Unlawful contact of a child or person with mental illness

NRS 207.260 – Penalties Associated with the Unlawful Contact of a Child or Person with Mental Illness

Under Nevada law, specifically NRS 207.260, it is a crime for a person to have unlawful contact with a child or person with mental illness.

Society has a duty to protect its most vulnerable. Children and persons with severe mental illnesses are among the most vulnerable in society. Most states have enacted some sort of statute to criminalize illegal contact with these individuals for their own protection.

Unlawful Contact with a Child or Person with Mental Illness as a Crime

NRS 207.260 applies to the following groups of people:

• A person under age 16, and five years older than the person engaging with them, or
• Any person with a mental illness

It is illegal to direct your action toward, or engage with, these two groups in a way that would reasonably cause them to feel:

• Terrorized
• Frightened
• Intimidated, or
• Harassed

This statute is intended to curb behavior such as a grown adult threatening to physically attack a child.

Exceptions

Certain activities are exempt from this statute. If the action being engaged in is constitutionally protected it is generally exempt. This would include:

• Picketing occurs during a strike, work stoppage or any other labor dispute.
• The activities of a reporter, photographer, camera operator or other people while gathering information for communication to the public if that person is employed or engaged by or has contracted with a newspaper, periodical, press association or radio or television station and is acting solely within that professional capacity.
• The activities of a person that are carried out in the normal course of his or her lawful employment.
• Any activities carried out in the exercise of constitutionally-protected rights of freedom of speech and assembly.

Defenses to combat charges under NRS 207.260

If you or a loved one have been charged with this crime in Nevada, it is important to remember that the burden is proof is upon the government to show beyond a reasonable doubt that you have committed the crime. Most crimes have defenses that can be raised to refute the state’s argument. An experienced attorney may raise the following defenses against a charge of unlawful contact with a child or person with mental illness:

• Constitutionally protected. As explained earlier, if the action is constitutionally protected it generally will be exempt from the definition of “contact”.

Potential Penalty for Committing unlawful contact with a child or person with mental illness

The crime of unlawful contact with a child or person with mental illness is a gross misdemeanor if it is the defendant’s first conviction of the crime. As such, upon the first conviction for unlawful contact with a child or person with mental illness a person can face, a person can face:

• Up to $2000 fine
• Up to 364 days in jail
• Both

Subsequent convictions for unlawful contact with a child or person with mental illness, are considered class B felonies. Upon a second or more conviction of unlawful contact with a child or person with mental illness a person faces:

• No less than 1 and no more than 4 years in state prison and
• A fine of up to $5,000

Furthermore, the child or person with mental illness may have a valid civil claim against the person convicted of the crime. The statute allows the child or person with mental illness to take any possible legal remedies available to them which, depending on the circumstances, could include a large civil settlement.