Legal Definition of Child Pornography & Federal Child Exploitation Statutes

Legal Definition of Child Pornography

In the 1982 case New York v. Ferber, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a New York state statute banning child pornography. This case set a legal precedent that determined, among other things, that child pornography was not required to meet the test for obscenity in order to be banned. Delivering the unanimous decision of the Court, Justice Byron White wrote:

As applied to respondent and others who distribute similar material, the statute in question does not violate the First Amendment as applied to the States through the Fourteenth Amendment.

(a) The States are entitled to greater leeway in the regulation of pornographic depictions of children for the following reasons:

1. the legislative judgment that the use of children as subjects of pornographic materials is harmful to the physiological, emotional, and mental health of the child, easily passes muster under the First Amendment;



2. the standard of Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15 , for determining what is legally obscene is not a satisfactory solution to the child pornography problem;



3. the advertising and selling of child pornography provide an economic motive for and are thus an integral part of the production of such materials, an activity illegal throughout the Nation;



4. the value of permitting live performances and photographic reproductions of children engaged in lewd exhibitions is exceedingly modest, if not de minimis; and



5. recognizing and classifying child pornography as a category of material outside the First Amendment's protection is not incompatible with this Court's decisions dealing with what speech is unprotected. When a definable class of material, such as that covered by [458 U.S. 747, 748] the New York statute, bears so heavily and pervasively on the welfare of children engaged in its production, the balance of competing interests is clearly struck, and it is permissible to consider these materials as without the First Amendment's protection. [emphasis added]

In effect, the Court’s ruling made the New York law in question a national standard. In addition to banning sexual activity with children, the law also prohibited lewd exhibition of children’s genitals. Later rulings have held that this lewd exhibition need not include nudity, but could also apply to clothed children placed in lascivious poses.


Federal Child Exploitation Statutes

The United States has determined that the protection of children is vital to the well being and health of the nation. While Congress has passed numerous laws for the protection of children, the following statutes deal specifically with the sexual exploitation of minors.

For exact wording of each statute, follow the links to the online U.S. Code collection.

TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 109A - SEXUAL ABUSE

Sec. 2241. Aggravated sexual abuse
Sec. 2242. Sexual abuse
Sec. 2243. Sexual abuse of a minor or ward
Sec. 2244. Abusive sexual contact
Sec. 2245. Sexual abuse resulting in death
Sec. 2246. Definitions for chapter
Sec. 2247. Repeat offenders
Sec. 2248. Mandatory restitution

TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 110 - SEXUAL EXPLOITATION AND OTHER ABUSE OF CHILDREN

Sec. 2251. Sexual exploitation of children
Sec. 2251A. Selling or buying of children
Sec. 2252. Certain activities relating to material involving the sexual exploitation of minors
Sec. 2252A. Certain activities relating to material constituting or containing child pornography
Sec. 2253. Criminal forfeiture
Sec. 2254. Civil forfeiture
Sec. 2255. Civil remedy for personal injuries
Sec. 2256. Definitions for chapter
Sec. 2257. Record keeping requirements
Sec. 2258. Failure to report child abuse
Sec. 2259. Mandatory restitution
Sec. 2260. Production of sexually explicit depictions of a minor for importation into the United States

TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 117 - TRANSPORTATION FOR ILLEGAL SEXUAL ACTIVITY AND RELATED CRIMES

Sec. 2421. Transportation generally
Sec. 2422. Coercion and enticement
Sec. 2423. Transportation of minors
Sec. 2424. Filing factual statement about alien individual
Sec. 2425. Use of interstate facilities to transmit information about a minor
Sec. 2426. Repeat offenders
Sec. 2427. Inclusion of offenses relating to child pornography in definition of sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense

TITLE 42 > CHAPTER 136 > SUBCHAPTER VI - CRIMES AGAINST CHILDREN

Sec. 14071. Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Program
Sec. 14072. FBI database

TITLE 42 > CHAPTER 132 > SUBCHAPTER IV > SEC. 13032. - REPORTING OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY BY ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION SERVICE PROVIDERS