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In the state of Florida, there are 86,207 registered sex offenders, many of whom are on the sex offender list due to pedophlia, according to FDLE data cited in OPPAGA’s December 2024 Sex Offender Registration and Monitoring Triennial Review
Pedophilia is classified as a paraphilic disorder under the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). A paraphilic disorder is an abnormal sexual interest which causes personal distress; which involves a desire for sexual behaviors that cause psychological distress or injury in others; or which involve desire for sexual behaviors with people who are unable or unwilling to give consent.
Pedophilia specifically involves intense and recurrent sexual urges and sexual fantasies involving prepubescent children which have caused interpersonal difficulty or which have been acted upon. Not all individuals with pedophilia are criminals, as pedophilia is a sexual orientation only. However, some pedophiles act upon their urges in unlawful ways, such as by contacting children online for sexual purposes; viewing or creating child pornography; or engaging in sexual acts with a child.
What is a pedophile?
A pedophile is someone who has been diagnosed with pedophilic disorder, the pattern of urges and fantasies described above. That diagnosis alone isn’t a crime. It becomes a legal matter under Florida and federal law only when someone acts on those urges by contacting a child, creating or possessing child sexual abuse material, or engaging in any sexual act with a minor.
Is pedophilia illegal?
Pedophilia itself, as a diagnosed condition, isn’t a crime under Florida or federal law. What’s illegal is the conduct of contacting a child for sexual purposes, producing or possessing child sexual abuse material, or any sexual act with a minor. Someone can carry this diagnosis and never commit an offense, and someone without any diagnosis can still be prosecuted for these same acts.
Florida has criminalized any type of sexual contact between an adult and a minor who is under the age of consent. Florida laws prohibiting sexual behavior involving children include, but are not limited to unlawful sexual activity with certain minors (F.S. 794.05); lewd and lascivious offenses committed in the presence of someone under 16 (F.S. 800.04) and digital voyeurism of a minor (F.S. 810.145(8)). That last statute was known as “video voyeurism” until 2024, when the Florida Legislature renamed and updated it to cover how these offenses actually happen today.
Both sexual contact with children and any involvement with child pornography are also illegal under federal law. Under both state and federal law, consent of a child is not relevant as minors are not lawfully permitted to give consent.
Conviction for a sexual offense involving a child under state or federal law will generally require the defendant to register as a sexual offender and to comply with certain restrictions involving the use of computers or employment choices.
Speak with our child sexual abuse lawyer now to learn more.