Van Wagner & Wood :: Criminal Defense :: Sex Crimes :: Sexual Assault :: Sexual Assault Of Minor Child
Attorney Christopher Van Wagner  ::  Attorney Tracey Wood

Sexual Exploitation

Van Wagner & Wood, Wisconsin Criminal Defense Law Firm

Under Wisconsin law (WI Stat 948.05), a person convicted of coercing, employing, using, inducing, or enticing a child to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of recording or displaying in any way the conduct with knowledge of the character and content of the sexually explicit conduct involving the child is guilty of a Class F felony and subject to the penalties of a Class F felony.

Any person who produces, performs in, profits from, promotes, imports into the state of Wisconsin, reproduces, advertises, sells, distributes, or possesses with intent to sell or distribute, any recording of a child engaging in sexually explicit conduct is guilty of a Class F felony if the person knows the character and content of the sexually explicit conduct involving the child and if the person knows or reasonably should know that the child engaging in the sexually explicit conduct has not attained the age of 18 years.

A person who is convicted of permitting, allowing, or encouraging the child to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of creating a recording is subject to the penalties of a Class F felony.

Affrmative Defense

If however the accused admits to having committed the acts of the crime, but had reasonable cause to believe that the child was at least 18 years of age, then the court will require the accused to prove that belief upon a preponderance of the evidence (that it was more likely than not that most people would have reasonably believed the child to be of a legal age). That type of plea by the accused is called an affirmative defense, which means, in short, that the accused is admitting to having done that act that the crime describes, but should be excused from criminal liability because of a reasonable mistake of fact.

Viewing Or Listening To Sexually Explicit Activity

Under Wisconsin law, a person convicted of intentionally causing a child to view or listen to sexually explicit material or activities for the purpose of sexually arousing or gratifying the actor or humiliating or degrading the child is subject to the penalties for a Class F felony if the child was under the age of 13 years, and subject to Class H felony penalties if the child had attained the age of 13 years but had not yet attained the age of 18 years.

See Also:
Child Pornography | Sex Crimes