Sexting Laws in Louisiana: Minors, Adults, and Penalties

Sexting laws in Louisiana are spread across four statutes, and which one applies decides whether a case ends in juvenile court or in decades of hard labor. Teenagers who send or forward explicit images fall under a dedicated sexting law, RS 14:81.1.1. Adults, or anyone whose conduct involves coercion, face the child sexual abuse materials statute, RS 14:81.1. Sharing an adult’s intimate image without consent is covered by RS 14:283.2, and secretly recording someone falls under the video voyeurism law, RS 14:283.

Teen Sexting Under RS 14:81.1.1

Louisiana carved out a separate law for minors so that ordinary teenage phone behavior would not be prosecuted the same way as adult exploitation. The statute reaches anyone under 17 and covers two distinct acts: sending an explicit image of yourself by phone or computer, and possessing or forwarding an explicit image that another minor sent.¹

The two sides of the exchange are treated very differently. A minor who sends an image of themselves is handled exclusively through the Louisiana Children’s Code, meaning juvenile proceedings focused on rehabilitation rather than criminal conviction.¹

A minor who possesses or forwards someone else’s explicit image faces graduated criminal penalties:

First offense: $100 to $250 fine, up to 10 days in jail, or both. If the sentence is suspended, at least two eight-hour days of community service.
Second offense: $250 to $500 fine, 10 to 30 days in jail, or both, with five eight-hour days of community service if suspended.
Third or subsequent offense: $500 to $750 fine, 30 days to six months in jail, or both, with ten eight-hour days of community service if suspended.

The dedicated sexting law does not mention sex offender registration, and Children’s Code matters stay in the juvenile system. Prosecutors, however, retain discretion. If the facts look like exploitation rather than typical teenage behavior, charges can be filed under the child sexual abuse materials statute instead, and the consequences change completely.

Child Sexual Abuse Materials Under RS 14:81.1

RS 14:81.1 is the statute that produces life-altering sentences. It prohibits producing, distributing, advertising, or possessing any photograph, video, or electronic reproduction that shows sexual conduct by a child under 17.² This is the law that applies when an adult is involved, when content was coerced, or when a prosecutor decides the teen sexting statute does not fit.

The baseline penalties carry mandatory minimums:

Possession: up to a $50,000 fine and 5 to 20 years at hard labor, with no parole, probation, or suspension.
Distribution or possession with intent to distribute: the same range, up to $50,000 and 5 to 20 years at hard labor without parole, probation, or suspension.

When the victim is under 13 and the offender is at least 17, the penalties escalate sharply. Possession and distribution carry a minimum of half the longest standard term up to twice that longest term. Production with intent to distribute involving a child under 13 carries 25 to 99 years, with at least 25 years served before any parole eligibility.²

A conviction under this statute, unlike the teen sexting law, can trigger sex offender registration. That gap between the two laws is the whole reason Louisiana wrote a separate juvenile-focused statute.

Sharing an Adult’s Intimate Image Without Consent

Louisiana’s nonconsensual disclosure statute, RS 14:283.2, is often called the revenge porn law. It targets the deliberate sharing of someone’s intimate images without permission, filling the space between voyeurism and child exploitation. It typically applies to adults where images were shared in confidence and then released to embarrass or harass the person depicted.

The offense requires four elements: the person intentionally shared an image showing intimate areas or sexual conduct; they obtained the image through unauthorized access or in circumstances where a reasonable person would understand it was meant to stay private; they knew or should have known the depicted person did not consent to disclosure; and they knew or should have known the disclosure could cause harassment or emotional distress.³ The depicted person must be identifiable from the image itself or from information displayed alongside it.

A conviction carries a fine of up to $10,000, imprisonment of up to two years, or both.³ The statute recognizes exceptions for law enforcement activity and other defined circumstances.

One point often confused in these cases: consenting to the creation of an image is not consent to its distribution, and sharing an image with one person does not authorize that person to share it further.⁴

Video Voyeurism Under RS 14:283

Video voyeurism becomes relevant when the image at issue was captured, not sent. RS 14:283 makes it a crime to use any recording device to observe or capture images of a person without consent, either for a sexual purpose or in a place where the person has a reasonable expectation of privacy.⁵ The statute expressly covers drones and other unmanned aircraft with cameras.

Where the recording took place matters. A reasonable expectation of privacy typically exists in bathrooms, bedrooms, and changing rooms. In genuinely public places, the question becomes whether the recording was made for a lewd purpose. Legitimate news gathering and public interest reporting are exempt.⁵

Standard penalties escalate with repeat convictions:

First conviction: fine of up to $2,000, imprisonment of up to two years, or both.
Second or subsequent conviction: fine of up to $2,000 and six months to three years of hard labor, without parole, probation, or suspension.

When the recorded content captures intimate body parts or sexual activity, the penalties jump to a fine of up to $10,000 and one to five years of hard labor, with no parole, probation, or suspension.⁵ The enhanced tier applies regardless of whether it is a first or later offense; the content itself triggers it.

Defenses That Actually Apply

A few defenses recur across these cases. The most common is lack of intent. Someone who receives an unsolicited explicit image without asking for it or knowing its content has a real argument, particularly if the material was deleted promptly and never shared. Louisiana’s obscenity statute, RS 14:106, treats the transmission of unsolicited sexually explicit electronic communications as its own offense, which reinforces the distinction between willing participants and unwitting recipients.⁶

In video voyeurism cases, the central question is often whether the location gave the person a reasonable expectation of privacy. Recording in a public park is very different from recording through a bedroom window. Even in public, though, a sexual purpose can still support a conviction, because the privacy analysis is only one of two paths under RS 14:283.⁵

Some federal circuits recognize a defense based on a genuine, reasonable mistake about the subject’s age in child sexual abuse materials cases, but the defendant must prove it by clear and convincing evidence.⁷ Louisiana’s state child sexual abuse materials statute does not provide a mistake-of-age defense.

Federal Charges That Can Stack On Top

Louisiana statutes don’t operate alone. Almost any digital sharing crosses state lines or uses interstate networks, and federal prosecutors can bring charges in addition to whatever the state files. Federal law under 18 U.S.C. § 2252A carries a mandatory 5-year minimum and up to 20 years for a first distribution offense, up to 10 years for simple possession, and up to 20 years for possession involving a prepubescent child or a child under 12. A second federal distribution conviction runs 15 to 40 years.⁸

Conduct on federal property has its own rule. The federal Video Voyeurism Prevention Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1801, applies within special maritime and territorial jurisdiction, which includes federal buildings, military installations, and national parks. Capturing an image of someone’s private areas without consent, in circumstances where the person had a reasonable expectation of privacy, is punishable by up to one year in prison, a fine, or both.⁹ Given Louisiana’s military presence, this matters for conduct on bases or federal facilities.

Service members face additional exposure under Article 117a of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which specifically criminalizes wrongful distribution of intimate images and can be prosecuted by court-martial alongside state charges for the same conduct.¹⁰

Civil Recovery for Victims

Criminal charges are not the only remedy. Federal law now provides a civil cause of action under 15 U.S.C. § 6851 when intimate images are shared without consent through interstate commerce, which includes the internet. A court can order the person to stop sharing the images, pay the victim’s financial losses or a set amount of $150,000, and cover attorney’s fees and court costs.¹¹ This federal civil remedy operates independently of any state prosecution. Victims may also pursue state tort claims such as invasion of privacy or intentional infliction of emotional distress, and civil suits can produce both monetary damages and injunctions ordering content removal.

1
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code 14-81.1.1 – Sexting Prohibited Acts Penalties
2
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code 14-81.1 – Child Sexual Abuse Materials
3
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code 14-283.2 – Nonconsensual Disclosure of a Private Image
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 6851 – Civil Action Relating to Disclosure of Intimate Images
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Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code 14-283 – Video Voyeurism Penalties
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Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code 14-106 – Obscenity
7
Ninth Circuit District & Bankruptcy Courts. Jury Instructions 8.186 – Sexual Exploitation of Child Defense of Reasonable Belief of Age
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 2252A – Certain Activities Relating to Material Constituting or Containing Child Pornography
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1801 – Video Voyeurism
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 USC 917a – Art 117a Wrongful Broadcast or Distribution of Intimate Visual Images
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U.S. Department of Justice. Sharing of Intimate Images Without Consent Know Your Rights