is watching porn under 18 illegal?

i just wanted to know if watcing porn under 18 is illegal for the state of new york, i have already googled it and have got no solid answers, so if you can please help me that woul be great, and if it is illegal what can happen to yoiu?

yes, it is probably illegal, the age differing from state to state.

However...the police or anyone like that have better things to be doing than to hunt down every teenager who looks at porn...they definitely don't have enough manpower to do this, as about 90% of guys look at porn...so unless it is child pornography, then it is extremely unlikely you will be punished by the law.

i am not encouraging watching porn, i am just telling it how it is...

I don't believe it is technically illegal to WATCH porn if you are under 18 (I'm not 100% sure on this, but I'm at least about 80% sure). I believe the reason people THINK it is illegal is because it IS in fact illegal for it to be distributed to minors. Possible charges for distributing porn to a minor include recklessly disseminating obscene material to juveniles or disseminating matter that is harmful to juveniles.

I believe the only charges that could be brought up when a minor watches porn is to the distributor....whether it be a website, porn shop, etc...

This is why porn sites ask if you are 18 before you view the material. By doing that, they possibly avoid charges for disseminating harmful material to juveniles.

However, like I said, I'm not 100% sure if I am correct on this. I am simply going on my background in law.

thank you so much you guys helped me alot

Moved from Relationships & Dating to Just Curious

I always believed it was technically illegal... Some places I think it's like 21. But that wont stop anyone, will it?

Umm, yea I would say it is. If its on your part or the distributer's part, its illegal.
I will word it like this.
It is illegal for you to be able to watch porn, thereby making it illegal for you to watch porn.

But in a court of law, who do you think would get in trouble? Yea, it would be the provider, not you.

Originally Posted by Jupiter

Umm, yea I would say it is. If its on your part or the distributer's part, its illegal.
I will word it like this.
It is illegal for you to be able to watch porn, thereby making it illegal for you to watch porn.

But in a court of law, who do you think would get in trouble? Yea, it would be the provider, not you.

That is a good way to put it.

It is somewhat comparable to alcohol laws in SOME states. Some states don't specifically have laws outlawing consumption of alcohol by minors, however all have laws outlawing possession of alcohol (there are exceptions to this, but that's not important at the moment). Now by outlawing possession of alcohol by minors, that makes consumption (nearly) legally impossible.

Nearly every law has some kind of loophole or exception to it.