CSAM Charges Lawyer New York

CSAM is the term investigators and prosecutors now use for what the New York Penal Law calls a sexual performance by a child. The statutes themselves sit in article 263, and they are not interchangeable. A New York CSAM prosecution is usually assembled from a small group of sections, and each of those sections carries its own age threshold and its own felony grade. Penal Law § 263.11 and Penal Law § 263.16 are the possession sections; each describes sexual conduct by a child less than sixteen years of age and each is graded a Class E felony. Penal Law § 263.15 is the promoting section; it describes sexual conduct by a child less than seventeen years of age and is graded a Class D felony. What separates § 263.11 from § 263.16 is obscenity, which § 263.11 requires and § 263.16 does not. Each of these sections reaches, in its current text, a performance “created or altered by digitization as defined in section 245.15 of this part.” A conviction under article 263 is a registrable sex offense under N.Y. Correction Law § 168-a(2)(a)(i). Law Offices Of SRIS, P.C. defends CSAM charges in New York. Mr. Sris, Owner and Founder of Law Offices Of SRIS, P.C., is a former prosecutor. Request a consultation. Calls reach the firm’s 24/7 phone intake at (888) 437-7747.

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Article 263 Section by Section: Ages, Grades, and the Digitization Cross-Reference

Placing the sections next to each other shows why a summary reporting a single age across article 263 is unreliable.

Penal Law § 263.11 — possessing an obscene sexual performance by a child. A person is guilty when, knowing the character and content, such person knowingly possesses or controls, or knowingly accesses with intent to view, any obscene performance which includes sexual conduct by a child less than sixteen years of age. Class E felony.
Penal Law § 263.16 — possessing a sexual performance by a child. A person is guilty when, knowing the character and content, such person knowingly possesses or controls, or knowingly accesses with intent to view, any performance which includes sexual conduct by a child less than sixteen years of age. Class E felony. The performance need not be obscene.
Penal Law § 263.15 — promoting a sexual performance by a child. A person is guilty when, knowing the character and content, such person produces, directs or promotes any performance which includes sexual conduct by a child less than seventeen years of age. Class D felony.

The possession sections use a child less than sixteen. The promoting section uses a child less than seventeen. The possession sections are Class E felonies. The promoting section is a Class D felony. Producing, directing, and promoting are alternatives inside § 263.15 rather than separate offenses, so a production allegation and a distribution allegation share a grade and an age threshold while describing different roles.

All of these sections share a cross-reference. Each reaches, in its current text, a performance “created or altered by digitization as defined in section 245.15 of this part.” Penal Law § 245.15 carries the section heading “Unlawful dissemination or publication of an intimate image,” is a Class A misdemeanor in its own right, and supplies at subdivision 2(d) the digitization definition that article 263 borrows. That borrowed definition is the mechanism by which article 263 reaches altered and artificially generated imagery. The digitization language is in the current text of these sections; this page assigns it no effective date and no amending chapter.

A single consequence attaches regardless of the section charged. Convictions under article 263 are registrable sex offenses under N.Y. Correction Law § 168-a(2)(a)(i), the definitional provision of the Sex Offender Registration Act.

How Mr. Sris and the Firm’s Of Counsel Attorneys Handle These Cases

A CSAM accusatory instrument is mapped before it is argued. Mr. Sris and the firm’s Of Counsel attorneys break the instrument into its counts and set each count beside the section it names, recording the age threshold and the grade that the section supplies. Cases charging both possession and promoting carry both thresholds at once, and the mapping exposes any count that has borrowed an age or a grade from a neighboring section.

The knowledge element is then traced through each count. Every one of these sections requires that the accused knew the character and content of the material, and the possession sections add a further split between knowingly possessing or controlling and knowingly accessing with intent to view. Those are distinct theories, and the People’s proof is examined against the theory each count actually pleads.

Where a count alleges an obscene performance under § 263.11, the obscenity element is tested on its own terms, because the parallel count under § 263.16 does not include it. Where a count alleges producing, directing, or promoting under § 263.15, the firm asks which of those alternatives the People intend to establish, since the alternatives describe different roles.

Digitized and altered material is handled by returning to the cross-reference. The governing definition comes from Penal Law § 245.15, and a count resting on such material is read against it.

Registration is treated as part of the case from the beginning, not as an afterthought at disposition, because article 263 convictions are registrable sex offenses under N.Y. Correction Law § 168-a(2)(a)(i). Clients are told what each count charges, what the section requires, and what each path involves. Request a consultation.

Law Offices Of SRIS, P.C. and Its Attorneys

Law Offices Of SRIS, P.C. was founded in 1997 and concentrates in criminal defense. Mr. Sris is admitted in Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia, New Jersey, and New York. His background as a former prosecutor is directly relevant to article 263 work, because these cases turn on how a charging document was assembled and on which section each count was drawn from.

New York CSAM matters are handled by Mr. Sris and the firm’s Of Counsel attorneys. The firm assigns responsibility by matter and identifies the assigned attorney to the client rather than listing individual Of Counsel attorneys on a practice page.

The article 263 sections resemble one another closely enough that they are frequently described as a single offense with a single age and a single grade. They are not. A possession count and a promoting count differ in the age of the depicted child, in the felony class, and in the conduct alleged, and a case may include counts under more than a single section. The firm reads each count against its own section, explains those differences to the client, and evaluates the registration consequences that attach under N.Y. Correction Law § 168-a. Request a consultation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does article 263 use the same age for every CSAM offense in New York?

No, and this is the detail most often reported incorrectly. Penal Law § 263.11 and Penal Law § 263.16, the possession sections, each describe sexual conduct by a child less than sixteen years of age. Penal Law § 263.15, promoting a sexual performance by a child, describes sexual conduct by a child less than seventeen years of age. If you are reading a case summary or an accusatory instrument that applies the same age to every count, that is worth verifying against the text of each section named, particularly where possession and promoting counts appear together.

Which article 263 section carries the higher felony class?

Penal Law § 263.15, promoting a sexual performance by a child, is a Class D felony. Penal Law § 263.11 and Penal Law § 263.16, the possession sections, are Class E felonies. Because producing, directing, and promoting are alternatives within § 263.15, an allegation of production carries the same Class D grade as an allegation of distribution. The grade follows the section, so if your case includes counts under more than a single section, the counts do not carry a uniform exposure.

What is the difference between Penal Law § 263.11 and Penal Law § 263.16?

The described conduct is the same in both: knowing the character and content, knowingly possessing or controlling a performance, or knowingly accessing it with intent to view. The age is the same in both, a child less than sixteen years of age, and both are Class E felonies. The difference is that § 263.11 requires an obscene performance while § 263.16 does not. If you face counts under both, the obscenity element is present in only one of them and can be addressed there.

Why does Penal Law § 245.15 appear in a CSAM case?

It appears through a cross-reference. Each of the article 263 sections reaches, in its current text, a performance “created or altered by digitization as defined in section 245.15 of this part.” Penal Law § 245.15 carries the section heading “Unlawful dissemination or publication of an intimate image” and is a Class A misdemeanor on its own, but in a CSAM case its role is definitional: subdivision 2(d) supplies the meaning of digitization that article 263 borrows. That definition reaches altered and artificially generated material.

Does a CSAM conviction in New York carry registration regardless of the section?

Convictions under article 263 are registrable sex offenses under N.Y. Correction Law § 168-a(2)(a)(i), the definitional provision of the Sex Offender Registration Act. That consequence attaches across the article, so it does not turn on whether the count named the promoting section or one of the possession sections, even though those sections differ in age threshold and felony class. If you are considering a resolution in a pending matter, registration exposure belongs in the analysis alongside the sentence attached to the felony grade charged.

This page provides general information and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Case results depend on a variety of factors unique to each case. Results may vary.

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