Sentence Enhancements for Child Pornography Crimes
When you are charged with a child pornography crime in California, you face severe penalties. You could be sentenced to time in prison and face expensive fines. You will also likely have to register as a sex offender for the rest of your life under California Penal Code Section 290. These consequences are very harsh. However, you could face more significant penalties if you face a child pornography sentence enhancement.
Child Pornography Sentence Enhancements
A sentence enhancement is an additional punishment that can be added to your sentence if certain circumstances of your crime are true. A sentence enhancement is not an additional charge.
For child pornography crimes, there are three main sentence enhancements that could apply to your case. Let’s examine child pornography sentence enhancements.
Child Pornography Quantity Enhancement
One of the most common sentence enhancements you could face for a child pornography conviction is based on the amount of child pornography you possessed. Under California Penal Code Section 311.11(c), you could face additional penalties if you possess 600 or more child pornographic images and 10 or more of the images depict a child under the age of 12
If the quantity enhancement is added to your child pornography sentence, you face an additional one year in county jail and fines of up to $2,500 on top of the sentence for your child pornography conviction.
Additionally, this enhancement could take the form of a unit enhancement if you are convicted of producing, distributing, advertising or promoting child pornography under PC 311.2(a) or PC 311.5. This enhancement carries a fine of $5 per unit of child pornography (up to $10,000) plus one day in jail per unit.
Prepubescent Enhancement
The age of the alleged victim could be a factor in your sentence. If you are accused of a child pornography crime involving a minor in the prepubescent stage of life, you could face a sentence enhancement.
“Prepubescent” refers to minors who are just before puberty. Under California Penal Code Section 311.4, this sentence enhancement could be added to your punishment if your crime involved a minor under the age of 14. This enhancement carries up to one year in jail and a $2,000 fine.
Penetration Enhancement
If the child pornographic images in your case depict actual penetration of the minor by a sexual organ, body part or object, a penetration enhancement could be added to your child pornography sentence.
You could also face a sentence enhancement of the child pornography images depict a minor under the age of 18 who is engaged in sexual masochism or sexual sadism.
The penalties for these types of enhancement depend upon the circumstances of your case. Typically, you face an addition one year in custody and $2,500 in fines if this enhancement is added to your sentence.
Contact the Experienced Child Pornography Lawyers at Wallin & Klarich Today
If you or someone you love is accused of a child pornography crime, the consequences that you face are devastating. In addition to time in custody and expensive fines, you could be facing lifetime registration as a sex offender. That is why you should contact an experienced child pornography attorney immediately.
At Wallin & Klarich, our skilled criminal defense attorneys have been successfully defending clients accused of violating California child pornography laws for more than 40 years. We’ve helped thousands of people in their time of legal need, and we can help you now.
With offices in Orange County, Riverside, San Bernardino, Victorville, West Covina, Torrance, Los Angeles and San Diego, our knowledgeable child pornography defense attorneys are available near you no matter where you are located.
Call us today at (877) 4-NO-JAIL or (877) 466-5245 for a free phone consultation. We will get through this together.
