New York Penal Law 263.30: Facilitating a sexual performance by a child with a controlled substance or alcohol

Child Pornography and Facilitating Sexual Performance with a Controlled Substance or Alcohol

Child pornography is a much more prevalent issue than many people realize, and it’s terrifying. New York Penal Law 263.30 is the facilitating of a sexual performance with a child with a controlled substance or alcohol, and it’s a parent’s worst nightmare. The law in New York dictates this criminal activity as a Class B Felony. It’s punishable by law for up to 25 years in prison, probation that might last as long as 10 years, and guilty parties will be fined for their felony activity. There is also a statute that places the guilty party on the national sex offender list for as many as 20 years. If a controlled substance is found illegally on the guilty party’s person, it could add additional fines and penalties to the final sentencing.

Understanding the Crime

When a person chooses to engage in sexual activity by providing a child younger than 17 with drugs or alcohol to get their cooperation in the manner, it’s considered facilitating sexual performance with a controlled substance. The substance is most commonly used to sedate and make more compliant the person the crime is being committed against, and it’s a dangerous felony to commit. Add in the fact that a child is involved and the situation is made that much worse.

Examples of Facilitating a Sexual Performance By A Child With A Controlled Substance of Alcohol

An example might be a 20-year-old man who provides a 16-year-old girl with shots of tequila all night long. She’s drunk, and she’s not making wise decisions. As she continues to drink and her inhibitions are lowered further, he asks her to have sex. She agrees, and they consensually experience intercourse. When she is sober and remembers what happened, she is horrified by the situation. If she decides to press charges against him or her parents decide to do so on her behalf, he could be charged with facilitating a sexual performance by a child with alcohol because he gave her drinks to lower her inhibitions first.

Even if the act is consensual following the issuances of drugs or alcohol, it’s still a felony crime punishable by law. When drugs or alcohol are used on a child prior to this type of behavior, it insinuates predatory and even premeditated behavior on behalf of the guilty party. Since drugs and alcohol are considered dangerous in conjunction with decision making, it’s a felony.

Defenses

There are several defenses NYC criminal attorneys use in a case like this when a client approaches them about this type of charge. The first is that the person who was given the drugs and/or alcohol is over 17. The second is that the person making the accusation led the guilty party to believe he or she was over 17. An example of this might be a young woman who is given alcohol by a man in a club, performs a sexual act with him, and later regrets it after using her fake ID to get into the club. Since the club rules state you must be 21 or older to enter, he reasonably thought she was older than she was and didn’t have a clue she was a minor.

This might drop the charge for facilitating a sex act with a child, but the guilty party will still face charges for using drugs or alcohol to facility sexual relations with an adult if the victim decides to go forward with the case. It’s not cut and dried by any means, but it’s a defense many people choose to go with since they don’t want to be charged as a sexual predator with a minor.