Child Pornography Attorneys

What Is Child Pornography?

Child pornography refers to any material depicting a child (someone under the age of majority: 18) engaging in sexually explicit conduct or activities. Child pornography can take the form of videos, movies, digital images, images in print or computer-generated images. Sexually explicit activities can describe any sexual conduct by the underage individual, including but not limited to sexual intercourse. Images of the child engaging in any type of sexual activity that would be inappropriate for a minor constitutes child pornography.

Illegal Uses of Child Pornography

Almost anything that involves, includes or uses child pornography is illegal under state and/or federal law. It is illegal to create, possess, distribute, sell or transport any pornographic materials involving or depicting minors. The law does not criminalize viewing child pornography specifically, but possessing or controlling these materials is against state law. To convict someone of a child pornography crime under state law, prosecutors must prove the defendant knowingly participated in an illegal activity regarding child porn, such as intentionally producing or distributing it to others.

Under federal law, illegal uses of child pornography include mailing any type of child porn across state lines. This includes emailing digitized or computer-generated child pornography to someone in a different state. It is also illegal under federal law to knowingly receive, sell or hand out child pornography in any respect, as well as to advertise child pornography across state lines (via mail or email). If you are unsure whether a person’s actions broke state or federal child pornography laws, speak to a qualified child pornography lawyer about your case. Even without a broken law, you may still have a case against the perpetrator for civil wrongdoing.

What Is Masha’s Law?

Under Masha’s Law (U.S. Code § 2255), child pornography victims can sue their abusers, and anyone who contributed to their abuse, upon turning 18. This includes anyone who downloaded, purchased, or shared the photos or other media of their victimization. Child pornography survivors can pursue civil lawsuits for monetary damages against each individual involved in their chain of abuse. Survivors can seek compensation of at least $150,000 from any person who downloaded media of their sexual abuse, including through website viewing, file-sharing networks, and dark web media catering to pedophiles. Masha’s Law has been successfully applied to the “sexting” of images, including from adult perpetrators who text pornographic images to underage victims, and adults who text or distribute sexually-explicit media of underage victims. This includes private videos and/or selfies the underage victim never intended for public distribution.

Compensation for Survivors of Child Pornography

Filing a civil claim against someone involved in child pornography production, distribution or sharing could result in financial compensation for the child depicted in the images or videos. A civil claim is not the same as a criminal conviction for a child porn crime. Holding someone civilly liable for involvement in child porn will not result in criminal charges. However, it could entitle the victim to financial recovery.

• Costs of medications, therapy and treatments. The price of any medical care the survivor needs to recover or cope with the experience, including antidepressants and psychological counseling.
• Lost wages. The amount of lost wages the victim incurred from being unable to work due to the trauma of the incident and/or related mental health conditions.
• The costs of bringing a claim. All legal fees, court costs and attorneys’ expenses involved in bringing the lawsuit against the perpetrator.
• Pain and suffering damages. A monetary value placed on intangible damages the survivor has and will continue to suffer. These can include emotional distress, psychological anguish, mental harm and humiliation.
• Punitive damages. Many judges award punitive damages to claimants in cases involving heinous crimes such as child pornography. Punitive damages punish the defendant by making him or her pay the victim an additional amount on top of compensatory awards.

If someone depicted you or your child in child pornography, you may have grounds for a civil claim against multiple parties. You could name people involved in the production and distribution of the pornography as defendants, as well as bring suits against anyone who watched or downloaded the child pornography in question. Speak to our skilled child pornography attorneys to find out the potential value of your child pornography case.