Child solicitation is a criminal offense that involves communicating with someone under 18 to persuade, entice, or lure that minor into sexual activity. The crime is complete the moment the communication happens — no meeting, no physical contact, and no response from the child is required. A federal conviction carries a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison, a maximum of life, and at least 25 years on a public sex offender registry.
What Counts as Child Solicitation
At its core, child solicitation means communicating with a minor for the purpose of engaging that minor in sexual conduct. The medium does not matter. A text message, a direct message on social media, an email, a phone call, or an in-person conversation can all qualify. What the law looks at is the content and purpose of what was said.
To prove the offense, prosecutors generally need to establish three things. The first is that a communication occurred that was sexual in nature or aimed at facilitating sexual activity, such as requesting explicit images, engaging in sexually explicit conversation, or trying to arrange a meeting. The second is that the sender intended to engage in sexual activity with a minor or to get the minor to participate. The third is that the person on the receiving end was, or was believed to be, under the age threshold set by the applicable law.
Because the crime is the communication itself, prosecutors do not have to show that the child complied, that any images were sent, or that a meeting took place. An adult who steers a conversation toward sexual topics, requests a photo, or suggests a private meeting can be charged on that conduct alone.
Why Age Thresholds Trip People Up
Under federal law, the relevant age for most solicitation offenses is 18. State ages of consent for sexual activity range from 16 to 18, and solicitation statutes often set their own thresholds separate from general consent laws.1Legal Information Institute. Age of Consent
The two numbers are not always the same. In some states, a 17-year-old can legally consent to sexual activity but it is still a crime to solicit that same 17-year-old through electronic communication. Many states also impose harsher penalties when the targeted child is especially young, such as under 14 or under 12.
Federal Laws That Apply
Federal law reaches child solicitation through three main statutes. Federal jurisdiction attaches whenever the communication crosses state lines or uses any interstate facility, and because the internet is inherently interstate, almost any online solicitation of a minor can be charged federally.
Enticement of a Minor — 18 U.S.C. 2422
Section 2422(b) is the statute prosecutors use most often in online cases. It makes it a crime to use the mail, the internet, or any other means of interstate commerce to entice someone under 18 to engage in sexual activity that would violate criminal law. The penalty is a mandatory minimum of 10 years in federal prison, with a maximum of life.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 2422 Coercion and Enticement
Transportation of Minors — 18 U.S.C. 2423
This statute reaches people who physically transport a minor across state lines for sexual purposes, or who travel across state lines themselves intending to engage in sexual conduct with a minor. Transporting a child carries 10 years to life. Traveling with intent carries up to 30 years. Attempt and conspiracy are punished the same as a completed offense.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 2423 Transportation of Minors
Transmitting a Minor’s Information — 18 U.S.C. 2425
This provision targets sending a child’s name, address, phone number, or email to someone else with the intent that the recipient will solicit the child for sexual activity. The age threshold here is 16, and the maximum penalty is 5 years.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 2425 Use of Interstate Facilities to Transmit Information About a Minor
Prison Time and What Comes After
The 10-year mandatory minimum under section 2422(b) is just the opening piece. After release from prison, a person convicted under 2422, 2423, or 2425 faces a mandatory period of supervised release of at least 5 years, and potentially for life. Supervised release conditions can include GPS monitoring, internet restrictions, mandatory treatment, and limits on contact with minors.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3583 Inclusion of a Term of Supervised Release After Imprisonment
Federal law also requires sex offender registration through the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA). A conviction under 2422(b) classifies the offender as Tier II.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 34 USC 20911 Relevant Definitions Including Amie Zyla Expansion of Sex Offense Definition Registration must happen in every jurisdiction where the person lives, works, or attends school, with updates within three business days of any change in name, address, employment, or student status.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 34 USC 20913 Registry Requirements for Sex Offenders
Registration lasts 15 years for Tier I, 25 years for Tier II, and life for Tier III.8Federal Register. Registration Requirements Under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act A 2422(b) conviction therefore carries a quarter-century of public listing, with the employment, housing, and social consequences that follow.
Sting Operations: No Real Child, Still a Crime
A large share of federal child solicitation prosecutions come out of sting operations where officers pose as minors online. The person arrested in these cases never communicated with an actual child. They communicated with an adult detective playing the role of one.
That does not spare them. Section 2422(b) criminalizes attempted solicitation as well as completed solicitation.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 2422 Coercion and Enticement Federal courts have consistently held that a defendant can be convicted even when no real minor was involved, as long as the defendant believed the person was a minor and acted on that belief. The attempt carries the same 10-year mandatory minimum as a completed offense.
Many defendants assume the absence of an actual child victim means no crime occurred. That assumption is wrong. The law punishes the intent and the action taken on it, regardless of whether the intended victim exists.
State Charges Can Stack on Federal Ones
Every state has its own child solicitation statute. A single act can violate state and federal law at the same time, and prosecutors in both systems can bring charges. Double jeopardy does not prevent separate state and federal prosecutions for the same conduct.
State laws vary in how they define the offense, which age they use, and what penalties they impose. Some states set the cutoff at 18, others at 16 or 17. Many create penalty tiers tied to the child’s age, so soliciting a 10-year-old triggers far harsher consequences than soliciting a 16-year-old. State prison sentences for solicitation felonies generally run from about one year to seven years or more depending on jurisdiction and circumstances, with fines reaching $25,000 or higher. Some states treat a first offense as a lower-level felony and escalate sharply for repeat offenders.
Defenses That Sometimes Work
Defendants have limited but real options, depending on the facts.
- Entrapment. In sting cases, the defense argues law enforcement induced a crime the defendant was not otherwise predisposed to commit. The federal standard turns on predisposition: did the defendant already have the inclination, or did officers create the criminal intent from scratch? Courts look at who initiated sexually explicit topics, whether the defendant showed reluctance, and whether officers escalated pressure. Providing an opportunity to someone already willing to offend is not entrapment.
- Lack of intent. Because solicitation requires specific intent to engage in sexual activity with a minor, a defendant may argue the communications were misread or not sexually motivated. This gets much harder when explicit messages, images, or travel plans sit in the evidence.
- Mistaken belief about age. Under many state laws, a defendant who genuinely and reasonably believed the other person was an adult may have a defense. Under federal law, the defense has very limited traction, especially in sting cases where the decoy’s profile or statements clearly signaled a minor.
Entrapment gets raised often in sting cases but rarely succeeds. Judges and juries tend to read a defendant’s willingness to engage in explicit talk with someone they believed to be a child as strong evidence of predisposition. The defense works best when records clearly show officers initiating every sexual topic, pressing on after the defendant declined, or using manipulative pressure.
Reporting Suspected Solicitation
Anyone who suspects a child is being solicited online can report it to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children through its CyberTipline. Reports go in online at report.cybertip.org or by phone at 1-800-843-5678, which runs around the clock. NCMEC staff review each report, identify a likely location, and forward it to the appropriate law enforcement agency.9NCMEC. CyberTipline
The CyberTipline accepts reports of online enticement, sexually explicit material involving children, child sex trafficking, and unsolicited obscene material sent to children, among other categories.9NCMEC. CyberTipline Parents who find concerning messages on a child’s device should preserve the evidence first — screenshots of conversations, usernames, timestamps, and platform details — before reporting. Deleting messages or confronting the suspected offender can compromise an investigation.