Pence Applauds President for Signing Bill that Includes Pence Child Pornography Amendment
PENCE APPLAUDS PRESIDENT FOR SIGNING BILL THAT INCLUDES PENCE CHILD PORNOGRAPHY AMENDMENT
Congressman attends signing ceremony with his children
Child Pornography Prevention Act Summary
Congressman Mike Pence applauded President Bush today for signing the "Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006" into law. Included in the bill is the Pence Amendment that will crack down on "home pornographers." Pence attended the Rose Garden signing ceremony with two of his children, Michael, 15, and Charlotte, 13.
"The fuel that fires the wicked hearts of child predators is child pornography," said Pence. "The portion of the law I authored provides law enforcement with the tools to combat child pornography and serves as a much-needed and overdue step that must be taken to protect our children from those in our society who have no decency and know no shame."
For Congressman Pence's floor statement on this legislation, click here.
Background:
The purpose of the Child Pornography Prevention Act is to ensure that children are not exploited in the production and distribution of pornography. Additionally, the legislation provides increased protection to victims of child pornography and strengthens the hand of law enforcement in investigating and bringing charges in obscenity and child pornography cases. Highlights of the legislation follow:
· The legislation sets forth findings that show a connection between child pornography that is produced at home or downloaded on a home computer and interstate commerce, which will strengthen the ability of prosecutors to move forward with federal cases against child pornographers who operate out of the home.
· The legislation closes a loophole that allows pornographers to exploit children by using them in productions that include simulated sexual activity and then claim that they believed the children to be over age eighteen. The loophole is closed by requiring producers of any visual depiction with simulated sexual activity to keep name and age records of the actors who participate in the simulated sexual activity. Businesses that certify to the Attorney General that they keep such records in the ordinary course of business will not be required to comply with the full regime of requirements set forth in these provisions, but they will be subject to the full range of penalties for failing to keep such records. The Department of Justice is permitted to inspect the records, and failure to allow an inspection is a criminal violation.
· The legislation requires producers of lascivious sexually explicit conduct to keep name and age records of the individuals depicted in their materials, eliminating a loophole that allowed pornographers to use children in nude pictures but claim that the children were over age eighteen.
· The legislation changes language currently in the record-keeping statutes to make prosecution of distributors of child pornography easier, especially those who use sham corporations and straw-man arrangements to avoid prosecution.
· The legislation protects child victims of pornography from being victimized again during the trial of the child pornographer by requiring that all pornographic images be maintained in the control of the court or the government, but available to the defense, so that the images are not further duplicated or viewed by people outside of the court system.
· The legislation subjects producers of obscenity to the same forfeiture provisions as are in place for most other crimes and allows the equipment used by pornographers as well as the obscene materials to be forfeited, which will greatly expand the deterrent impact of forfeiture in obscenity cases.
· The legislation makes the production, transportation, distribution and sale of obscenity, so long as the producer has the intent to do so across state lines, a crime.
http://mikepence.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=47870