Protecting people who cannot care for themselves

(1) A person commits the offense of endangering the welfare of an incompetent person if he knowingly acts in a manner likely to be injurious to the physical or mental welfare of a person who is unable to care for himself because of physical or mental disease, disorder, or defect. (2) Endangering the welfare of an incompetent person is a misdemeanor. [L 1972, c 9, pt of §1] COMMENTARY ON §709-905 This section seeks to expand the protection which the law affords to incompetents by making it roughly equivalent to that afforded to minors. A child who suffers from a mental or physical disease, disorder, or defect is protected as a child from certain dangers by §§709-902 through 904 which make abandonment, persistent nonsupport, and endangering the welfare of a minor penal offenses. A person who is physically incapacitated or mentally incompetent is afforded protection against sexual assault and abuse by chapter 707, which makes such conduct, as it relates to such persons, an offense. However, in cases not involving sexual activity or not specifically involving minors under §§709-902 through 904, there is, without §709-905, a gap in the coverage of the Code. This gap also existed in prior law.