Me. Rev. Stat. » Title 17-A
Maine Revised Statutes

Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 17-A, § 283 (2026)

Dissemination of sexually explicit material

✓ current as of May 2026
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1.  A person is guilty of dissemination of sexually explicit material if:  
A. The person intentionally or knowingly disseminates or possesses with intent to disseminate any book, magazine, newspaper, print, negative, slide, motion picture, videotape, computer data file or other mechanically, electronically or chemically reproduced visual image or material that depicts any person who has not in fact attained 16 years of age who the person knows or has reason to know is a person under 16 years of age engaging in sexually explicit conduct, except that it is not a violation of this paragraph if the person depicted is 14 or 15 years of age and the person is less than 5 years older than the person depicted. Violation of this paragraph is a Class C crime;   [PL 2015, c. 394, §3 (AMD).]
B. The person violates paragraph A and, at the time of the offense, has one or more prior convictions under this section or for engaging in substantially similar conduct to that contained in this section in another jurisdiction. Violation of this paragraph is a Class B crime;   [PL 2007, c. 476, §6 (AMD).]
C. The person intentionally or knowingly disseminates or possesses with intent to disseminate any book, magazine, newspaper, print, negative, slide, motion picture, videotape, computer data file or other mechanically, electronically or chemically reproduced visual image or material that depicts any minor who is less than 12 years of age who the person knows or has reason to know is a minor less than 12 years of age engaging in sexually explicit conduct. Violation of this paragraph is a Class B crime; or   [PL 2003, c. 711, Pt. B, §12 (NEW).]
D. The person violates paragraph C and, at the time of the offense, has one or more prior convictions under this section or for engaging in substantially similar conduct to that contained in this section in another jurisdiction. Violation of this paragraph is a Class A crime.   [PL 2007, c. 476, §7 (AMD).]
Section 9‑A governs the use of prior convictions when determining a sentence.  
[PL 2015, c. 394, §3 (AMD).]
2.  For the purposes of this section, possession of 10 or more copies of any of the materials as described in subsection 1 gives rise to a permissible inference under the Maine Rules of Evidence, Rule 303 that the person possesses those items with intent to disseminate.  
[PL 2003, c. 711, Pt. B, §12 (NEW).]
3.  For purposes of this section, any element of age of the person depicted means the age of the person at the time the sexually explicit conduct occurred, not the age of the person depicted at the time of dissemination or possession of the sexually explicit visual image or material.  
[PL 2009, c. 608, §3 (NEW).]
SECTION HISTORY
PL 2003, c. 711, §B12 (NEW). PL 2007, c. 476, §§6, 7 (AMD). PL 2009, c. 608, §3 (AMD). PL 2015, c. 394, §3 (AMD).
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Notes of Decisions
Cited in 4 cases, 2006–2020 · leading case: State v. Wright, 2006 ME 13 (Me. 2006).
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State v. Wright, 2006 ME 13 (Me. 2006). “), following his conditional plea of guilty to two counts of dissemination of sexually explicit material (Class C), 17-A M.R.S. § 283(1)(A) (2005), and four counts of possession of sexually explicit material (Class D), 17-A M.”
United States v. Cameron, 652 F. Supp. 2d 74 (D. Me. 2009). “In addition, the affidavit adds a summarizing allegation in handwriting that says "[a]ll of which constitute evidence of the crimes of possession or dissemination of sexually explicit material.”
State of Maine v. Christopher W. Roy, 2019 ME 16 (Me. 2019). “court issued a warrant authorizing (a) the search of Roy's residence and property, outbuildings, vehicles, and persons on the property at the time the warrant was to be executed, and (b) in relevant part, the seizure of the following items believed to "constitute…”
Merrill v. State of Maine (D. Me. 2020). · cites it 2× “Based on Bosco’s affidavit, a Maine District Court Judge issued a warrant to search Merrill’s residence, motor vehicles, and any persons located in the residence at the time of the search for “[e]vidence of the crimes of dissemination of sexually explicit material in violation…”
— Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 17-A, § 283(1)(A) — 3 cases
State v. Wright, 2006 ME 13 (Me. 2006). “), following his conditional plea of guilty to two counts of dissemination of sexually explicit material (Class C), 17-A M.R.S. § 283(1)(A) (2005), and four counts of possession of sexually explicit material (Class D), 17-A M.”
United States v. Cameron, 652 F. Supp. 2d 74 (D. Me. 2009). “In addition, the affidavit adds a summarizing allegation in handwriting that says "[a]ll of which constitute evidence of the crimes of possession or dissemination of sexually explicit material.”
Merrill v. State of Maine (D. Me. 2020). “Based on Bosco’s affidavit, a Maine District Court Judge issued a warrant to search Merrill’s residence, motor vehicles, and any persons located in the residence at the time of the search for “[e]vidence of the crimes of dissemination of sexually explicit material in violation…”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.