Child Pornography Crimes – Legal Consequences

Any type of possession of child pornography is unlawful in today’s society. The penalties for possessing or distributing images or video files that depict sexual conduct of minors under the age of 18 are very severe, especially in the state of California. Any person, who will be found guilty of possessing 6 or more identical images that depict sexual conduct of minors under the age of 18, will also be prosecuted for child pornography distribution. You should contact Los Angeles criminal attorney immediately to find out how to avoid mandatory jail sentence.

When it comes to penalties for possession of child pornography, a convicted criminal can expect the following legal consequences:

– Up to $10 000 in fines
– Prison incarceration for up to 10 years
– A third degree felony conviction

Furthermore, if a person is also found guilty of intending to distribute images or video files depicting sexual conduct of minors under the age of 18, he or she will be charged with the following sentence:

– Up to $10 000 in fines
– Prison incarceration for up to 20 years
– A second degree felony conviction

Most people who were prosecuted for possessing or distributing of child pornography will be obliged to register as sex offenders for the rest of their lives. Being registered as a sex offender is probably the harshest penalty, since even when a person will be released from prison, he or she will not be able to find a decent job, rent good real estate property and so on. Companies and even landlords are very strict when it comes to registered sex offenders – these individuals are genuinely unacceptable.

The law is often far from being perfect. For instance, until recently, minors, who were sexting – sending nude pictures of themselves to other minors, were considered to be actual sex offenders and were prosecuted for distribution of child pornography. Needless to say, this law was a rather unwise one. Hence, the law was changed and the severity of punishment was significantly lessened. Nowadays, in case a minor was sexting his or her nude pictures to other minors, he or she will risk facing the following legal consequences:

– Misdemeanor offense charges
– Attending special education classes with the parents

Furthermore, according to the new law, any criminal records of minors who followed all the requirements that were appointed by the court of law, will be eligible for expunging their criminal records when they reach the age of 18. Besides, they will not be required to be registered as sex offenders for their first offense. It is important to understand that not all of the potential offenders are actually guilty. Some people simply are not aware of how old another person really is. For instance, if a person was receiving explicit images from a minor, he or she may be misled in terms of the minor’s age. Some people just could not have known that the pictures were sent by a minor.

If you are a victim in one of the above-mentioned child pornography crimes, it is incredibly important to have a truly skillful and experienced attorney by your side to help you protect your legal rights in the court of law. Only a good lawyer will have the ability to prove that you are actually innocent and were not possessing or distributing child pornography. It is imperative to hire a great attorney, who will be able to discover all the necessary evidence that will indicate the lack of guilt. In the end, if you are innocent and do not want to answer for the crimes that you did not commit, do not hesitate to get in touch with an experienced Los Angeles criminal defense lawyer at the earliest opportunity.