Sean P. Quinlan, Esq. monogramSean P. Quinlan, Esq.

Criminal Defense · Sex Crimes

Sex offense charges in Pennsylvania.

If you are reading this after an arrest or a detective's phone call, start here rather than anywhere else on the internet. This page explains what the Pennsylvania statutes actually require the Commonwealth to prove, how each charge is graded, how the Megan's Law registration tiers work, and what happens at each stage of the case. It is written to be factual and useful, not alarming. Nothing on this page assumes anything about you or about what happened.

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Grading & statutory exposure

Every charge, the statute behind it, and the maximum.

Pennsylvania has no single sex crimes statute. Chapter 31 of the Crimes Code covers sexual offenses, Chapter 63 covers offenses involving minors, and SORNA — a separate statute in Title 42 — decides who has to register and for how long. The tables below set out all three, because in practice a case is defended against all three at once.

Chapter 31 — Sexual Offenses (§§ 3121–3127)

Statute: 18 Pa.C.S. §§ 3121, 3122.1, 3123, 3124.1, 3125, 3126, 3127[7][9][22]

Chapter 31 — Sexual Offenses (§§ 3121–3127): grading and maximum exposure under 18 Pa.C.S. §§ 3121, 3122.1, 3123, 3124.1, 3125, 3126, 3127
Offense & gradingMaximum exposure

Rape — F1 § 3121

Requires forcible compulsion, threat of forcible compulsion, unconsciousness, or a complainant under 13, depending on the subsection charged.

Up to 20 years under § 1103

Involuntary deviate sexual intercourse — F1 § 3123

Tracks the same aggravating circumstances as § 3121 but applies to deviate sexual intercourse as Chapter 31 defines it.

Up to 20 years under § 1103

Sexual assault — F2 § 3124.1

Sexual intercourse or deviate sexual intercourse without consent. Notably, it does not require proof of forcible compulsion — consent is the contested element.

Up to 10 years under § 1103

Statutory sexual assault — F2 or F1 § 3122.1

F2 where the age difference is four years or more but less than eleven; F1 where it is eleven years or more. Consent is not an element.

Up to 10 or 20 years under § 1103

Aggravated indecent assault — F2, or F1 § 3125(b)

Penetration cases short of intercourse; the first-degree grading applies where the complainant is under 13.

Up to 10 or 20 years under § 1103

Indecent assault — M2 through F3 § 3126

Indecent contact as defined in § 3101. The subsection charged, the complainant's age, and any prior conviction drive the grading.

Up to 2, 5, or 7 years under §§ 1103–1104

Indecent exposure — M2 or M1 § 3127

Graded M1 where the person knew or should have known a person present was under 16.

Up to 2 or 5 years under § 1104

Chapter 63 — Offenses Involving Minors (§§ 6301, 6312, 6318, 6320, 6321)

Statute: 18 Pa.C.S. §§ 6301, 6312, 6318, 6320, 6321[11][13][12]

Chapter 63 — Offenses Involving Minors (§§ 6301, 6312, 6318, 6320, 6321): grading and maximum exposure under 18 Pa.C.S. §§ 6301, 6312, 6318, 6320, 6321
Offense & gradingMaximum exposure

Corruption of minors — M1 § 6301(a)(1)(i)

The broad 'corrupting the morals' offense, frequently charged as a companion count or accepted as a negotiated reduction.

Up to 5 years under § 1104

Corruption of minors — F3 § 6301(a)(1)(ii)

Applies where the course of conduct alleged would itself constitute a Chapter 31 offense.

Up to 7 years under § 1103

Unlawful contact with a minor — § 6318

The communication itself is the offense; no meeting and no physical contact are required, which is why sting cases are charged here.

Graded at the higher of F3 or the most serious underlying offense

Possession of child sexual abuse material — F3 § 6312(d)

Second or subsequent offenses are graded F2. Per-file charging is what produces very large aggregate exposure.

Up to 7 years per count under § 1103

Dissemination or production — § 6312(b), (c)

Distribution and production subsections are graded above simple possession.

Higher felony grading

Sexual exploitation of children — F2 § 6320

Procuring or making a child available for a prohibited act, charged alongside § 6312 in some cases.

Up to 10 years under § 1103

Transmission of explicit images by a minor — § 6321

The statute the legislature wrote so minor-on-minor image cases are not charged as Chapter 63 felonies; a diversionary program is authorized.

Summary and misdemeanor grades under § 1104

SORNA Registration (42 Pa.C.S. §§ 9799.14, 9799.15; 18 Pa.C.S. § 4915.1)

Statute: 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 9799.11, 9799.14, 9799.15, 9799.24; 18 Pa.C.S. § 4915.1[18][19][16]

SORNA Registration (42 Pa.C.S. §§ 9799.14, 9799.15; 18 Pa.C.S. § 4915.1): grading and maximum exposure under 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 9799.11, 9799.14, 9799.15, 9799.24; 18 Pa.C.S. § 4915.1
Offense & gradingMaximum exposure

Tier I registration

Annual in-person verification. The lowest tier under the § 9799.14 schedule.

15 years

Tier II registration

Semi-annual in-person verification for the offenses the tier schedule assigns to Tier II.

25 years

Tier III registration

Quarterly in-person verification. Reserved for the most serious offenses on the § 9799.14 schedule.

Lifetime

Sexually violent predator determination — § 9799.24

Follows an assessment by the Sexual Offender Assessment Board and a hearing; it is a separate finding from the conviction itself.

Lifetime registration plus counseling and community notification

Failure to comply — § 4915.1

An administrative failure — a missed verification or an unreported address change — is prosecuted as a new felony.

Felony exposure that rises with tier and prior failures

Subchapter H vs. Subchapter I

After Commonwealth v. Muniz, offenses before December 20, 2012 fall under Subchapter I rather than Subchapter H, with different obligations.

Depends on the offense date

Maximums are statutory ceilings, not expected sentences. Felony and misdemeanor ceilings come from 18 Pa.C.S. § 1103[22] and § 1104[23]. Chapter 31's operative definitions — including "indecent contact" and "forcible compulsion" — live in § 3101[1], and the Rape Shield procedure is at § 3104[3].

Before anything is filed

The pre-charge window is the most important part of the case.

No statement, no device consent, no contact

Most of these cases begin with a detective's voicemail rather than an arrest. Declining to be interviewed, declining to hand over a phone or laptop without a warrant, and having no contact with anyone connected to the allegation are not admissions — they are the only three decisions in this period that cannot be undone later. Never delete anything: destroying data creates separate criminal exposure on top of the case you already have. Call counsel before you do anything else.

The sex crimes defense hub.

Each page below covers one charge in depth — the statutory elements, the grading, the court process, the registration consequence, and the defenses that apply. Click into whichever matches the charge on your paperwork.

Indecent Assault

18 Pa.C.S. § 3126

Section 3126 punishes indecent contact without consent, with grading that climbs from misdemeanor of the second degree to felony of the third degree depending on the subsection and the complainant's age.

Read the guide

Sexual Assault

18 Pa.C.S. § 3124.1

Section 3124.1 makes sexual intercourse or deviate sexual intercourse without consent a felony of the second degree — notably, without requiring proof of forcible compulsion.

Read the guide

Statutory Sexual Assault

18 Pa.C.S. § 3122.1

Section 3122.1 punishes sexual intercourse with a complainant under 16, graded by the age difference between the parties. The complainant's actual consent is not an element of the offense.

Read the guide

Corruption of Minors

18 Pa.C.S. § 6301

Section 6301 punishes an adult who corrupts or tends to corrupt the morals of a minor — a broad, often-added charge that ranges from a misdemeanor to a felony depending on what conduct is alleged.

Read the guide

Unlawful Contact with a Minor

18 Pa.C.S. § 6318

Section 6318 punishes contacting or communicating with a minor for the purpose of engaging in an enumerated offense — the message itself is the crime, and grading can reach felony one exposure.

Read the guide

Possession of Child Sexual Abuse Material

18 Pa.C.S. § 6312

Section 6312 covers possession, dissemination, and production of child sexual abuse material, with grading and registration exposure that escalate sharply, and cases built entirely on forensic device evidence.

Read the guide

Failure to Register (SORNA)

18 Pa.C.S. § 4915.1

Section 4915.1 punishes failing to register, verify an address, or report a change on time — grading rises with tier and prior failures, and most cases start as clerical or life-circumstance failures, not new offenses.

Read the guide

Sexting & Minor-on-Minor Cases

18 Pa.C.S. § 6321

Section 6321 creates summary and misdemeanor grades — and a diversionary program — specifically so minor-on-minor sexting cases aren't charged as Chapter 63 felonies.

Read the guide

The distinctions that decide these cases.

Most of what clients need to understand here is a comparison: which statute applies, which grading attaches, and whether the disposition carries registration. These guides take them one pair at a time.

How we defend these cases.

  • Negotiate the registration tier, not just the sentence

    Two dispositions with identical sentences can produce completely different lives if one carries a SORNA tier and the other does not. In this area I treat the tier as the primary term of any negotiation and the sentence as secondary.

  • Test the charge at the preliminary hearing

    The Commonwealth has to establish a prima facie case for each count and each grading. Many of these cases arrive overcharged, and the preliminary hearing is the first place a grading or a companion count can come off the information.

  • Litigate the digital evidence

    Section 6318 and § 6312 cases are built on device extractions, account records, and hash matching. The warrant's scope, the chain of custody, and what the forensic report actually establishes about attribution are usually the strongest ground in the case.

  • Reconstruct the timeline independently

    Dates matter enormously here: the age gap under § 3122.1, the mistake-of-age analysis under § 3102, and the Subchapter H versus Subchapter I split all turn on specific dates that the affidavit often gets approximately rather than precisely right.

  • Control the interview that has not happened yet

    Most people call me after a detective has left a voicemail and before any charge is filed. That window is the single most valuable point in the case, and the answer is almost always the same: no statement and no device consent without counsel present.

  • Prepare for the SOAB assessment deliberately

    Where an assessment under § 9799.24 is ordered, whether and how a client participates is a strategic decision with consequences at the SVP hearing. It should be made with counsel, not on the day the letter arrives.

Where we appear

Sex crimes defense across Central Pennsylvania.

Attorney Quinlan appears in the magisterial district courts and the Courts of Common Pleas in Dauphin, Cumberland, York, Adams, Perry, Franklin, and Lancaster counties. Start with your city:

Related: Pennsylvania criminal defense overview · assault charges lawyer · domestic violence defense lawyer · preliminary hearing lawyer.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions.

Common questions about Pennsylvania sex offense charges — the statutes, the grading, Megan's Law registration, and what to do first.

  • Do not give a statement, do not consent to a search of your phone or computer, and do not contact the complainant or anyone connected to the allegation. None of that is an admission of anything — it is how you keep the record from being written by someone else. Then call a defense attorney before charges are filed. The pre-charge window is often when the most useful work in the entire case gets done.

  • No. These charges come from two different places in the Crimes Code: Chapter 31 covers sexual offenses such as rape, sexual assault, statutory sexual assault, and indecent assault, while Chapter 63 covers offenses involving minors such as corruption of minors, unlawful contact with a minor, and sexual abuse of children. Registration obligations come from a third place entirely — SORNA, at 42 Pa.C.S. § 9799.11 and following.

  • Registration is driven by the tier schedule at 42 Pa.C.S. § 9799.14, not by whether an offense sounds serious. Tier I carries 15 years, Tier II carries 25 years, and Tier III carries lifetime registration under § 9799.15. Because the tier attaches to the specific offense of conviction, which statute and subsection a case ultimately resolves under can matter more than the sentence.

  • Sometimes, though it is far less common than in other case types and it depends heavily on the county, the grading, and the specific offense. Lower-graded charges are better candidates than felonies, and juvenile cases under 18 Pa.C.S. § 6321 have their own authorized diversionary program. I evaluate diversion, a reduced grading, and the registration consequence together rather than one at a time.

  • Yes. Pennsylvania does not require corroboration, so a case can proceed on testimony alone — but the Commonwealth still carries the burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt on every element. Timelines, prior inconsistent statements, the circumstances in which the allegation first surfaced, and the physical and digital record that does exist are all fair ground, and they are frequently where these cases are actually won or narrowed.

  • Section 3104 generally bars evidence of a complainant's past sexual conduct, with narrow statutory exceptions and a required in camera procedure before any such evidence can be offered. It is often misunderstood as barring all context. It does not bar evidence of bias, of prior inconsistent statements, or of the specific circumstances of the allegation, and knowing exactly where that line runs shapes the trial plan.

  • Not to the element. Section 3122.1 turns on the complainant's age and the age difference between the parties, and agreement by the complainant does not make the conduct lawful. This is the single most misunderstood point clients raise, and it is better to understand it early than to build expectations around it. Mistake as to age under § 3102 is narrower than most people assume as well.

  • Almost certainly, and often more than the sentence does. Registration is publicly searchable, professional licensing boards treat these convictions as reportable, employment and housing screening pick them up, and for a non-citizen the immigration consequences can be severe and independent of the criminal sentence. All of that has to be on the table before any plea is entered, not after.

  • Felony cases in Dauphin, Cumberland, York, and Adams counties commonly run from several months to well over a year from arrest to resolution, longer where a forensic examination of devices is involved or where an assessment under § 9799.24 is ordered. That timeline is frustrating, but it is also useful: it is the time in which investigation, expert review, and negotiation actually happen.

  • Charges that are withdrawn, dismissed, or resolved by acquittal can generally be expunged. Convictions in this category are treated very differently from other offenses and are largely excluded from the ordinary sealing routes, which is another reason the disposition itself — what the case resolves to — matters far more here than in most other criminal cases.

Related pages

Sources & statutory citations

  1. [1]18 Pa.C.S. § 3101 — Chapter 31 definitions — including 'indecent contact', 'forcible compulsion', 'deviate sexual intercourse', and 'sexual intercourse'.
  2. [2]18 Pa.C.S. § 3102 — Mistake as to age — where the complainant is alleged to be under 14, mistake of age is no defense; above that age, a defendant may prove a reasonable belief the complainant was above the critical age.
  3. [3]18 Pa.C.S. § 3104 — Rape Shield — evidence of a complainant's past sexual conduct is generally inadmissible, subject to narrow statutory exceptions and an in camera procedure.
  4. [4]18 Pa.C.S. § 3121 — Rape — felony of the first degree; separate subsections cover forcible compulsion, threat of forcible compulsion, unconsciousness, and a complainant under 13.
  5. [5]18 Pa.C.S. § 3122.1 — Statutory sexual assault — graded F2 where the complainant is under 16 and the defendant is 4 or more but less than 11 years older, and F1 where the age difference is 11 years or more.
  6. [6]18 Pa.C.S. § 3123 — Involuntary deviate sexual intercourse (IDSI) — felony of the first degree, tracking the same aggravating circumstances as § 3121.
  7. [7]18 Pa.C.S. § 3124.1 — Sexual assault — felony of the second degree for sexual intercourse or deviate sexual intercourse without the complainant's consent, without requiring proof of forcible compulsion.
  8. [8]18 Pa.C.S. § 3125 — Aggravated indecent assault — felony of the second degree generally, and felony of the first degree under § 3125(b) where the complainant is under 13.
  9. [9]18 Pa.C.S. § 3126 — Indecent assault — indecent contact without consent; graded from M2 up to F3 depending on the subsection, the complainant's age, and prior convictions.
  10. [10]18 Pa.C.S. § 3127 — Indecent exposure — misdemeanor of the second degree, or misdemeanor of the first degree where the person knew or should have known a person present was under 16.
  11. [11]18 Pa.C.S. § 6301 — Corruption of minors — M1 for corrupting the morals of a minor under 18, and F3 under § 6301(a)(1)(ii) where the course of conduct would constitute a Chapter 31 offense.
  12. [12]18 Pa.C.S. § 6312 — Sexual abuse of children — § 6312(d) possession of child sexual abuse material is graded F3 on a first offense and F2 on a second or subsequent offense; § 6312(b) dissemination and § 6312(c) production carry higher grading.
  13. [13]18 Pa.C.S. § 6318 — Unlawful contact with a minor — contacting a minor for the purpose of engaging in an enumerated offense; graded at the higher of F3 or the grade of the most serious underlying offense.
  14. [14]18 Pa.C.S. § 6320 — Sexual exploitation of children — felony of the second degree for procuring or making a child available for a prohibited sexual act.
  15. [15]18 Pa.C.S. § 6321 — Transmission of sexually explicit images by a minor — the 'sexting' statute, creating summary and misdemeanor grades for minors and a diversionary program in lieu of a Chapter 63 felony.
  16. [16]18 Pa.C.S. § 4915.1 — Failure to comply with registration requirements — grading rises with the registration tier and with prior failures, from F3 up to F1 exposure.
  17. [17]42 Pa.C.S. § 9799.11 — SORNA legislative declaration and scope — Subchapter H applies to offenses committed on or after December 20, 2012, with Subchapter I covering earlier offenses after Muniz.
  18. [18]42 Pa.C.S. § 9799.14 — SORNA tier system — assigns registrable offenses to Tier I, Tier II, or Tier III, which is what sets the registration term and reporting frequency.
  19. [19]42 Pa.C.S. § 9799.15 — SORNA period of registration — 15 years for Tier I, 25 years for Tier II, and lifetime for Tier III, with in-person reporting intervals set by tier.
  20. [20]42 Pa.C.S. § 9799.24 — Assessment by the Sexual Offender Assessment Board and the sexually violent predator (SVP) determination procedure.
  21. [21]Commonwealth v. Muniz, 164 A.3d 1189 (Pa. 2017) — Held SORNA's registration requirements punitive, so retroactive application violates the ex post facto clauses — the decision behind the Subchapter H / Subchapter I split.
  22. [22]18 Pa.C.S. § 1103 — Sentences for felonies — F1 up to 20 years, F2 up to 10, F3 up to 7.
  23. [23]18 Pa.C.S. § 1104 — Sentences for misdemeanors — M1 up to 5, M2 up to 2, M3 up to 1.

Statutes are summarized for public reference. Confirm current text at palegis.us. This page is attorney advertising, not legal advice.

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