A. A person commits criminal damage by:

Attorney's Note

Under the Arizona Laws, punishments for crimes depend on the classification. In the case of this section:
ClassPrisonFine
Class 4 felonyup to 3 yearsup to $150,000
Class 5 felonyup to 2 yearsup to $150,000
Class 6 felonyup to 1 1/2 yearsup to $150,000
Class 2 misdemeanorup to 4 monthsup to $750
For details, see § 13-702 and § 13-707

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Terms Used In Arizona Laws 13-1602

  • Criminal street gang: means an ongoing formal or informal association of persons in which members or associates individually or collectively engage in the commission, attempted commission, facilitation or solicitation of any felony act and that has at least one individual who is a criminal street gang member. See Arizona Laws 13-105
  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Damaging: means damage as defined in section 13-1701. See Arizona Laws 13-1601
  • 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 on any structure, without permission from the owner. See Arizona Laws 13-1601
  • Felony: means an offense for which a sentence to a term of imprisonment in the custody of the state department of corrections is authorized by any law of this state. See Arizona Laws 13-105
  • Misdemeanor: means an offense for which a sentence to a term of imprisonment other than to the custody of the state department of corrections is authorized by any law of this state. See Arizona Laws 13-105
  • Person: means a human being and, as the context requires, an enterprise, a public or private corporation, an unincorporated association, a partnership, a firm, a society, a government, a governmental authority or an individual or entity capable of holding a legal or beneficial interest in property. See Arizona Laws 13-105
  • Property: means anything of value, tangible or intangible. See Arizona Laws 13-105
  • 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 and, for damage caused by theft of scrap metal, the property of other persons damaged directly or indirectly as a result of the acts of the defendant. See Arizona Laws 13-1601
  • Recklessly: means , with respect to a result or to a circumstance described by a statute defining an offense, that a person is aware of and consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the result will occur or that the circumstance exists. See Arizona Laws 13-105
  • Tampering with utility property: means any of the following if committed against property that is owned or operated by a utility for the purposes of transmission or distribution:

    (a) Rearranging, damaging, altering, interfering with or otherwise preventing the performance of a normal or customary function of utility property. See Arizona Laws 13-1601

  • Utility: means any enterprise, public or private, that provides gas, electric, irrigation, steam, water, water conservation, sewer or communications services, as well as any common carrier on land, rail, sea or air. See Arizona Laws 13-1601
  • Vehicle: means a device in, upon or by which any person or property is, may be or could have been transported or drawn upon a highway, waterway or airway, excepting devices moved by human power or used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks. See Arizona Laws 13-105

1. Recklessly defacing or damaging property of another person.

2. Recklessly tampering with property of another person so as substantially to impair its function or value.

3. Recklessly damaging property of a utility.

4. Recklessly parking any vehicle in such a manner as to deprive livestock of access to the only reasonably available water.

5. Recklessly 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.

6. Intentionally tampering with utility property.

B. 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.

2. Criminal damage is a class 4 felony if the person recklessly damages the property of a utility in an amount of five thousand dollars or more or if the person intentionally tampers with utility property and the damage causes an imminent safety hazard to any person.

3. 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 or if the damage is inflicted to promote, further or assist any criminal street gang or criminal syndicate with the intent to intimidate and the person is not subject to paragraph 1 or 2 of this subsection.

4. Criminal damage is a class 6 felony if the person recklessly damages property of another in an amount of one thousand dollars or more but less than two thousand dollars.

5. Criminal damage is a class 1 misdemeanor if the person recklessly damages property of another in an amount of more than two hundred fifty dollars but less than one thousand dollars.

6. In all other cases criminal damage is a class 2 misdemeanor.

C. For a violation of subsection A, paragraph 5 of this section, in determining the amount of damage to property, damages include reasonable labor costs of any kind, reasonable material costs of any kind and any reasonable costs that are attributed to equipment that is used to abate or repair the damage to the property.