Wisconsin Child Pornography Laws
Created by FindLaw's team of legal writers and editors | Last updated June 20, 2016
Child pornography is illegal in Wisconsin, as it is throughout the U.S. Generally, the more severe or damaging the conduct committed by a defendant, the more serious the criminal penalties.
Wisconsin's child pornography laws are detailed below.
Code Sections |
Wisconsin Statutes Chapter 948: Crimes Against Children and Section 944.21 Obscene Material or Performance |
What is Prohibited? |
It's illegal in Wisconsin to engage in many different activities related to child pornography, from possession to creating the materials to making a child watch porn. The child pornography crimes are:
Depending on the defendant's actions, a person creating or trying to make child porn could also be convicted of other crimes. For example, Use of a Computer to Facilitate a Child Sex Crime, Sexual Assault of a Child, and Incest with a Child (includes failure to protect from incest). |
Penalties |
In Wisconsin, felonies, misdemeanors, and forfeitures (like infractions in other states) are divided by class (Classes A-I for felonies) with varying maximum sentences for each class. The penalties applicable to Wisconsin child pornography offenses are:
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Defenses |
Many common defenses may apply to a child porn case, such as innocence, insanity, intoxication (involuntarily only), or lack of intent (such as you were looking at porn on your computer and didn't want the child pornography site pop-up and closed it as soon as it came up). Also, Wisconsin law provides for some specific crime defenses. Mistake as to the age of a child for crimes in Wisconsin is not a defense. Similar to many statutory rape laws where consent is not relevant. However, the Sexual Exploitation of a Child statute allows a defense that the person reasonably believed the child was 18 or older. This may come about, for example, by a pornography creator asking for identification and the child presented a valid-looking fake ID so he or she could be hired to act in the porn. Another statute specific defense includes that libraries and educational institutions and their employees or boards in official capacity can't be prosecuted for having obscene material. |
Note: State laws change regularly - be sure to confirm the that the laws you're researching are current.
Research the Law
Wisconsin Child Pornography Laws: Related Resources
- Child Pornography and Selfies: What You Need to Know
- The Sex Offender Registry: What You Need to Know
- Find a Wisconsin Criminal Defense Attorney
Next Steps: Search for a Local Attorney
Contact a qualified attorney.