Criminal Damage Laws in Arizona - Law Offices of John Rock, PC
10645 N. Tatum Blvd, #200-151, Phoenix, Arizona 85028  •  602.443.2222
The Law Offices of John Rock - Phoenix Criminal Defense Attorney
  • Maricopa County
  • Phoenix
  • Tempe
  • Scottsdale
  • Chandler
  • Mesa
  • Glendale
  • Peoria
  • Avondale
  • Paradise Valley
  • Surprise
  • Fountain Hills
  • Gilbert
  • Buckeye
  • Pinal County
PHONE
602.443.2222

EMAIL
John@RocksLaw.com

Criminal Damage Laws in Arizona

13-1601.  Definitions
In this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:

  1. "Damaging" means "damage" as defined in section 13-1701.
  2. "Defacing" means any unnecessary act of substantially marring any surface or place, by any means, or any act of putting up, affixing, fastening, printing, or painting any notice upon any structure, without permission from the owner.
  3. "Litter" includes any rubbish, refuse, waste material, offal, paper, glass, cans, bottles, organic or inorganic trash, debris, filthy or odoriferous objects, dead animals, or any foreign substance of whatever kind or description, including junked or abandoned vehicles, whether or not any of these items are of value.
  4. "Property of another" means property in which any person other than the defendant has an interest, including community property and other property in which the defendant also has an interest.
  5. "Tamper" means any act of interference.
  6. "Utility" means any enterprise, public or private, which provides gas, electric, steam, water, sewer or communications services, as well as any common carrier on land, rail, sea or air.

13-1602.  Criminal damage; classification

  1. A person commits criminal damage by recklessly:
    1. Defacing or damaging property of another person; or
    2. Tampering with property of another person so as substantially to impair its function or value; or
    3. Tampering with the property of a utility.
    4. Parking any vehicle in such a manner as to deprive livestock of access to the only reasonably available water.
    5. Drawing or inscribing a message, slogan, sign or symbol that is made on any public or private building, structure or surface, except the ground, and that is made without permission of the owner.
  2. Criminal damage is punished as follows:
    1. Criminal damage is a class 4 felony if the person recklessly damages property of another in an amount of ten thousand dollars or more, or if the person recklessly causes impairment of the functioning of any utility.
    2. Criminal damage is a class 5 felony if the person recklessly damages property of another in an amount of two thousand dollars or more but less than ten thousand dollars.
    3. Criminal damage is a class 6 felony if the person recklessly damages property of another in an amount of more than two hundred fifty dollars but less than two thousand dollars.
    4. In all other cases criminal damage is a class 2 misdemeanor.

Top of Page

13-1603.  Criminal littering or polluting; classification

  1. A person commits criminal littering or polluting if such person without lawful authority does any of the following:
    1. Throws, places, drops or permits to be dropped on public property or property of another which is not a lawful dump any litter, destructive or injurious material which he does not immediately remove.
    2. Discharges or permits to be discharged any sewage, oil products or other harmful substances into any waters or onto any shorelines within the state.
    3. Dumps any earth, soil, stones, ores or minerals on any land.
  2. Criminal littering or polluting is punished as follows:
    1. A class 6 felony if a knowing violation of subsection A in which the amount of litter or other prohibited material or substance exceeds three hundred pounds in weight or one hundred cubic feet in volume or is done in any quantity for a commercial purpose.
    2. A class 1 misdemeanor if the act is not punishable under paragraph 1 of this subsection and involves placing any destructive or injurious material on or within fifty feet of a highway, beach or shoreline of any body of water used by the public.
    3. A class 2 misdemeanor if not punishable under paragraph 1 or 2 of this subsection.

13-1604.  Aggravated criminal damage; classification

  1. A person commits aggravated criminal damage by intentionally or recklessly without the express permission of the owner:
    1. Defacing, damaging or in any way changing the appearance of any building, structure, personal property or place used for worship or any religious purpose.
    2. Defacing or damaging any building, structure or place used as a school or as an educational facility.
    3. Defacing, damaging or tampering with any cemetery, mortuary or personal property of the cemetery or mortuary or other facility used for the purpose of burial or memorializing the dead.
    4. Defacing, damaging or tampering with any utility or agricultural infrastructure or property, construction site or existing structure for the purpose of obtaining nonferrous metals as defined in section 44-1641.
  2. Aggravated criminal damage is punishable as follows:
    1. If the person intentionally or recklessly does any act described in subsection A of this section which causes damage to the property of another in an amount of ten thousand dollars or more, aggravated criminal damage:
      1. Resulting from actions described in subsection A, paragraph 1, 2 or 3 of this section is a class 4 felony.
      2. Resulting from actions described in subsection A, paragraph 4 of this section is a class 3 felony.
    2. If the person intentionally or recklessly damages property of another in an amount of one thousand five hundred dollars or more but less than ten thousand dollars, aggravated criminal damage:
      1. Resulting from actions described in subsection A, paragraph 1, 2 or 3 of this section is a class 5 felony.
      2. Resulting from actions described in subsection A, paragraph 4 of this section is a class 4 felony.
    3. In all other cases aggravated criminal damage is:
      1. A class 6 felony if it results from actions described in subsection A, paragraph 1, 2 or 3 of this section.
      2. A class 5 felony if it results from actions described in subsection A, paragraph 4 of this section.
  3. In determining the amount of damage to property, damages include the cost of repair or replacement of the property that was damaged and the cost of the loss of crops and livestock.

Top of Page

13-1605.  Aggregation of amounts of damage
Amounts of damage caused pursuant to one scheme or course of conduct, whether to property of one or more persons, may be aggregated in the indictment or information at the discretion of this state in determining the classification of an offense in violation of this chapter.

Disclaimer: These are the statutes as they read on October 30, 2008 on the Arizona State Legislature's website. Each year the Arizona State Legislature changes some of the criminal laws. Generally (but not always), the criminal law (statute) that is in place on the date of offense is the law that applies to the case. To find the most current version of the statute go to the Arizona State Legislature's website (http://www.azleg.gov/ArizonaRevisedStatutes.asp?Title=13)

Top of Page

Home  •   Biography  •   Successful Cases  •   Criminal Laws  •   Legal Resources  •   Contact  •   Sitemap
10645 N. Tatum Blvd, #200-151, Phoenix, Arizona 85028
Phone: 602.443.2222  •  Fax: 602.715.1088  •  Email: John@RocksLaw.com
© The Law Offices of John Rock, PC  •  All Rights Reserved
Major Credit Cards Accepted
Laws in Arizona Criminal Damage