Sex Crime Defense in Wisconsin

Sex crime charges in Wisconsin carry consequences that most other felonies do not. Several offenses have mandatory minimum prison terms a judge cannot go below except in narrow circumstances. A conviction triggers sex offender registration, in some cases for life. And for the most serious offenses, there is no deadline for the State to bring charges at all.

Gimbel, Reilly, Guerin & Brown, LLP has defended these cases in Milwaukee County and in circuit courts across Wisconsin since 1968. What follows is what each charge requires the State to prove, what it carries, and where these cases are actually contested.

What are the degrees of sexual assault in Wisconsin?

Wisconsin grades sexual assault of an adult in four degrees, three of them felonies. The degree turns on what happened, not on the relationship between the parties. First and second degree are the most serious; third degree covers non-consensual intercourse without the aggravating factors, and fourth degree is a misdemeanor.

Wisconsin Statute § 940.225 sets out the tiers:

• First degree, a Class B felony: assault causing pregnancy or great bodily harm, committed with a dangerous weapon, or committed while aided or abetted by another person using force or the threat of force.
• Second degree, a Class C felony: assault by use or threat of force or violence, or causing injury, illness, disease, impairment of a sexual or reproductive organ, or mental anguish requiring psychiatric care. The subsection reaches further, including provisions covering patients, residents, and people in custody.
• Third degree, a Class G felony: sexual intercourse without consent, and certain sexual contact without consent.
• Fourth degree, a Class A misdemeanor: sexual contact without consent.

What does consent mean under Wisconsin law?

Consent means words or overt actions by a person competent to give informed consent, indicating a freely given agreement. The definition matters more than most people expect, because the State does not have to prove the complainant said no. It has to prove the absence of words or actions showing agreement.

That distinction comes from the statutory definition in § 940.225(4) and from State v. Grunke, 2008 WI 82, where the Wisconsin Supreme Court held the State need not prove the complainant withheld consent. Three further points shape how these cases are litigated:

• Consent is not an issue at all in certain subsections of second degree sexual assault, including those involving patients, residents, and people the defendant supervised.
• Some individuals are presumed incapable of consent, though the presumption can be rebutted by competent evidence.
• Force under the second degree provision does not have to be directed at compelling submission. Wisconsin courts have held it includes forcible contact itself, or force used as the means of making contact.

What is sexual assault of a child in Wisconsin?

Wisconsin defines five separate versions of first degree sexual assault of a child and one of second degree. The grading turns on the child’s age, whether force was used, whether great bodily harm resulted, and the defendant’s age. Penalties range from a Class C felony to a Class A felony carrying life imprisonment.

Section 948.02 and the pattern jury instructions for it break down as follows:

• Class A felony: sexual contact or intercourse with a person under 13 causing great bodily harm.
• Class B felony: sexual intercourse with a person under 12; sexual intercourse with a person under 16 by force or threat of force; sexual contact with a person under 16 by force or threat of force where the actor is at least 18; and sexual contact or intercourse with a person under 13.
• Class C felony: sexual contact or intercourse with a person under 16, which is second degree sexual assault of a child.
• Class F felony: a person responsible for a child’s welfare who knows of intended or ongoing contact, is capable of preventing it, and fails to act.

A separate statute, § 948.025, covers three or more violations involving the same child within a period of time. It carries a meaningful procedural limit: the State generally may not charge repeated acts and individual violations involving the same child in the same action unless the individual violation falls outside the relevant period. Where that rule is violated, a Wisconsin court may reverse the repeated-acts conviction rather than the specific-act convictions.

What are sexual exploitation and child pornography production charges?

Sexual exploitation of a child is Wisconsin’s production and distribution offense, and it is a Class C felony. It reaches producing, performing in, profiting from, promoting, importing, reproducing, advertising, selling, distributing, or possessing with intent to sell or distribute a recording of a child engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Section 948.05 has features that broaden it well past the person holding the camera:

• The State must prove the person knew the character and content of the conduct, and knew or reasonably should have known the child had not attained the age of 18.
• A person responsible for a child’s welfare who knowingly permits, allows, or encourages the conduct is reachable under the same penalty provision.
• Where the actor was under 18 at the time of the offense, the charge is a Class F felony rather than a Class C felony.
• The statute carries an affirmative defense on which the defendant bears the burden of proof by a preponderance of the evidence, rather than the State bearing it.

What is possession of child pornography in Wisconsin?

Possession of child pornography is a Class D felony and a separate offense from production. It reaches whoever possesses, or accesses in any way with intent to view, a recording of a child engaged in sexually explicit conduct. The statute contains two distinct knowledge requirements, and both are elements the State must prove.

Under § 948.12, the State must establish that:

• The person knew that he or she possessed or had accessed the material.
• The person knew, or reasonably should have known, that the material contained depictions of sexually explicit conduct.

Those two elements are where most possession cases are genuinely contested. Shared devices, multiple household users, cached files, automatic downloads, peer-to-peer software behavior, and unopened attachments all bear directly on whether a particular person knew what was on a particular drive. Forensic examination of how files arrived and whether they were ever opened is often the center of the defense.

How does Wisconsin charge internet crimes against children?

Two statutes carry most of these prosecutions. Child enticement is a Class D felony, and use of a computer to facilitate a child sex crime is a Class C felony. Both reach conduct where no physical contact ever occurred, which is why online sting operations produce charges even when no child was involved.

Child enticement under § 948.07 covers causing or attempting to cause a child under 18 to enter a vehicle, building, room, or secluded place with one of six enumerated intents. Wisconsin’s Supreme Court has held that sexual contact is not an element and that the act of enticement is itself the crime, not the underlying intended conduct.

Use of a computer under § 948.075 has three notable provisions:

• The offense turns on what the actor believed or had reason to believe about the other person’s age, so the absence of a real child is not a defense.
• The statute does not apply where the actor reasonably believed the age difference was no more than 24 months.
• A conviction requires an act other than using a computerized communication system to communicate. Wisconsin courts have held that transmitting webcam video of oneself was nothing more than using a computer to communicate, and therefore not the additional act the statute requires.

That third element is frequently the strongest ground in these cases, and it is the one most often overlooked. Courts have also held the statute is not unconstitutionally vague, and that an ordinary cellphone qualifies as a computerized communication system.

What are human trafficking charges in Wisconsin?

Trafficking of a child is a Class C felony, and soliciting a child for prostitution is a Class D felony. Trafficking charges carry the longest mandatory minimum in this area of Wisconsin law: a conviction under the general human trafficking statute requires a confinement term of at least 10 years.

Section 948.051 governs child trafficking, and a separate provision at § 939.6175 sets the minimum. Two points matter here:

• The child trafficking statute was amended in the 2025 legislative session. Published summaries built on older versions of the statute may describe elements that no longer match the current text.
• Wisconsin recognizes an affirmative defense for victims of trafficking, and the Wisconsin Supreme Court has held it operates as a complete defense even to the most serious charges.

What mandatory minimum sentences apply to Wisconsin sex offenses?

Several sex offenses carry a floor the sentencing court cannot go below. For child pornography and computer-facilitated offenses, the minimum confinement term is set by statute. For certain child sexual assault offenses, the minimum reaches 25 years. Limited departure routes exist, but they are narrower than most people assume.

Section 939.617 sets the child pornography and computer minimums:

• At least 5 years of confinement for sexual exploitation of a child or use of a computer to facilitate a child sex crime.
• At least 3 years of confinement for possession of child pornography.
• A court may impose less, or probation, only if it finds the best interests of the community will be served and the public will not be harmed, places its reasons on the record, and the person is no more than 48 months older than the child.
• Use of a computer to facilitate a child sex crime is not on the departure list at all. That minimum has no age-gap escape.
• The section does not apply if the offender was under 18 years of age when the violation occurred.

For child sexual assault, § 939.616 imposes a minimum of 25 years before extended supervision eligibility for the Class A version, and a 25-year mandatory minimum confinement term for sexual intercourse with a person under 12. Those minimums also do not apply to an offender who was under 18 at the time. That exemption is one of the most consequential provisions in this area and is rarely mentioned in published summaries.

What does sex offender registration involve?

A conviction for most Wisconsin sex offenses requires registration with the Department of Corrections, and much of the registry information is available to the public. Registration lasts for a term of years for some offenses and for life for others. Failing to comply with the reporting requirements is itself a felony.

Section 301.45 governs. Its reach extends further than the conviction itself:

• Lifetime registration applies to anyone found to be a sexually violent person under chapter 980, and it continues even after discharge from that commitment unless the finding is reversed, set aside, or vacated.
• A court may order lifetime registration at sentencing, and lifetime obligations also attach to people with two or more separate qualifying convictions.
• Registration is not limited to offenses with an obvious sexual element. Wisconsin courts have upheld the requirement as applied to a false imprisonment conviction where the complaint alleged nothing sexual.
• Chapter 980 commitment proceedings are civil and can extend confinement past the completion of a criminal sentence entirely.

Registration is frequently the consequence clients care about most, because it reaches housing, employment, travel, and family life for years or decades after any sentence ends.

Is there a statute of limitations on sex crimes in Wisconsin?

For the most serious offenses, no. A prosecution for first degree sexual assault, first degree sexual assault of a child, or the most serious repeated-acts violations may be commenced at any time. Other sex offenses, including second, third, and fourth degree sexual assault, remain subject to a filing deadline.

Section 939.74 draws that line. The common claim that Wisconsin has no statute of limitations on sex offenses is accurate only for the enumerated ones, and repeating it as a general rule is wrong. The unlimited window is why prosecutions are brought decades after the alleged conduct, often following a delayed report or a DNA match.

Talk to a Wisconsin sex crime defense lawyer

These cases are contested on specifics: which statute the State selected, whether the knowledge or intent element can actually be proven, how digital evidence arrived on a device and whether anyone ever opened it, whether a mandatory minimum applies at all, and what the record will look like at sentencing.

Gimbel, Reilly, Guerin & Brown, LLP has been a trial and litigation firm in Milwaukee since 1968. Our criminal defense team includes former prosecutors and former Wisconsin State Public Defenders. We appear in Milwaukee County Circuit Court and in circuit courts throughout Wisconsin, and we handle these matters from the first contact by investigators through trial, sentencing, and appeal.

If you have been charged or contacted by law enforcement about an allegation of this kind, call 414-271-1440 or send a message through our contact form. Do not discuss the allegation with investigators before you have spoken to a lawyer.

Frequently asked questions

Can charges be filed if the accuser does not want to proceed?

Yes. The decision to charge belongs to the district attorney, not to the complaining witness. These cases are frequently built on forensic evidence, recorded statements, digital records, and prior reports, and they can proceed without a cooperating witness.

Is a mandatory minimum ever avoidable?

Sometimes, but the routes are narrow. For sexual exploitation and possession of child pornography, a court may go below the minimum only on specific findings placed on the record and only where the age gap is no more than 48 months. The minimums do not apply at all to an offender who was under 18 when the offense occurred.

Does a conviction always require registration?

Most sex offense convictions in Wisconsin trigger registration, and some carry lifetime obligations. Registration can also attach to offenses without an obvious sexual element. Because the rules turn on the specific statute of conviction, the registration consequence should be assessed before any plea is entered, not after.

What should I do if investigators contact me but I have not been charged?

Speak to a lawyer before speaking to investigators. The period before charges are filed is often the most useful part of a case, and statements made during it are difficult to undo. Declining to answer questions until counsel is present is not evidence of anything.

Last reviewed: August 2026

This page is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading this page or contacting Gimbel, Reilly, Guerin & Brown, LLP through this website does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case is different, and prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any future matter.