A person commits the crime of indecent exposure by exposing the person’s body or private parts (usually genitals, anus, buttocks, or female breasts) in a public place and in the presence of another person who might be offended, alarmed, or annoyed. Laws vary from state to state—including definitions of exposed body parts—and some states require the exposure to have been made with the intent to attract attention or to sexually gratify the person making the indecent exposure, or to sexually gratify another person, or to offend another person.

Indecent exposure laws are generally located in a state’s statutes—often in the penal or criminal code.

In Connecticut, indecent exposure is addressed under Section 53a-186 of the Connecticut General Statutes, which defines the crime as 'Public Indecency.' According to this statute, a person is guilty of public indecency when they perform any of the following acts in a public place, or where they can be seen from a public place, or in private premises when they may be readily observed from either public or private premises and with reckless disregard for the likelihood of being observed by others: (1) an act of sexual intercourse, (2) a lewd exposure of the body with intent to arouse or satisfy the sexual desire of the person or another person, or (3) a lewd fondling or caress of the body of another person. Public indecency is classified as a Class B misdemeanor in Connecticut. The law requires that the act be done with intent to arouse or satisfy sexual desire or with reckless disregard for the likelihood of being observed, which means that accidental exposure is not typically prosecuted under this statute.