Pen. Code, § 311.11 · Chapter 7.5. Obscene Matter
Pen. Code, § 311.11
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) (1) Every person who knowingly possesses or controls any matter, representation of information, data, or image, including, but not limited to, any film, filmstrip, photograph, negative, slide, photocopy, videotape, video laser disc, computer hardware, computer software, computer floppy disc, data storage media, CD-ROM, or computer-generated equipment or any other computer-generated image that contains or incorporates in any manner, any film, filmstrip, or any digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter, the production of which involves the use of a person under 18 years of age, knowing that the matter depicts a person under 18 years of age personally engaging in or simulating sexual conduct, as defined in subdivision (d) of Section 311.4, is guilty of a felony and shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison, or a county jail for up to one year, or by a fine not exceeding two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500), or by both the fine and imprisonment.
(2) Every person who knowingly possesses or controls any matter, representation of information, data, or image, including, but not limited to, any film, filmstrip, photograph, negative, slide, photocopy, videotape, video laser disc, computer hardware, computer software, computer floppy disc, data storage media, CD-ROM, or computer-generated equipment or any other computer-generated image that contains or incorporates in any manner, any film, filmstrip, or any digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter, knowing that the matter is obscene and depicts what appears to be a person under 18 years of age, or contains digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated data depicting what appears to be a person under 18 years of age, engaging in or simulating sexual conduct, as defined in subdivision (d) of Section 311.4, is guilty of a felony and shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison, or imprisonment in a county jail for up to one year, or by a fine not exceeding two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500), or by both that fine and imprisonment.
(b) Every person who commits a violation of subdivision (a), and who has been previously convicted of a violation of this section, an offense requiring registration under the Sex Offender Registration Act, or an attempt to commit any of the above-mentioned offenses, is guilty of a felony and shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for two, four, or six years.
(c) Each person who commits a violation of subdivision (a) shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for 16 months, or two or five years, or shall be punished by imprisonment in a county jail for up to one year, or by a fine not exceeding two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500), or by both the fine and imprisonment, if one of the following factors exists:
(1) The matter contains more than 600 images that violate subdivision (a), and the matter contains 10 or more images involving a prepubescent minor or a minor who has not attained 12 years of age.
(2) The matter portrays sexual sadism or sexual masochism involving a person under 18 years of age. For purposes of this section, “sexual sadism” means the intentional infliction of pain for purposes of sexual gratification or stimulation. For purposes of this section, “sexual masochism” means intentionally experiencing pain for purposes of sexual gratification or stimulation.
(d) It is not necessary to prove that the matter is obscene in order to establish a violation of paragraph (1) of subdivision (a).
(1) Paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) does not apply to drawings, figurines, or statues.
(2) This section does not apply to any film rated by the Motion Picture Association of America, nor does it apply to live or recorded telephone messages when transmitted, disseminated, or distributed as part of a commercial transaction.
(e) For purposes of determining the number of images under paragraph (1) of subdivision (c), the following shall apply:
(1) Each photograph, picture, computer or computer-generated image, or any similar visual depiction shall be considered to be one image.
(2) Each video, video-clip, movie, or similar visual depiction shall be considered to have 50 images.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended by Stats. 2024, Ch. 926, Sec. 4. (AB 1831) Effective January 1, 2025. Note: This section was amended on Nov. 7, 2006, by initiative Prop. 83.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PEN§ionNum=311.11.
- Text hash
- sha256 8bfdd424b4cc2fdec03150dc985eab064c3c3afe6a53e6568258d37793551315
- Composed by
- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
This section cites
Provisions in this library that the text above cites, as it prints each citation. A range cited as “ss. 61.13-61.16” links its first and last provisions.
Cited by 13 provisions
Provisions in this library whose text cites Pen. Code, § 311.11. Each shows the citation as that text prints it.
Penal Code
- Pen. Code, § 288.3Printed as Section 207, 209, 261, 264.1, 273a, 286, 287, 288, 288.2, 289, 311.1, 311.2, 311.4 or 311.11
- Pen. Code, § 290Printed as Section 311.1 or 311.11 | Section 311.3, 311.4, 311.10, 311.11, or 647.6
- Pen. Code, § 290.46Printed as Section 311.11
- Pen. Code, § 311.12Printed as Section 311.1, 311.2, 311.3, 311.10, or 311.11
- Pen. Code, § 502.01Printed as Section 288, 288.2, 311.1, 311.2, 311.3, 311.4, 311.5, 311.10, 311.11, 422, 470, 470a, 472, 475, 476, 480, 483.5, 484g | Section 288, 288.2, 311.1, 311.2, 311.3, 311.4, 311.5, 311.10, 311.11, 470, 470a, 472, 475, 476, 480, 483.5, 484g | Section 288, 288.2, 311.1, 311.2, 311.3, 311.4, 311.5, 311.10,
- Pen. Code, § 638.52Printed as Section 311.11
- Pen. Code, § 667Printed as Section 311.11
- Pen. Code, § 667.15Printed as Section 311.11
- Pen. Code, § 868.5Printed as Section 211, 215, 220, 236.1, 240, 242, 243.4, 245, 261, 266, 266a, 266b, 266c, 266d, 266e, 266f, 266g, 266h, 266i, 266j, 266k, 267, 269, 273a, 273d, 273.5, 273.6, 278, 278.5, 285, 286, 287, 288, 288.
- Pen. Code, § 1170.12Printed as Section 311.11
- Pen. Code, § 1203.4Printed as Section 311.1, 311.2, 311.3, or 311.11
- Pen. Code, § 1524Printed as Section 311.11
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