Colorado statute
C.R.S. § 18-6-403 — Sexual exploitation of a child - legislative declaration - definitions.
Current through 2025 Regular Session
Part of Part 4: WRONGS TO CHILDREN, Colorado Revised Statutes.
Criminal charges under this statute
Full text of C.R.S. § 18-6-403
Statutory text current through the 2025 Regular Session. This is an officially sanctioned publication using the official text of the Colorado Revised Statutes; it is not the official statutes of the State of Colorado.
(1) The general assembly hereby finds and declares that the sexual exploitation of children constitutes a wrongful invasion of the child's right of privacy and results in social, developmental, and emotional injury to the child; that a child below the age of eighteen years is incapable of giving informed consent to the use of the child's body for a sexual purpose or to the use of all or part of the child's image to create sexually exploitative material; and that to protect children from sexual exploitation it is necessary to prohibit the production of material that involves or is derived from such exploitation and to exclude all such material from the channels of trade and commerce. (1.5) The general assembly further finds and declares that the mere possession or control of any sexually exploitative material results in continuing victimization of our children by the fact that such material is a permanent record of an act or acts of sexual abuse of a child; that the creation or the mere possession or control of computer-generated material or digital depictions using all or part of the image of a child in sexually exploitative material results in the victimization of our children; that each time such material is shown or viewed, the child is harmed; that such material is used to break down the will and resistance of other children to encourage them to participate in similar acts of sexual abuse; that laws banning the production and distribution of such material are insufficient to halt this abuse; that in order to stop the sexual exploitation and abuse of our children, it is necessary for the state to ban the possession of any sexually exploitative materials; and that the state has a compelling interest in outlawing the possession of any sexually exploitative materials in order to protect society as a whole, and particularly the privacy, health, and emotional welfare of its children. (2) As used in this section, unless the context otherwise requires: (a) "Child" means a person who is less than eighteen years of age. (b) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2003, p. 1882, § 1, effective July 1, 2003.) (b.5) "Defense counsel personnel" means any defense attorney lawfully representing a defendant in a criminal case or a juvenile in a delinquency case that involves sexually exploitative material or another individual employed or retained by the defense attorney who performs or assists in the duties relating to the defense of the accused that may involve sexually exploitative materials. (b.7) "Digitization" has the same meaning as in section 18-7-107 (6)(i). (c) "Erotic fondling" means touching a person's clothed or unclothed genitals or pubic area, developing or undeveloped genitals or pubic area (if the person is a child), buttocks, breasts, or developing or undeveloped breast area (if the person is a child), for the purpose of real or simulated overt sexual gratification or stimulation of one or more of the persons involved. "Erotic fondling" shall not be construed to include physical contact, even if affectionate, which is not for the purpose of real or simulated overt sexual gratification or stimulation of one or more of the persons involved. (d) "Erotic nudity" means the display of the human male or female genitals or pubic area, the undeveloped or developing genitals or pubic area of the human male or female child, the human breasts, or the undeveloped or developing breast area of the human child, for the purpose of real or simulated overt sexual gratification or stimulation of one or more of the persons involved. (e) "Explicit sexual conduct" means sexual intercourse, sexual intrusion, erotic fondling, erotic nudity, masturbation, sadomasochism, or sexual excitement. (e.3) "Identifiable child" means a person who: (I) Was under the age of eighteen at the time a realistic visual depiction of the person was created, produced, or altered or a person whose image is used to create or produce a realistic visual depiction or whose image is altered to be a realistic visual depiction, and who was under the age of eighteen at the time the image was captured; and (II) Is identifiable by virtue of the individual's face, likeness, or other distinguishing characteristic, including a unique birthmark or other recognizable feature. (e.5) "Law enforcement personnel" means any peace officer, prosecutor, criminal investigator, crime analyst, or other individual who is employed by a law enforcement agency or district attorney's office and who performs or assists in investigative duties that may involve sexually exploitative materials. (f) "Masturbation" means the real or simulated touching, rubbing, or otherwise stimulating of a person's own clothed or unclothed genitals or pubic area, developing or undeveloped genitals or pubic area (if the person is a child), buttocks, breasts, or developing or undeveloped breast area (if the person is a child), 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. (g) "Sadomasochism" means: (I) Real or simulated flagellation or torture for the purpose of real or simulated sexual stimulation or gratification; or (II) The real or simulated condition of being fettered, bound, or otherwise physically restrained for sexual stimulation or gratification of a person. (h) "Sexual excitement" means the real or simulated condition of human male or female genitals when in a state of real or simulated overt sexual stimulation or arousal. (i) "Sexual intercourse" means real or simulated intercourse, whether genital-genital, oral-genital, anal-genital, or oral-anal, between persons of the same or opposite sex, or between a human and an animal, or with an artificial genital. (i.5) "Sexual intrusion" means an intrusion, however slight, by an object or a part of a person's body, except the mouth, tongue, or penis, into the genital or anal opening of another person's body if that sexual intrusion can reasonably be construed as being for the purpose of sexual arousal, gratification, or abuse. (j) "Sexually exploitative material" means: (I) A photograph, motion picture, video, recording or broadcast of moving visual images, live stream, print, negative, slide, or other mechanically, electronically, chemically, or digitally reproduced visual material that depicts a child engaged in, participating in, observing, or being used for explicit sexual conduct; or (II) A realistic visual depiction, which has been created, altered, or produced by digitization or computer-generated means, that depicts an identifiable child, in whole or in part, engaged in, participating in, observing, or being used for explicit sexual conduct. (k) "Video", "recording or broadcast", or "motion picture" means any material that depicts a moving image of a child engaged in, participating in, observing, or being used for explicit sexual conduct. (3) A person commits sexual exploitation of a child if, for any purpose, he or she knowingly: (a) Causes, induces, entices, or permits a child to engage in, or be used for, any explicit sexual conduct for the making of any sexually exploitative material; or (b) Prepares, arranges for, publishes, produces, promotes, makes, sells, finances, offers, exhibits, advertises, deals in, distributes, transports or transfers to another person, or makes accessible to another person, including, but not limited to, through digital or electronic means, any sexually exploitative material; or (b.5) Accesses with intent to view, views, possesses, or controls any sexually exploitative material for any purpose; except that this subsection (3)(b.5) does not apply to law enforcement personnel, defense counsel personnel, or court personnel in the performance of their official duties, nor does it apply to physicians, psychologists, therapists, or social workers, so long as such persons are licensed in the state of Colorado and the persons possess such materials in the course of a bona fide treatment or evaluation program at the treatment or evaluation site; or (c) Possesses with the intent to deal in, sell, or distribute, including but not limited to distributing through digital or electronic means, any sexually exploitative material; or (d) Causes, induces, entices, or permits a child to engage in, or be used for, any explicit sexual conduct for the purpose of producing a performance, or accesses with intent to view or views explicit sexual conduct in the form of a performance involving a child if the conduct in the performance was caused, induced, enticed, requested, directed, or specified by the viewer or potential viewer. (3.5) A juvenile's conduct that is limited to the elements of the petty offense of possession of a private intimate image or intimate digital depiction by a juvenile, as described in section 18-7-109 (2), or limited to the elements of the civil infraction of exchange of a private intimate image or intimate digital depiction by a juvenile, as described in section 18-7-109 (3), is not subject to prosecution pursuant to subsection (3)(b) or (3)(b.5) of this section. (4) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2003, p. 1882, § 1, effective July 1, 2003.) (5) (a) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this subsection (5), sexual exploitation of a child is a class 3 felony. (b) Sexual exploitation of a child pursuant to subsection (3)(b.5) of this section is a class 5 felony for each item of sexually exploitative material accessed with intent to view, viewed, possessed, or controlled; except that said offense is a class 4 felony if: (I) It is a second or subsequent offense; or (II) The item accessed with intent to view, viewed, possessed, or controlled is a video, recording or broadcast of moving visual images, or motion picture. (5.5) Sexual exploitation of a child is an extraordinary risk crime that is subject to the modified presumptive sentencing range specified in section 18-1.3-401 (10) if the sexually exploitative material depicts a child who is: (a) Under twelve years of age; (b) Subjected to the actual application of physical force or violence; or (c) Subject to sexual intercourse, sexual intrusion, or sadomasochism. (5.7) Notwithstanding section 16-22-113 (3)(c) to the contrary, an adult who has more than one conviction of subsection (3)(b.5) of this section in a single criminal case is eligible to petition for removal from the registry pursuant to section 16-22-113. (6) If any provision of this section or the application thereof to any person or circumstances is held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of this section which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this section are declared to be severable. (7) A juvenile charged with a violation of section 18-7-109 (1) is not subject to prosecution for violation of this section for the same electronic or digital photograph, video, or image arising out of the same criminal episode. (8) Nothing in this section changes the discovery procedure for sexually exploitative material as described in section 16-9-601. (9) A prosecution brought pursuant to this section does not require proof of the actual identity of an identifiable child. (10) When the charged offense involves sexually exploitative material pursuant to subsection (2)(j)(II) of this section, it is not a defense that the defendant lacked knowledge of whether the realistic visual depiction was created, altered, or produced by digitization or computer-generated means.
Official sources
Legal terms used in this section
Questions this section answers
Is sexual exploitation of a child a felony or a misdemeanor in Colorado?
It depends on the circumstances: sexual exploitation of a child ranges from a Class 5 Felony to a Class 3 Felony in Colorado under C.R.S. § 18-6-403.
Sexual exploitation of a child - general offense: Class 3 Felony (C.R.S. § 18-6-403(5)(a)) · Sexual exploitation of a child - access/view/possess/control (base): Class 5 Felony (C.R.S. § 18-6-403(5)(b)) · Sexual exploitation of a child - access/view/possess/control (enhanced, prior offense or moving-image material): Class 4 Felony (C.R.S. § 18-6-403(5)(b))
Which Colorado statute covers sexual exploitation of a child?
Sexual exploitation of a child is governed by C.R.S. § 18-6-403 (Sexual exploitation of a child - legislative declaration - definitions).
This reference is informational and is not legal advice.