Thanks to Regent Law 3L Lyndsi Tallman for the subject of this post.
Arizona’s highest court recently rendered an overly broad and sweeping ruling on what constitutes child molestation, making even changing a child’s diaper a crime. Writing for The Blade, Mark Joseph Stern writes, “The Arizona Supreme Court issued a stunning and horrifying decision on Tuesday, interpreting a state law to criminalize any contact between an adult and a child’s genitals. According to the court, the law’s sweep encompasses wholly innocent conduct, such as changing a diaper or bathing a baby. As the stinging dissent notes, ‘parents and other caregivers’ in the state are now considered to be ‘child molesters or sex abusers under Arizona law.’ Those convicted under the statute may be imprisoned for five years.”
Courts are required to protect a children’s best interests at every opportunity. This ruling, however, may go a bit too far in poor judicial application of wide-ranging legislation. To find out what courts are really required to do to protect children read Tracing the Foundations of the Best Interest of the Child Standard in American Jurisprudence. 
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