# Is it illegal for minors to view pornographic images of other minors in the US? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 5, 2005, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-for-minors-to-view-pornographic-images-of-other-minors-in-the-us/324818 "2005-10-05T01:44:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![La\_Llorona](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@La\_Llorona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/La_Llorona)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-for-minors-to-view-pornographic-images-of-other-minors-in-the-us/324818/1 "2005-10-05T01:44:06Z")
I wish people in public places wouldn’t talk so loudly! Today I was eating my lunch when I heard the stirring saga, told at top volume by one lady to another, of the time her sixteen-year-old son downloaded a pornographic image of another minor. “Then,” said our Scheherazade, “the cops came right to our door, and–” But they moved away just when they were about to get to the exciting denouement, so I never did find out what happened, and now I’m curious to know: Is it, in fact, illegal for minors to view pornographic images of other minors in the US? ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-for-minors-to-view-pornographic-images-of-other-minors-in-the-us/324818/2 "2005-10-05T03:08:49Z")
IANAL, but here is my take. [ol] [li]It is illegal for **anyone** to make or posess child pornography.[/li][li]In many (if not all) states it is illegal for minors to purchase or posess pornography of any kind.[/li][/ol] Therefore, if a minor were in posession of child pornography it would be illegal under both laws. They would not cancel each other out. This is not to say that a minor child could be arrested for looking at a picture of a naked baby in a bathtub. Nudity in and of itself does not constitute pornography as long as there are no sexual overtones. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-for-minors-to-view-pornographic-images-of-other-minors-in-the-us/324818/3 "2005-10-05T03:20:48Z")
> [@La Llorona](#): > > . . .her sixteen-year-old son downloaded a pornographic image of another minor. “Then,” said our Scheherazade, “the cops came right to our door, and–” Doesn’t really address the question, but this raises a host of questions, like how did the police know what he was doing? Smells a little fishy. ---
**Author:** ![La\_Llorona](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@La\_Llorona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/La_Llorona)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-for-minors-to-view-pornographic-images-of-other-minors-in-the-us/324818/4 "2005-10-05T03:35:35Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Doesn’t really address the question, but this raises a host of questions, like how did the police know what he was doing? Smells a little fishy. I was wondering about that, too, but I couldn’t exactly turn around and shout, “Don’t talk about such personal things in public! Hey, by the way, exactly how did those cops get the alert about your wayward son’s Internet activities?” Doesn’t seem cricket somehow… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-for-minors-to-view-pornographic-images-of-other-minors-in-the-us/324818/5 "2005-10-05T03:38:43Z")
IANAL, but the laws are partly there to keep demand down. Downloading child pornography creates a market no matter what your age. There’s a thought. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-for-minors-to-view-pornographic-images-of-other-minors-in-the-us/324818/6 "2005-10-05T04:00:04Z")
It IS illegal for a minor to possess child pornography. It is also illegal for a minor child to have sex with another minor child. Different states may have a different idea of what constitutes a minor in regards to sex, but whether the age is 14,16, or 18, these minors can’t have sex with each other. If two 15 year old Floridian teenagers have sex with eachother, they are BOTH committing a felony – _Lewd and Lacivious Conduct on a Minor Under 16 Years Old._ ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-for-minors-to-view-pornographic-images-of-other-minors-in-the-us/324818/7 "2005-10-05T04:14:27Z")
> [@csharpmajor](#): > > IANAL, but the laws are partly there to keep demand down. Downloading child pornography creates a market no matter what your age. There’s a thought. _Paying_ for it creates a market. Simply downloading does nothing. Furthermore, “virtual” child pornography is legal, so the effect of the law is to prevent people from making porn with actual children, not to prevent perverts from looking at depictions of kids in sexual situations. ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-for-minors-to-view-pornographic-images-of-other-minors-in-the-us/324818/8 "2005-10-05T04:19:28Z")
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#): > > It is also illegal for a minor child to have sex with another minor child. Different states may have a different idea of what constitutes a minor in regards to sex, but whether the age is 14,16, or 18, these minors can’t have sex with each other. I don’t think that’s true everywhere. All of [Washington’s sex offense laws](http://www.leg.wa.gov/RCW/index.cfm?fuseaction=chapterdigest&chapter=9A.44) dealing with age include a clause like “… and the perpetrator is at least twenty-four months older than the victim”. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-for-minors-to-view-pornographic-images-of-other-minors-in-the-us/324818/9 "2005-10-05T04:38:02Z")
> [@Mr2001](#): > > Furthermore, “virtual” child pornography is legal, so the effect of the law is to prevent people from making porn with actual children, not to prevent perverts from looking at depictions of kids in sexual situations. Are you sure about this? Wasn’t there an aging rock star not too long ago (Pete something?) who was arrested after the police found child porn on his computer? I also wonder how the police could come knocking on that family’s door if the son was looking at child porn. Surely it can’t be as simple as visiting a website once (or even two or three times) and being arrested…can it? What if you’re searching for legal, adult porn, and accidentally click on a child porn website?? ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-for-minors-to-view-pornographic-images-of-other-minors-in-the-us/324818/10 "2005-10-05T04:40:13Z")
> [@Rodgers01](#): > > Are you sure about this? Wasn’t there an aging rock star not too long ago (Pete something?) who was arrested after the police found child porn on his computer? IIRC, that was Pete Townshend, and it was _actual_ child porn. _Virtual_ child porn is porn that appears to feature minors but was really made through computer graphics, photo manipulation, or the use of young-looking actors. ---
**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-for-minors-to-view-pornographic-images-of-other-minors-in-the-us/324818/11 "2005-10-05T05:09:13Z")
I heard of a case (sorry no cite) where a 15 year old girl was charged with making and distributing child pornography of herself. Anybody know what I’m talking about? ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-for-minors-to-view-pornographic-images-of-other-minors-in-the-us/324818/12 "2005-10-05T06:29:46Z")
> [@Mr2001](#): > > _Paying_ for it creates a market. Simply downloading does nothing. > > Furthermore, “virtual” child pornography is legal, so the effect of the law is to prevent people from making porn with actual children, not to prevent perverts from looking at depictions of kids in sexual situations. If people look at it, people will make it. And kiddie porn is mostly not free (IIRC). ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-for-minors-to-view-pornographic-images-of-other-minors-in-the-us/324818/13 "2005-10-05T06:43:46Z")
> [@Mr2001](#): > > I don’t think that’s true everywhere. All of [Washington’s sex offense laws](http://www.leg.wa.gov/RCW/index.cfm?fuseaction=chapterdigest&chapter=9A.44) dealing with age include a clause like “… and the perpetrator is at least twenty-four months older than the victim”. I thought maybe that this might occur somewhere, but I had never seen it anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-for-minors-to-view-pornographic-images-of-other-minors-in-the-us/324818/14 "2005-10-05T07:31:56Z")
> [@Mr2001](#): > > IIRC, that was Pete Townshend, and it was _actual_ child porn. Townsend was [cleared](http://www.vh1.com/artists/news/1471748/05072003/who.jhtml) of child pornography charges but he was forced to register as a sex offender in Britain because he accessed an illegal child pornography website. [Gary Glitter](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Glitter) on the other hand _was_ convicted. ---
**Author:** ![aamco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@aamco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aamco)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-for-minors-to-view-pornographic-images-of-other-minors-in-the-us/324818/15 "2005-10-05T19:01:45Z")
> [@groman](#): > > I heard of a case (sorry no cite) where a 15 year old girl was charged with making and distributing child pornography of herself. Anybody know what I’m talking about? I recall that exact scenario as well, but I am too afraid to Google it. ☹ I believe that two minors (however minors are defined) having sex are both technically commiting a crime, although it is generally agreed among law enforcement that giving them a pass and telling them to go home is the SOP. I seem to recall this fine point because there was a case recently where the police actually booked two teenagers for boinking in a car, which caused a huge uproar. Again, I’d cite, but then I’d have to Google “teenagers boinking arrested”. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-for-minors-to-view-pornographic-images-of-other-minors-in-the-us/324818/16 "2005-10-05T19:10:35Z")
> [@aamco](#): > > I recall that exact scenario as well, but I am too afraid to Google it. ☹ Happened near me, in fact. And why be afraid to Google “teen pornography computer pennsylvania”? [http://www.post-gazette.com/breaking/20040329pornp6.asp](http://www.post-gazette.com/breaking/20040329pornp6.asp)