Lewd or Lascivious Charges in Florida: Battery, Molestation, Conduct and Exhibition (Section 800.04)

Published November 13, 2026.

“Lewd or lascivious” is the label on four different Florida felonies involving a person under 16: battery, molestation, conduct and exhibition. They share one statute, section 800.04, and three rules that surprise almost everyone charged: consent is not a defense, a mistake about age is not a defense, and a conviction means sex offender registration. This guide explains each charge, the penalties, and where a defense begins.

What “Lewd or Lascivious” Means in Florida

On November 10, 2026, a Miami-Dade jury returned a split verdict in a case involving a 15-year-old. The defendant, a psychologist, had been arrested on charges that included human trafficking and lewd and lascivious battery. The jury found her not guilty of human trafficking and guilty of other charges related to sexual conduct involving the teenager, according to news reports. (NBC 6 South Florida)

The verdict shows how these cases usually work. Prosecutors file the most serious charge the facts might support, and add counts under Florida’s lewd or lascivious statute. Even when the top charge fails, the section 800.04 counts can stand on their own, and each one is a serious felony.

Section 800.04 covers offenses “committed upon or in the presence of persons less than 16 years of age.” (section 800.04) The statute does not define “lewd” or “lascivious.” In practice the words refer to conduct with a sexual purpose, and whether a touch or an act had that purpose is often the entire trial.

The Four Offenses in Section 800.04

Lewd or lascivious battery

A person commits lewd or lascivious battery by “engaging in sexual activity with a person 12 years of age or older but less than 16 years of age,” or by “encouraging, forcing, or enticing any person less than 16 years of age to engage in sadomasochistic abuse, sexual bestiality, prostitution, or any other act involving sexual activity.” (section 800.04(4)(a)) “Sexual activity” means oral, anal or female genital penetration by, or union with, the sexual organ of another, or anal or female genital penetration by any other object. (section 800.04(1)(d))

This is the charge filed when a teenager aged 12 to 15 and an older person had sex and no force is alleged. It is also the charge in the second situation the statute describes: a person who never touched the child but encouraged or enticed the child into sexual activity with someone else.

Lewd or lascivious molestation

A person “who intentionally touches in a lewd or lascivious manner the breasts, genitals, genital area, or buttocks, or the clothing covering them, of a person less than 16 years of age, or forces or entices a person under 16 years of age to so touch the perpetrator, commits lewd or lascivious molestation.” (section 800.04(5)(a))

Note the words “or the clothing covering them.” A touch over clothing is enough. Most molestation charges involve an allegation of a brief touch with no witnesses and no physical evidence.

Lewd or lascivious conduct

A person who intentionally touches a person under 16 “in a lewd or lascivious manner,” or who “solicits a person under 16 years of age to commit a lewd or lascivious act,” commits lewd or lascivious conduct. (section 800.04(6)(a)) This is the broadest of the four. It reaches touching that does not involve the body parts listed in the molestation subsection, and it reaches words alone: asking is enough.

Lewd or lascivious exhibition

A person commits lewd or lascivious exhibition by intentionally masturbating, intentionally exposing the genitals in a lewd or lascivious manner, or intentionally committing any other sexual act that does not involve physical contact with the victim, “in the presence of a victim who is less than 16 years of age.” (section 800.04(7)(a)) We compare this offense with indecent exposure and the new exposure felony in our article on Florida’s new exposure felony.

Penalties by Offense and Age

The degree of the felony depends on the offense, the age of the accused and the age of the child.

Sources: section 800.04(4) through (7); section 775.082(3).

Three points need more than a table.

• Molestation of a child under 12 by an adult. This is a life felony with its own sentencing rule. The court must impose either life in prison, or a split sentence of at least 25 years in prison followed by probation or community control for the rest of the person’s life. A second such offense requires life in prison. (section 775.082(3)(a)4)
• Prior convictions raise the level. An adult who commits lewd or lascivious battery, or molestation of a child aged 12 to 15, after a prior conviction for a listed sex offense, including any earlier violation of section 800.04, commits a first-degree felony, punishable by up to 30 years. (section 800.04(4)(c) and (5)(e))
• Recent release from prison. A person who commits any felony under section 800.04 within 3 years of release from prison can be sentenced as a prison releasee reoffender, which requires the statutory maximum, served in full. (section 775.082(9))

Consent and Mistake of Age Are Not Defenses

Two short subsections remove the arguments most people expect to make.

First: “Neither the victim’s lack of chastity nor the victim’s consent is a defense to the crimes proscribed by this section.” (section 800.04(2)) A person under 16 cannot legally consent. It does not matter that the relationship was voluntary, that the teenager initiated it, or that the teenager does not want anyone prosecuted.

Second: “The perpetrator’s ignorance of the victim’s age, the victim’s misrepresentation of his or her age, or the perpetrator’s bona fide belief of the victim’s age cannot be raised as a defense in a prosecution under this section.” (section 800.04(3)) A fake ID, a dating profile that said 18, or a direct lie about age does not change guilt.

This is where many cases involving young adults come from: a 19-year-old and a 15-year-old who met online or at a party. The law treats that case under the same subsection as any other. The facts that are not a legal defense still matter a great deal, though. They affect what a prosecutor is willing to charge, what a judge does at sentencing, and whether a resolution short of a section 800.04 conviction is possible.

Why One Accusation Becomes Several Counts

Charging documents in these cases often list three, five or ten counts from what the accused person thinks of as one event. Florida law allows it. The Florida Supreme Court has held that the different sex acts listed in the battery subsection “are of a separate character and type requiring different elements of proof and are, therefore, distinct criminal acts,” so separate punishments for them do not violate double jeopardy, even when they happen in a single episode. (State v. Meshell, 2 So. 3d 132 (Fla. 2009))

Add an accusation that conduct happened on several dates and the count total climbs quickly. Each second-degree felony carries up to 15 years, and sentences can be ordered to run one after another. The number of counts is one of the first things a defense lawyer examines, because whether the same kind of act can be charged twice within one episode is a more contested question, and counts that overlap can sometimes be challenged.

Sex Offender Registration

Florida’s registration law defines a “sexual offender” to include a person convicted of committing, or attempting, soliciting or conspiring to commit, an offense under section 800.04. (section 943.0435(1)) All four offenses qualify, including exhibition, which involves no contact.

A sexual offender “shall maintain registration with the department for the duration of his or her life” unless pardoned or the conviction is set aside. A person may petition a court for removal after at least 25 years without any arrest since release, but that path is closed to adults convicted of certain offenses, including molestation of a child under 12. (section 943.0435(11))

Registration means a public listing and regular in-person reporting, and it follows a person into housing and employment. For many people it is the heaviest consequence of the case, heavier than the sentence. That is why the charge a case ends on matters as much as the time imposed: an offense that is not on the registration list does not carry registration.

How These Charges Are Defended

1. Whether it happened. Many cases rest on one person’s account, reported weeks or years later. The defense examines when and how the accusation was first made, to whom, and what was going on at the time: a custody dispute, discipline at home, a breakup, pressure from an adult.
2. The forensic interview. Children are usually interviewed on video by a trained interviewer. Leading or repeated questions, and conversations with adults before the interview, can shape what a child says. An expert can review the recording.
3. Lewd or lascivious intent. The touch must be intentional and lewd. Bathing, dressing, medical care, sports, horseplay and accidental contact are not crimes. Whether a touch was sexual is a question for the jury.
4. Inconsistent statements. Differences between what was told to a parent, a teacher, the interviewer and the detective.
5. Digital evidence. Messages, location data and photos can contradict a timeline as easily as they support one. See our article on digital evidence in Florida sex crime cases.
6. The controlled call. Detectives often have the child or a parent call or text the accused while recording. What was said, and what was only suggested, is frequently disputed.
7. Statements to police. Whether an interview was voluntary and whether Miranda warnings were required and given.
8. The counts and the charge. Challenging duplicate counts, and negotiating toward an offense that fits the facts and, where possible, does not require registration.

Cases that begin online raise their own issues. See online solicitation of a minor in Florida and learn more about our sex crimes defense practice.

If You Are Under Investigation

• Do not talk to the detective without a lawyer. “We just want your side” is how most confessions begin. You can decline politely.
• Be careful with unexpected calls and texts from the child or the child’s family asking you to explain or apologize. They may be recorded.
• Do not contact the child or the family. It can lead to new charges and will be used against you.
• Do not delete anything. Deleted messages can be recovered and deletion looks like guilt. Preserve everything.
• If the Department of Children and Families calls, speak to a lawyer first. What you say there can reach the prosecutor.
• Hire a lawyer before charges are filed. Evidence presented early can affect what, if anything, is charged.

Questions and Answers

What is the difference between lewd or lascivious battery and molestation?

Battery involves sexual activity, meaning penetration or union, with a child aged 12 to 15, or enticing a child under 16 into sexual activity. Molestation is a lewd touching of the breasts, genitals, genital area or buttocks, including over clothing. (section 800.04(4) and (5))

Is it a defense that I thought the person was 16 or older?

No. The statute says that ignorance of the age, a misrepresentation of age, or a bona fide belief about age cannot be raised as a defense. (section 800.04(3))

What is the sentence for lewd or lascivious molestation in Florida?

For an adult, up to 15 years if the child was 12 to 15. If the child was under 12, it is a life felony: life in prison, or at least 25 years followed by supervision for life. (section 775.082(3))

Will I have to register as a sex offender?

A conviction under section 800.04 is a registration offense, and registration is for life unless a court later grants removal. Whether a case can end on a charge that does not require registration depends on its facts.

Can the charges be dropped if the family does not want to prosecute?

The decision belongs to the State Attorney, not the family. A family’s wishes are considered, and they can matter, but prosecutors can and do go forward without them.

Alan S. Bernstein has defended people accused of serious crimes in South Florida since 1981, in state and federal court.

Sources

1. Florida Statutes (2026): section 800.04 (lewd or lascivious offenses); section 775.082 (penalties); section 943.0435 (sexual offender registration).
2. State v. Meshell, 2 So. 3d 132 (Fla. 2009).
3. NBC 6 South Florida, Miami psychologist found guilty in case involving sex, drugs and 15-year-old girl (November 10, 2026).

This article is general information about Florida law as of November 13, 2026. It is not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every person charged with a crime is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. Every case is different. A result in one case does not predict the result in another.