An intent to offend someone else sexually.¹⁵

Example: Dallas, a teenager, stands on a street corner and “moons” (pulls down his pants to reveal his bare buttocks) cars that pass by. He is not guilty of Penal Code 314 PC indecent exposure because the mooning was not sexually motivated, but was engaged in as a means of amusing or annoying people in a non-sexual way.¹⁶

Keep in mind that the prosecutor must satisfy every element of the offense before s/he can prove that you are guilty of Penal Code 314 “indecent exposure.”  If even just one of the above elements is not proven, you should not be held criminally liable for this charge.

It should also be noted that it’s the California Legislature that controls this state’s indecent exposure laws.  Although local ordinances may try to regulate their community’s decency standards – if they are more restrictive than the corresponding California indecent exposure statute – the courts will declare them invalid.¹⁷

2. Penalties

Most first-time indecent exposure convictions are misdemeanors.¹⁸ Misdemeanors carry:

• up to 6 months in county jail and/or up to $1,000¹⁹ and
• a 10-year (minimum) duty to register as a sex offender under Penal Code 290.²⁰

However, indecent exposure becomes a felony if you have a prior conviction for indecent exposure or lewd acts with a minor.²⁶ Felonies carry:

• 16 months, 2 years, or 3 years in California State Prison,²³
• up to $10,000 in fines,²⁴ and
• a 10-year (minimum) duty to register as a sex offender.²⁵

Note that prosecutors can choose to prosecute you for either a misdemeanor or a felony (called a wobbler) for “aggravated” indecent exposure. This is when you allegedly exposed yourself in an inhabited

• home,
• trailer, or
• building

that you entered without permission.²¹ The only difference from the above penalties is that the maximum misdemeanor sentence is 364 days rather than six months.²²

Sex offender registration

Both misdemeanor and felony 314 PC convictions impose a minimum 10-year duty to register as a sex offender.²⁷ Failing to register (PC 290) is its own crime:

Professional licenses and discipline

Most licensed professional associations discipline members for California sex crime convictions that require sex offender registration. This is generally the case for

• doctors’ medical board licenses,
• dental board licenses,
• nursing licenses,
• and similar professional licenses.

However, a misdemeanor indecent exposure conviction sometimes acts as an exception to this rule.

Therefore if you are employed in one of these professions – or another profession that requires you to obtain and maintain a professional license – and you are convicted of misdemeanor indecent exposure, you may not automatically lose your professional license.³⁰

Our attorneys work hard to find the best solution for your case.

3. Best Defenses

Here at Shouse Law Group, we have represented literally thousands of people charged with sex crimes like indecent exposure. In our experience, the following three defenses have proven very effective with prosecutors, judges, and juries.

What happened does not meet the definition of indecent exposure

In California, indecent exposure is a very specific crime with several elements that the D.A. must prove beyond a reasonable doubt for you to be convicted. Therefore, if the evidence suggests that:

• there was no one around for you to offend,
• your genitals were partially clothed,
• there was no intent to achieve sexual gratification,
• you did not act “lewdly”, or
• you did not satisfy any of the other requirements of California’s “indecent exposure” law,

then you may not be criminally liable for this offense. The evidence we commonly rely on includes eyewitness accounts and video surveillance footage.

You were falsely accused

We see cases all the time where innocent people get falsely accused of sex offenses. In many instances, the accuser is a former significant other who is angry or vengeful about how the relationship ended.

In these types of scenarios, we comb through all your text and DM exchanges with the accuser. Often we find messages that plainly show their motivation to lie and impeach their credibility.

Then once we present this evidence to the prosecutors, they may realize their case is fatally weakened and may drop it completely.

You were the victim of mistaken identity

Depending on the circumstances, it is possible that a well-meaning victim could have mistakenly identified you as the individual who unlawfully exposed their nudity. In our experience, this could happen in cases where:

• the offense took place in a dark environment,
• the perpetrator’s face was hidden or partially hidden,
• the perpetrator resembled you, and/or
• the perpetrator even shared the same name as you.

As long as there is reasonable doubt about the identity of the alleged flasher, you should not be convicted, and the indecent exposure charge should be dropped.

For a more detailed discussion, visit our article on mistaken witness identification as a legal defense in California criminal cases.

4. Related Crimes

• California Penal Code 647(a) PC “lewd conduct in public”³¹
• California Penal Code 288 PC “lewd acts with a minor child”³²
• California Penal Code 459 PC “burglary”³³
• California Penal Code 602 PC “trespass”³⁴
• California Penal Code 415 PC “disturbing the peace”³⁵
• California Penal Code 647(b) PC “solicitation of prostitution”³⁶

Additional resources

For more in-depth information, refer to these scholarly articles:

• California Penal Code Section 314(1): Nudeness or Lewdness – Hastings Law Review.
• Revealing the Bare Uncertainties of Indecent Exposure – Columbia Journal of Law & Social Problems.
• Criminal Law and Procedure: Indecent Exposure: Nudism – Michigan Law Review.
• Criminal Sanctions against Nude Sunbathing in California – Criminal Justice Journal.
• Constitutional Law-Cruel or Unusual Punishment-Indeterminate Sentence with No Maximum Term for a Second Offense of Indecent Exposure is so Disproportionate to the Crime as to Violate the Cruel or Unusual Punishment Provision of the California Constitution – Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review.

Legal References: