There are a wide variety of child pornography offenses that someone can face under the Code of Federal Regulation. The starting point in this regard is the possession or transport of child pornography. Then there are more serious federal violations under this heading such as the production of child pornography and distribution of child pornography.
A base offense level is designated in the Federal Sentencing Manual for each individual variety of child pornography offense. For example, possession of child pornography is assigned an offense level of 18. There is a commensurate range of penalties that apply to each offense level or score in accordance with the Federal Sentencing Table.
The penalties for child pornography are always serious at the federal level and typically trigger some period of incarceration in prison. Child pornography possession with an offense level of 18 carries 27-33 months in federal prison. The period of imprisonment increases from here for child pornography charges. For more information on how penalties are determined, please consult our practice page for Federal Child Pornography Charges.
