If you have social media, it is likely that you have seen the newest collection of videos circling: women touching a part of their body for 10 seconds. The impetus for these posts is a court ruling out of Italy, where a Judge found a high-school janitor not guilty of Sexual Assault for groping a student’s buttocks because the touch lasted less than 10 seconds. News outlets report that the Court reasoned that because the touch was so brief, that it could not find any libidinous/sexual intent. Certainly, laws are different in all countries, and vary greatly within the U.S. from state to state. But one thing is for sure: that defense would not fly in an Arizona courtroom.
In Arizona, certain types of touches may qualify for Molestation or Sexual Assault, depending on where on the body someone was touched, and the age of the victim. The Arizona Molestation statute does not require the “touch” to be any length of time, nor is the government required to prove sexual motivation. We call these offenses strict liability- meaning if the touch happened, regardless of intent, the government has proven its case. However, this does not mean that a case has no defense, but the odds are stacked against a Defendant.
Given the world-wide public attention that this Italian case has received, it will be interesting to see whether the Italian legislative body responds to the public pressure and amends their laws to be more like ours in Arizona, or the Italian legislature leaves the current status quo in place.