(1) A person commits the offense of promoting child abuse in the second degree if, knowing or having reason to know its character and content, the person:

Attorney's Note

Under the Hawaii Revised Statutes, punishments for crimes depend on the classification. In the case of this section:
ClassPrisonFine
Class B felonyup to 10 yearsup to $25,000
For details, see Haw. Rev. Stat. § 706-660

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Terms Used In Hawaii Revised Statutes 707-751

  • Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
(a) Disseminates child pornography;
(b) Reproduces child pornography with intent to disseminate;
(c) Disseminates any book, magazine, periodical, film, videotape, computer disk, or any other material that contains an image of child pornography;
(d) Disseminates any pornographic material which employs, uses, or otherwise contains a minor engaging in or assisting others to engage in sexual conduct; or
(e) Possesses thirty or more images of any form of child pornography, and the content of at least one image contains one or more of the following:

(i) A minor who is younger than the age of twelve;
(ii) Sadomasochistic abuse of a minor; or
(iii) Bestiality involving a minor.
(2) As used in this section:

“Child pornography” means any pornographic visual representation, including any photograph, film, video, picture, or computer or computer-generated image or picture, whether made or produced by electronic, mechanical, or other means, of sexual conduct, if:

(a) The pornographic production of such visual representation involves the use of a minor engaging in sexual conduct; or
(b) The pornographic visual representation has been created, adapted, or modified to appear that an identifiable minor is engaging in sexual conduct.

“Community standards” means the standards of the State.

“Computer” shall have the same meaning as in § 708-890.

“Disseminate” means to publish, sell, distribute, transmit, exhibit, present material, mail, ship, or transport by any means, including by computer, or to offer or agree to do the same.

“Lascivious” means tending to incite lust, to deprave the morals in respect to sexual relations, or to produce voluptuous or lewd emotions in the average person, applying contemporary community standards.

“Material” means any printed matter, visual representation, or sound recording and includes, but is not limited to, books, magazines, motion picture films, pamphlets, newspapers, pictures, photographs, and tape or wire recordings.

“Minor” means any person less than eighteen years old.

“Pornographic” shall have the same meaning as in § 712-1210.

“Sadomasochistic abuse” means flagellation or torture by or upon a person as an act of sexual stimulation or gratification.

“Sexual conduct” means actual or simulated sexual intercourse, including genital-genital contact, oral-genital contact, anal-genital contact, or oral-anal contact, whether between persons of the same or opposite sex, masturbation, bestiality, sexual penetration, deviate sexual intercourse, sadomasochistic abuse, or lascivious exhibition of the genital or pubic area of a minor.

“Visual representation” refers to, but is not limited to, undeveloped film and videotape, and data stored on computer disk or by electronic means that are capable of conversion into a visual image.

(3) The fact that a person engaged in the conduct specified by this section is prima facie evidence that the person engaged in that conduct with knowledge of the character and content of the material. The fact that the person who was employed, used, or otherwise contained in the pornographic material was at that time, a minor, is prima facie evidence that the defendant knew the person to be a minor.
(4) Promoting child abuse in the second degree is a class B felony.