Sleepwalking and Indecent Exposure

Abstract

The case is described of a naked sleepwalker who was convicted of indecent exposure. The literature relating to sleepwalking and indecent exposure is briefly reviewed and the legal position discussed. Sleepwalkers are seldom convicted of crimes which they commit while asleep. In recent years a successful defence has usually been mounted on the basis that sleepwalking is, in legal terms, an automatism. Occasionally, however, sleepwalkers are convicted and this report illustrates one such case.