{"id":1487,"date":"2026-03-01T07:59:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T12:59:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.georgiacriminaldefense.com\/blog\/?p=1487"},"modified":"2026-03-01T07:59:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T12:59:15","slug":"what-is-child-molestation-in-georgia-penalties-defenses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.georgiacriminaldefense.com\/blog\/what-is-child-molestation-in-georgia-penalties-defenses\/","title":{"rendered":"Child Molestation Georgia: Law, Penalties, Defenses"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Larry Kohn, Atlanta Criminal Defense Lawyer and Georgia Super Lawyer\u00ae<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re asking &#8220;What is child molestation in Georgia?&#8221;, the answer comes straight from O.C.G.A. \u00a7 16-6-4: child molestation is any immoral or indecent act done to or in the presence of a child under 16 years old, where the act is intended to arouse or satisfy the sexual desires of either the child or the person committing the act. This Georgia felony covers touching private body parts (genitals, breasts, buttocks), exposing genitals to a minor, rubbing against a child, or even transmitting explicit images electronically\u2014all with that specific sexual intent.<\/p>\n<p>Unlike <a href=\"https:\/\/www.georgiacriminaldefense.com\/age-of-consent-georgia-statutory-rape-laws-in-ga-sex-act.html\">statutory rape laws<\/a>, child molestation does not require penetration or sexual intercourse. Prosecutors only need to prove the indecent act occurred and sexual arousal was the goal.<\/p>\n<div class=\"read_more_link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.georgiacriminaldefense.com\/blog\/what-is-child-molestation-in-georgia-penalties-defenses\/\"  title=\"Continue Reading Child Molestation Georgia: Law, Penalties, Defenses\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading \u203a<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Larry Kohn, Atlanta Criminal Defense Lawyer and Georgia Super Lawyer\u00ae If you&#8217;re asking &#8220;What is child molestation in Georgia?&#8221;, the answer comes straight from O.C.G.A. \u00a7 16-6-4: child molestation is any immoral or indecent act done to or in the presence of a child under 16 years old, where the act is intended to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sex-crimes"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Child Molestation Georgia: Law, Penalties, Defenses<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Child molestation in Georgia (O.C.G.A. \u00a7 16-6-4): Definition, 5-20 year prison sentence, aggravated charges. Atlanta lawyer explains. Free consult: (404) 567-5515\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.georgiacriminaldefense.com\/blog\/what-is-child-molestation-in-georgia-penalties-defenses\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Child Molestation Georgia: Law, Penalties, Defenses\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Child molestation in Georgia (O.C.G.A. \u00a7 16-6-4): Definition, 5-20 year prison sentence, aggravated charges. Atlanta lawyer explains. 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Free consult: (404) 567-5515","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.georgiacriminaldefense.com\/blog\/what-is-child-molestation-in-georgia-penalties-defenses\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Child Molestation Georgia: Law, Penalties, Defenses","twitter_description":"Child molestation in Georgia (O.C.G.A. \u00a7 16-6-4): Definition, 5-20 year prison sentence, aggravated charges. Atlanta lawyer explains. Free consult: (404) 567-5515","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kohn &amp; Yager LLC","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.georgiacriminaldefense.com\/blog\/what-is-child-molestation-in-georgia-penalties-defenses\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.georgiacriminaldefense.com\/blog\/what-is-child-molestation-in-georgia-penalties-defenses\/"},"author":{"name":"Kohn &amp; Yager LLC","@id":"https:\/\/www.georgiacriminaldefense.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/55598014d693ea002cf70d85364edd9f"},"headline":"Child Molestation Georgia: Law, Penalties, Defenses","datePublished":"2026-03-01T12:59:15+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.georgiacriminaldefense.com\/blog\/what-is-child-molestation-in-georgia-penalties-defenses\/"},"wordCount":850,"articleSection":["Sex Crimes"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.georgiacriminaldefense.com\/blog\/what-is-child-molestation-in-georgia-penalties-defenses\/","url":"https:\/\/www.georgiacriminaldefense.com\/blog\/what-is-child-molestation-in-georgia-penalties-defenses\/","name":"Child Molestation Georgia: Law, Penalties, Defenses","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.georgiacriminaldefense.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-03-01T12:59:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.georgiacriminaldefense.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/55598014d693ea002cf70d85364edd9f"},"description":"Child molestation in Georgia (O.C.G.A. \u00a7 16-6-4): Definition, 5-20 year prison sentence, aggravated charges. Atlanta lawyer explains. 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