Carney Legislation to Prosecute Child Pornographers Passes In the U.S. Senate

Press Release

Today, Congressman Christopher P. Carney's legislation, Enhancing the Effective Prosecution of Child Pornography Act, took another step forward. It was included as part of HR 4120, The Effective Child Pornography Prosecution Act of 2007, and passed in the U.S. Senate by unanimous consent.

Carney's legislation allows the Justice Department to more effectively prosecute people who produce child pornography or knowingly access child pornography repeatedly with the intent to view it. The legislation will now come back to the House of Representatives for final consideration, then to the President's desk to be signed into law.

"We are trying to dry up the source of demand for child pornographers," said Congressman Carney. "This legislation addresses a component of the problem that has been difficult for prosecutors to combat—the repeat consumer. We need to stop child pornography at the source, and we need to stifle the demand."

Child pornography has become a $3 billion annual industry. According to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, more than 20,000 images of child pornography are posted online every week. U.S. Customs Services estimate that 100,000 websites offer illegal child pornography, and according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, approximately 20% of all Internet pornography involves children.

The legislation changes the U.S. Federal Code to improve the efficiency in the prosecution of child pornography cases by including money laundering as a prosecution tool. Additionally, the bill expands the U.S.C. (the code) to make it easier to prosecute those who knowingly and repeatedly view child pornography.

"This is not about playing ‘gotcha' games with anyone accidentally stumbling across a mistyped web address; this is going after those who repeatedly seek out child pornography and those who continue to produce it. This is a serious issue, and we need to protect our children and stop child pornography at its source. I am glad this legislation gained momentum by passing in the U.S. Senate and I look forward to awaiting final passage so that the President can sign it into law," said Congressman Carney.

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