Child pornography charges can have devastating repercussions for you and your life, yet there may be legal defenses available – for instance arguing that police violated your Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms during their search of your home.
To successfully establish this offence, the Crown must prove several facts beyond a reasonable doubt, including your actual knowledge that child pornographic materials were present and that they were in your possession.
The punishment for child pornography offences in Canada can include significant fines, incarceration (up to 14 years, depending on the severity) and being registered as a sex offender. If you have been charged with possessing or accessing child pornography, it is important to contact a qualified lawyer right away.
What You Need to Know
Child pornography charges carry serious maximum sentences that could destroy your reputation in the community, your employment prospects and relationships with loved ones and friends. They are considered serious offenses by the Crown, so an experienced criminal attorney should be hired immediately in order to fight these accusations and charges.
Defense against child pornography charges is complex and challenging, yet many viable defenses may apply depending on the specifics of your case. One option could include police violating your Charter rights when collecting evidence for prosecution; this can involve issues like search and seizure of browser history, IP addresses and hard drives.
Making, printing or possessing child pornography with the intent to publish is an indictable offence that carries a minimum sentence of one year in jail. Accessing child pornography for distribution could carry up to 10 years if brought through indictment; summarily proceedings would result in 2 less years per day.
To convict, the Crown must prove all elements of these offenses beyond a reasonable doubt, such as that the images or videos contain images or videos depicting children as well as sexually explicit material and that you possess or have access to it; and they must further establish your intent of disseminating or creating such material.
Possession
If you have been charged with possession of child pornography, the crown has the burden to prove that these materials were under your possession and control. Possession is typically defined as visual images, written material and even videos depicting sexually explicit depictions of people under 18 in sexual contexts. You can challenge this charge by contesting how police obtained evidence that led to your arrest – for instance by showing that computer where evidence was discovered belonged to another individual such as family or work use and did not fall exclusively within your domain of control.
If the Crown prosecutor can establish that you own and control child pornography, they can charge you with one of four offenses listed in Section 163.1 of the Criminal Code: possession, accessing, making or distributing. These serious offenses carry lengthy maximum sentences.
If convicted of these offenses, you could face up to 14 years in prison and your name would be included on a sex offender registry, which could adversely impact your life in many ways – for instance ostracization from family and friends and difficulty finding gainful employment may ensue.
Making
Anyone creating child pornographic materials which are viewed, transmitted or stored on a computer may face severe charges. These offenses may be prosecuted either as summary or indictable offenses and the latter often carry more severe penalties. For the Crown to prove you guilty of these offenses, it must establish both knowledge and control over these illegal materials; an added aggravating factor can include violent content being included as part of this material; while multiple illegal images also count against you as an additional factor.
Though the Crown may possess stronger evidence against those charged with making, possessing, or accessing child pornography, this does not preclude you from having an effective defence in these cases. Indeed, it’s quite common for innocent parties – such as accidentally opening files containing child pornography on your computer – to find themselves charged with these offenses due to innocent mistakes made while using computers or downloading files or links that contain child pornographic material.
If you are charged with child pornography violations such as accessing, possessing or distributing, this will constitute a serious criminal act and could potentially result in lengthy jail sentences. Furthermore, any conviction will require you to register with the Sex Offender Registry.
Accessing
Anyone accessing child pornographic material could face charges and conviction for either an indictable or summary conviction offense, depending on which approach the Crown chooses for prosecution of this violation. A maximum sentence of 14 years imprisonment could apply depending on their chosen approach to prosecute this offence.
The prosecution must demonstrate that you were aware that any material you were possessing constituted child pornography. They also need to show you had access to it and that you viewed it. We have had great success successfully arguing on our client’s behalf that either this content did not meet legal definition of pornography, or you weren’t aware it was illegal.
Whenever an arrest for child pornography takes place, having an experienced criminal defence lawyer on your side is vital in safeguarding your rights throughout the case. They will make sure your rights are upheld during searches conducted by police as well as seizure of evidence by authorities. We can ensure the police have complied with your constitutional rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, often leading to exclusion of evidence and lessening your risk of conviction. Your child pornography defense lawyer must have an in-depth knowledge of criminal law and evidence rules to help your case against the Crown and establish reasonable doubt. They should know how to challenge its evidence effectively while creating reasonable doubt so you have a fighting chance at victory. At VilkhovLaw.ca, we are experienced criminal defence lawyers with an obsession for justice. With every strong case we build, we strive to provide the best possible outcome for our clients and put forth the most effective defense for them. Contact us today to secure competitive rates and high-quality representation.
