750.145c Definitions

750.145c Definitions; child sexually abusive activity or material; penalties; possession of child sexually abusive material; expert testimony; defenses; acts of commercial film or photographic print processor; report to law enforcement agency by computer technician; reasonable availability of evidence to defendant; applicability and uniformity of section; enactment or enforcement of ordinance, rule, or regulation prohibited.

Child Sexually Abusive Activity or Material, or Child Pornography, is a felony criminal offense in the state of Michigan. Any electronic visual image, picture, video, computer generated image, film, slide, or sound recording which includes a minor who is younger than 18 or appears to include a child younger than 18 engaging in a sexual act may be considered child sexually abusive material.

Individuals may be accused of possessing child pornography or materials which depict the abuse of a child under 18, or of distributing these types of materials. Production of child sexually abusive material is also an extremely serious felony charge.

Three types of conduct may constitute Child Sexually Abusive Activity in Michigan:

• Possession of Child Sexually Abusive Material or Child Pornography. Any individual who possesses child sexually abusive material and does so knowingly is guilty of a felony offense.

• Distribution of Child Pornography or Child Sexually Abusive Material. Any individual who promotes, distributes, or finances the distribution of child pornography (or who conspires, attempts, or prepares) material which is child sexually abusive is guilty of a felony offense.

• Production of Child Pornography or Sexually Abusive Material. Any individual who entices, coerces, persuades, induces, or otherwise causes a child to engage in child sexually abusive activity or who knowingly allows a child to engage in this behavior with the intended purpose being to produce child sexually abusive material is guilty of a felony offense.

Punishment:

The penalties for a conviction on charges of Child Sexually Abusive Activity or Material vary, depending on the type of conduct an individual is found guilty of.

Possession of child sexually abusive material will leave the defendant facing a maximum fine of $10,000, up to four years in prison, or both.

Distribution of child sexually abusive material will result in penalties which include a maximum fine of $50,000, up to seven years in prison, or both.

Production of child sexually abusive material will result in criminal penalties which include a maximum fine of $100,000, up to 20 years in prison, or both.

Other Consequences:

Individuals who are convicted of a sex-related offense may be required to register as a sex offender and placed on the Michigan Public Sex Offender Registry. The severity of the crime committed often dictates the length of registration. Negative consequences which may result due to being labeled a sex offender include loss of the freedom to choose where you live, loss of career opportunities, disqualification for government programs, and more.

Additionally, the defendant may be ordered by the district court to submit to STD and HIV/AIDS testing if it is determined there is reason to believe that sexual penetration resulted in exposure of the defendant's body fluid.

Related Crimes:

Other crimes related to Child Sexually Abusive Activity or Material include:

• Soliciting or Accosting a Minor for Sex

  • Statutory Rape - Individuals accused of statutory rape will face charges of criminal sexual conduct in the first, second, third, or fourth degree.

• First-degree CSC

• Second-degree CSC

Child Molestation and Sexual Abuse - A wide variety of sex offenses are charged as criminal sexual conduct, as indicated above with statutory rape. Child molestation and sex crimes against minors may result in charges of first-, second-, third-, or fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Experience and Success:

The criminal defense team at Grabel & Associates has extensive experience defending all types of criminal sex charges, including Child Sexually Abusive Activity or Material and has successfully defended clients against Child Pornography, securing dismissal of charges, acquittals, and having convictions overturned on appeal in many cases.

Defenses:

There are numerous defense strategies which can be used by your criminal defense attorney to win your case, depending on the specific facts of your situation. Criminal defendants may also desire to appeal a conviction or seek post-conviction relief.

750.145c Definitions; child sexually abusive activity or material; penalties; possession of child sexually abusive material; expert testimony; defenses; acts of commercial film or photographic print processor; report to law enforcement agency by computer technician; reasonable availability of evidence to defendant; applicability and uniformity of section; enactment or enforcement of ordinance, rule, or regulation prohibited.

Sec. 145c.

(1) As used in this section:

(a) "Access" means to intentionally cause to be viewed by or transmitted to a person.

(b) "Appears to include a child" means that the depiction appears to include, or conveys the impression that it includes, a person who is less than 18 years of age, and the depiction meets either of the following conditions:

(i) It was created using a depiction of any part of an actual person under the age of 18.

(ii) It was not created using a depiction of any part of an actual person under the age of 18, but all of the following apply to that depiction:

(A) The average individual, applying contemporary community standards, would find the depiction, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest.

(B) The reasonable person would find the depiction, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.

(C) The depiction depicts or describes a listed sexual act in a patently offensive way.

(c) "Child" means a person who is less than 18 years of age, subject to the affirmative defense created in subsection (6) regarding persons emancipated by operation of law.

(d) "Commercial film or photographic print processor" means a person or his or her employee who, for compensation, develops exposed photographic film into movie films, negatives, slides, or prints; makes prints from negatives or slides; or duplicates movie films or videotapes.

(e) "Computer technician" means a person who installs, maintains, troubleshoots, upgrades, or repairs computer hardware, software, personal computer networks, or peripheral equipment.

(f) "Contemporary community standards" means the customary limits of candor and decency in this state at or near the time of the alleged violation of this section.

(g) "Erotic fondling" means touching a person's clothed or unclothed genitals, pubic area, buttocks, or, if the person is female, breasts, or if the person is a child, the developing or undeveloped breast area, for the purpose of real or simulated overt sexual gratification or stimulation of 1 or more of the persons involved. Erotic fondling does not include physical contact, even if affectionate, that is not for the purpose of real or simulated overt sexual gratification or stimulation of 1 or more of the persons involved.

(h) "Erotic nudity" means the lascivious exhibition of the genital, pubic, or rectal area of any person. As used in this subdivision, "lascivious" means wanton, lewd, and lustful and tending to produce voluptuous or lewd emotions.

(i) "Listed sexual act" means sexual intercourse, erotic fondling, sadomasochistic abuse, masturbation, passive sexual involvement, sexual excitement, or erotic nudity.

(j) "Make" means to bring into existence by copying, shaping, changing, or combining material, and specifically includes, but is not limited to, intentionally creating a reproduction, copy, or print of child sexually abusive material, in whole or part. Make does not include the creation of an identical reproduction or copy of child sexually abusive material within the same digital storage device or the same piece of digital storage media.

(k) "Masturbation" means the real or simulated touching, rubbing, or otherwise stimulating of a person's own clothed or unclothed genitals, pubic area, buttocks, or, if the person is female, breasts, or if the person is a child, the developing or undeveloped breast area, either by manual manipulation or self-induced or with an artificial instrument, for the purpose of real or simulated overt sexual gratification or arousal of the person.

(l) "Passive sexual involvement" means an act, real or simulated, that exposes another person to or draws another person's attention to an act of sexual intercourse, erotic fondling, sadomasochistic abuse, masturbation, sexual excitement, or erotic nudity because of viewing any of these acts or because of the proximity of the act to that person, for the purpose of real or simulated overt sexual gratification or stimulation of 1 or more of the persons involved.

(m) "Prurient interest" means a shameful or morbid interest in nudity, sex, or excretion.

(n) "Child sexually abusive activity" means a child engaging in a listed sexual act.

(o) "Child sexually abusive material" means any depiction, whether made or produced by electronic, mechanical, or other means, including a developed or undeveloped photograph, picture, film, slide, video, electronic visual image, computer diskette, computer or computer-generated image, or picture, or sound recording which is of a child or appears to include a child engaging in a listed sexual act; a book, magazine, computer, computer storage device, or other visual or print or printable medium containing such a photograph, picture, film, slide, video, electronic visual image, computer, or computer-generated image, or picture, or sound recording; or any reproduction, copy, or print of such a photograph, picture, film, slide, video, electronic visual image, book, magazine, computer, or computer-generated image, or picture, other visual or print or printable medium, or sound recording.

(p) "Sadomasochistic abuse" means either of the following:

(i) Flagellation or torture, real or simulated, for the purpose of real or simulated sexual stimulation or gratification, by or upon a person.

(ii) The condition, real or simulated, of being fettered, bound, or otherwise physically restrained for sexual stimulation or gratification of a person.

(q) "Sexual excitement" means the condition, real or simulated, of human male or female genitals in a state of real or simulated overt sexual stimulation or arousal.

(r) "Sexual intercourse" means intercourse, real or simulated, whether genital-genital, oral-genital, anal-genital, or oral-anal, whether between persons of the same or opposite sex or between a human and an animal, or with an artificial genital.

(2) A person who persuades, induces, entices, coerces, causes, or knowingly allows a child to engage in a child sexually abusive activity for the purpose of producing any child sexually abusive material, or a person who arranges for, produces, makes, copies, reproduces, or finances, or a person who attempts or prepares or conspires to arrange for, produce, make, copy, reproduce, or finance any child sexually abusive activity or child sexually abusive material for personal, distributional, or other purposes is guilty of a felony, punishable by imprisonment for not more than 20 years, or a fine of not more than $100,000.00, or both, if that person knows, has reason to know, or should reasonably be expected to know that the child is a child or that the child sexually abusive material includes a child or that the depiction constituting the child sexually abusive material appears to include a child, or that person has not taken reasonable precautions to determine the age of the child.

(3) A person who distributes or promotes, or finances the distribution or promotion of, or receives for the purpose of distributing or promoting, or conspires, attempts, or prepares to distribute, receive, finance, or promote any child sexually abusive material or child sexually abusive activity is guilty of a felony, punishable by imprisonment for not more than 7 years, or a fine of not more than $50,000.00, or both, if that person knows, has reason to know, or should reasonably be expected to know that the child is a child or that the child sexually abusive material includes a child or that the depiction constituting the child sexually abusive material appears to include a child, or that person has not taken reasonable precautions to determine the age of the child. This subsection does not apply to the persons described in section 7 of 1984 PA 343, MCL 752.367.

(4) A person who knowingly possesses or knowingly seeks and accesses any child sexually abusive material is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than 4 years or a fine of not more than $10,000.00, or both, if that person knows, has reason to know, or should reasonably be expected to know the child is a child or that the child sexually abusive material includes a child or that the depiction constituting the child sexually abusive material appears to include a child, or that person has not taken reasonable precautions to determine the age of the child. This subsection does not apply to any of the following:

(a) A person described in section 7 of 1984 PA 343, MCL 752.367, a commercial film or photographic print processor acting under subsection (8), or a computer technician acting under subsection (9).

(b) A police officer acting within the scope of his or her duties as a police officer.

(c) An employee or contract agent of the department of social services acting within the scope of his or her duties as an employee or contract agent.

(d) A judicial officer or judicial employee acting within the scope of his or her duties as a judicial officer or judicial employee.

(e) A party or witness in a criminal or civil proceeding acting within the scope of that criminal or civil proceeding.

(f) A physician, psychologist, limited license psychologist, professional counselor, or registered nurse licensed under the public health code, 1978 PA 368, MCL 333.1101 to 333.25211, acting within the scope of practice for which he or she is licensed.

(g) A social worker registered in this state under article 15 of the public health code, 1978 PA 368, MCL 333.16101 to 333.18838, acting within the scope of practice for which he or she is registered.

(5) Expert testimony as to the age of the child used in a child sexually abusive material or a child sexually abusive activity is admissible as evidence in court and may be a legitimate basis for determining age, if age is not otherwise proven.

(6) It is an affirmative defense to a prosecution under this section that the alleged child is a person who is emancipated by operation of law under section 4(2) of 1968 PA 293, MCL 722.4, as proven by a preponderance of the evidence.

(7) If a defendant in a prosecution under this section proposes to offer in his or her defense evidence to establish that a depiction that appears to include a child was not, in fact, created using a depiction of any part of an actual person under the age of 18, the defendant shall at the time of the arraignment on the information or within 15 days after arraignment but not less than 10 days before the trial of the case, or at such other time as the court directs, file and serve upon the prosecuting attorney of record a notice in writing of his or her intention to offer that defense. The notice shall contain, as particularly as is known to the defendant or the defendant's attorney, the names of witnesses to be called in behalf of the defendant to establish that defense. The defendant's notice shall include specific information as to the facts that establish that the depiction was not, in fact, created using a depiction of any part of an actual person under the age of 18. Failure to file a timely notice in conformance with this subsection precludes a defendant from offering this defense.

(8) If a commercial film or photographic print processor reports to a law enforcement agency having jurisdiction his or her knowledge or observation, within the scope of his or her professional capacity or employment, of a film, photograph, movie film, videotape, negative, or slide depicting a person that the processor has reason to know or reason to believe is a child engaged in a listed sexual act; furnishes a copy of the film, photograph, movie film, videotape, negative, or slide to a law enforcement agency having jurisdiction; or keeps the film, photograph, movie film, videotape, negative, or slide according to the law enforcement agency's instructions, both of the following shall apply:

(a) The identity of the processor shall be confidential, subject to disclosure only with his or her consent or by judicial process.

(b) If the processor acted in good faith, he or she shall be immune from civil liability that might otherwise be incurred by his or her actions. This immunity extends only to acts described in this subsection.

(9) If a computer technician reports to a law enforcement agency having jurisdiction his or her knowledge or observation, within the scope of his or her professional capacity or employment, of an electronic visual image, computer-generated image or picture or sound recording depicting a person that the computer technician has reason to know or reason to believe is a child engaged in a listed sexual act; furnishes a copy of that image, picture, or sound recording to the law enforcement agency; or keeps the image, picture, or sound recording according to the law enforcement agency's instructions, both of the following apply:

(a) The identity of the computer technician shall be confidential, subject to disclosure only with his or her consent or by judicial process.

(b) If the computer technician acted in good faith, he or she is immune from civil liability that might otherwise be incurred by his or her actions. This immunity extends only to acts described in this subsection.

(10) In any criminal proceeding regarding an alleged violation or attempted violation of this section, the court shall deny any request by the defendant to copy, photograph, duplicate, or otherwise reproduce any photographic or other pictorial evidence of a child engaging in a listed sexual act if the prosecuting attorney makes that evidence reasonably available to the defendant. Evidence is considered to be reasonably available to the defendant under this subsection if the prosecuting attorney provides an opportunity to the defendant and his or her attorney, and any person the defendant may seek to qualify as an expert witness at trial, to inspect, view, and examine that evidence at a facility approved by the prosecuting attorney.

(11) This section applies uniformly throughout the state and all political subdivisions and municipalities in the state.

(12) A local municipality or political subdivision shall not enact any ordinance or enforce any existing ordinance, rule, or regulation governing child sexually abusive activity or child sexually abusive material as defined by this section.

History: Add. 1977, Act 301, Eff. Mar. 30, 1978 ;-- Am. 1988, Act 110, Eff. June 1, 1988 ;-- Am. 1994, Act 444, Eff. Apr.1, 1995 ;-- Am. 2002, Act 629, Eff. Mar. 31, 2003 ;-- Am. 2004, Act 478, Imd. Eff. Dec. 28, 2004 ;-- Am. 2012, Act 583, Eff. Mar. 1, 2013

Compiler's Notes: Subsections (n) and (o), are evidently out of alphabetical order.