Common Child Sex Crimes in Wisconsin Section 948

Question: What are the most commonly charged sex crimes against children under Section 948 in Wisconsin?

Answer: There are a variety of sex crimes. The more serious ones involve first degree sexual assault of a child, which is any child under the age of 13; or second degree sexual assault of a child, which is under the age of 16. The others I would group into kind of the pornography categories. That would be either exploitation of a child, forcing a child to view or listen to any kind of sexual activity, possession of child porn, exposing a child to harmful materials—those are all grouped I would say in the pornography category. Exposing genitals to a minor is a less, it’s a lesser charge but quite often used in certain types of cases. There’s also incest, there’s child enticement, which is maybe less commonly charged than it used to be. And there’s now also the use of a computer to facilitate any of these crimes, which can be used even if the person is not talking to an actual child but simply to a law enforcement officer over a computer network. That can be charged in those situations.