In Nevada, it is a felony offense to produce, promote, or possess any sexual depiction of children. The penalties include state prison and 25 years of registering as a Tier II sex offender, which is publicly searchable. A conviction may never be sealed from your criminal record.
The prison terms depend on the specific crime you are charged with:
| Child pornography crime | Nevada State Prison sentence |
| Possession (NRS 200.730) | 1 to 6 years for a first offense |
| Advertising (NRS 200.725) | 1 to 15 years |
| Using the internet to control or view the pornography (NRS 200.727) | 1 to 5 years for a first offense |
| Using a child to make pornography (NRS 200.710 & 200.720) | Life |
Child pornography is an “intent crime” in Nevada. Therefore, charges should be dismissed if the prosecutor cannot prove that you meant to possess, promote, or produce kiddie porn.
On this page, our Las Vegas criminal defense attorneys discuss the following topics re. Nevada child pornography laws:
- 1. “Child Pornography” Defined
- 2. Defenses
- 3. Penalties
- 4. Record Seals
- 5. Immigration Consequences
- 6. Related Crimes
- Additional Reading
1. “Child Pornography” Defined
Nevada law prohibits possessing, advertising, or creating child pornography in Nevada. Child pornography (or “kiddie porn”) is a display of sexual conduct involving minors meant to appeal to a viewer’s baser instincts. Sexual conduct means either:
- sexual intercourse,
- lewd exhibition of the genitals,
- fellatio,
- cunnilingus,
- bestiality,
- anal intercourse,
- excretion,
- sadomasochistic abuse,
- masturbation, and/or
- the penetration of any object manipulated or inserted by a person into the genital or anal opening of the body of another.1
Child pornography can take the form of printed photos, digital or electronic images, videos, films, plays, or any other kind of visual representation or live performance.2
In determining whether a person depicted in pornography is indeed a minor, a Nevada court or jury may:
- inspect the person,
- view the pornography,
- consider witness and medical expert opinions, and
- use any other legal method available.3
2. Defenses
Here at Las Vegas Defense Group, we have represented literally thousands of people charged with sex crimes such as child pornography. In our experience, the following two defenses have proven very effective with prosecutors, judges, and juries.
No Intent
You are innocent of child pornography if you did not knowingly promote, advertise, or possess child pornography.4
Example: Jed lives in Las Vegas and receives a child porn magazine in the mail that he did not order nor expect. He calls the police right away to report the incident. Since Jed did not knowingly acquire the child porn and alerted authorities as soon as possible, he should not be prosecuted for possessing child porn.
Similarly, if you cast a minor actor in a pornographic movie but had every reason to believe the actor was an adult, you committed no crime.
We find “lack of intent” to be a very strong defense because prosecutors can never definitively prove what was going on in your head. As long as the D.A. cannot show beyond a reasonable doubt that you acted knowingly, criminal charges should not stand.
No Pornography
There may be a genuine debate about whether the material in question qualifies as child pornography. Perhaps the material is not sexual and instead has serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
In these cases, we can call upon expert witnesses to explain how similar materials to the one in your case are not considered pornographic. Therefore, Nevada’s child pornography laws should not apply, and the case should be dropped.5
3. Penalties
If you are convicted of child pornography in Nevada, you are required to register as a sex offender.6 The prison sentences and fines depend on whether you are convicted of (1) producing, (2) advertising, (3) possessing, or (4) using the internet to watch child pornography, which are separate offenses in Nevada.7
However, it may be possible for a criminal defense attorney to get child pornography cases dismissed or reduced to lesser crimes with no sex offender registration.
Using or Promoting the Use of a Child in Pornography
NRS 200.710 and 200.720 make knowingly using or promoting the use of a child in pornography a category A felony in Nevada.8 The penalties are:
- a life sentence in Nevada State Prison, and
- a fine of up to $100,000.
If the child was 14 or older at the time of production, eligibility for parole begins after five years have been served.9 If the child was under 14 at the time, parole eligibility begins after 10 years.10
Note that penalties still apply even if the pornography is produced for personal use and with no intention to sell, exhibit, or distribute it.
Learn more about using a child to produce child pornography (NRS 200.710) and promoting a child sexual performance (NRS 200.720).
Advertising Child Pornography
NRS 200.725 makes knowingly preparing, advertising or distributing child pornography a category B felony in Nevada. It is punishable by:
- 1 to 15 years in prison, and/or
- a fine of up to $15,000.
Advertising child pornography is a crime even if you never personally possess or view the materials.11
Learn more about advertising or distributing child pornography (NRS 200.725).
Possessing Child Pornography
Under NRS 200.730, knowingly and willfully possessing child pornography of children under 16 is a category B felony, carrying:
- 1 to 6 years in prison.
A second or subsequent offense of child pornography possession in Nevada is a category A felony, punishable by
- 1 year to a life sentence with the possibility of parole, and
- possibly a fine of up to $5,000.
Certainly, there is an exception for law enforcement: Police officers and prosecutors are allowed to possess these materials in the course of their investigation and prosecution.12
Learn more about possessing child pornography (NRS 200.730).
Using the Internet to View Child Pornography
NRS 200.727 makes knowingly using the internet with the intent to view pornography with a child under 16 a category C felony in Nevada carrying:
- 1 to 5 years in prison, and
- possibly a fine of up to $10,000.
A second or subsequent offense is a category B felony, carrying:
- 1 to 6 years in prison, and
- possibly a fine of up to $5,000.
Learn more about using the internet to control a visual depiction of child pornography (NRS 200.727).13
4. Record Seals
If your child pornography case gets dismissed (meaning there is no conviction), the case can be sealed right away. Otherwise, Nevada law does not permit the sealing of child pornography convictions.14
5. Immigration Consequences
Child pornography is a deportable offense and a crime involving moral turpitude. Consequently, non-citizens who have been convicted of child pornography may be deported from the U.S.
Foreigners charged with child pornography crimes are advised to retain experienced counsel as soon as possible. An attorney may be able to get the case dismissed or charges reduced to a non-removable offense.15
6. Related Crimes
- Lewdness with a child under 16 (NRS 201.230): Committing a sexual act on a child under 16 carries a life sentence with the possibility of parole after 10 years, sex offender status, and possibly a fine of up to $10,000.
- Child abuse (NRS 200.508): Cause a child to suffer physical or mental harm carries prison and fines depending on the severity of the injuries.
- Statutory sexual seduction / statutory rape (NRS 200.368): An adult having sexual penetration with a child age 15 or 14 and with a minimum four-year age difference carries up to 10 years in prison and sex offender status. (Sixteen is the age of consent in Nevada.)
- Prostitution (NRS 201.354) – When no minors are involved, trading sexual favors for something of value is a misdemeanor carrying up to six months in jail and/or up to $1,000. Merely offering or agreeing to trade money for sex (“solicitation“) carries the same penalties even if no sex takes place and no money changes hands. Meanwhile, soliciting a minor is a category D felony carrying one to four years in prison and up to $5,000.
Additional Reading
For more in-depth information, refer to these informational articles:
- The Perverse Law of Child Pornography – Columbia Law Review.
- Child Pornography Law: Does it Protect Children? – Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law.
- Defining Child Pornography: Law Enforcement Dilemmas in Investigations of Internet Child Pornography Possession – Police Practice and Research.
- The Expansion of Child Pornography Law – New Criminal Law Review.
- Legal definitions of child pornography – Journal of Sexual Aggression.
Go back to our Nevada sex crimes page.
Legal References:
- NRS 200.700; NRS 200.727. See also Castaneda v. State, 132 Nev., Adv. Op. 44, 373 P.3d 108 (2016) (defendant’s simultaneous possession of multiple images of child pornography comprised one violation of NRS 200.730) and Shue v. State, 133 Nev. Op. 99 (2017).
- Wilson v. State (2005) 121 Nev. 345 (“This definition of a performance is broad and covers various types of performances that can be considered sexual in nature as well as how those performances are recorded. But notwithstanding this broad definition, it is the use of a child in a sexual performance that is prohibited under NRS 200.710, and that performance can be of any type and documented in any manner.”).
- NRS 200.740 (“For the purposes of NRS 200.710, to 200.735, inclusive, to determine whether a person was a minor, the court or jury may: 1. Inspect the person in question; 2. View the performance; 3. Consider the opinion of a witness to the performance regarding the person’s age; 4. Consider the opinion of a medical expert who viewed the performance; or 5. Use any other method authorized by the rules of evidence at common law.”).
- Zana v. State (2009) 125 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 41 (“[E]vidence of defendant’s lewd behavior was admissible to prove the knowing and willful element of the pornography charges.”)
- NRS 200.700 (“Sexual portrayal means the depiction of a person in a manner which appeals to the prurient interest in sex and which does not have serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.”).
- NRS 179D.097.
- Wilson v. State, supra, (explains how Nevada child pornography laws are separate offenses: “The crime of possession of child pornography is not a lesser-included offense to the production of child pornography as defined by Nevada law. Consequently, NRS 200.710 and NRS 200.730 are not mutually exclusive and . . . a violation of each requires proof of an element that the other does not.”).
- NRS 200.710 (The production of child pornography in Nevada includes a “person who knowingly uses, encourages, entices or permits a minor to simulate or engage in or assist others to simulate or engage in sexual conduct to produce a performance” or a “person who knowingly uses, encourages, entices, coerces or permits a minor to be the subject of a sexual portrayal in a performance . . . regardless of whether the minor is aware that the sexual portrayal is part of a performance.”); NRS 200.720 (The promotion of child pornography in Nevada includes a “person who knowingly promotes a performance of a minor . . . [w]here the minor engages in or simulates, or assists others to engage in or simulate, sexual conduct; or [w]here the minor is the subject of a sexual portrayal[.]”).
- NRS 200.750.
- Same.
- NRS 200.725 (This Nevada child pornography crime encompasses anyone “who knowingly prepares, advertises or distributes any item or material that depicts a minor engaging in, or simulating, or assisting others to engage in or simulate, sexual conduct[.]”).
- NRS 200.730 (“[A] person who knowingly and willfully has in his possession for any purpose any film, photograph or other visual presentation depicting a person under the age of 16 years as the subject of a sexual portrayal or engaging in or simulating, or assisting others to engage in or simulate, sexual conduct” may be prosecuted in Nevada.).
- NRS 200.727.
- NRS 179.245.
- United States v. Santacruz, 563 F.3d 894 (9th Cir. Apr. 20, 2009).