What are child abuse images?

Child abuse images are defined as any form of representing sexual exploatation of children, including video or written materials, which are concentrated on representing sexual behaviour or sexual organs of a child.

Child abuse images are a pornographic material, which:

  • graphically represents a child (person under 15 years of age) which is unambiguously involved or engaged in sexually explicit conduct and
  • realistic images of nonexsistant child which is unambiguously involved or engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

According to international law, child abuse images are criminal offence in case of:

  • production,
  • distribution,
  • aquisition/delivery,
  • making child abuse images accessible and
  • possession.

Aim of investigating child abuse images is:

  • to identify perpetrator of sexual abuse,
  • to identify victims of sexual abuse and
  • to track down the perpetrator/distributor of child abuse images.

What is an image (snapshot) of child abuse?

Image (snapshot) of child abuse is direct evidence of sexual abuse of a child.

Sorroundings in which an image (snapshot) was taken is a location where criminal offence of sexual abuse of child was commited.

Legal basis

  1. The Penal Code of the Republic of Slovenia KZ-1

Article 176 - Presentation, manufacture, possession and distribution of pornographic material

  1. Whoever sells, presents or publicly exhibits documents, pictures or audiovisual or other items of a pornographic nature to a person under 15 years of age, enables them to gain access to these in any other way or shows them a pornographic performance shall be issued a fine or sentenced to imprisonment of up to two years.
  2. Whoever abuses a minor in order to produce pictures or audiovisual or other items of a pornographic nature, or uses him/her in a pornographic performance, shall be sentenced to imprisonment of between six months and five years.
  3. Whoever produces, distributes, sells, imports, exports or supplies pornographic material depicting minors or their realistic images in any other way, or possesses such material, or uncovers the identity of minor in such material, shall be subject to the same sentence.
  4. If an offence from paragraphs 2 or 3 was committed within a criminal association for the commission of such criminal offences, the perpetrator shall be sentenced to imprisonment of between one and eight years.
  5. Pornographic material from paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 of this Article shall be seized or its use disabled in some other manner.

International documents