U.S. Department Of Justice Releases First National Strategy For Child Exploitation Prevention And Interdiction
U.S. Attorney Sends Message to Kids, Parents, and Offenders
Contact: Peter Deegan
CEDAR RAPIDS, IA – Following an announcement today by United States Attorney General Eric Holder, United States Attorney Stephanie M. Rose today announced that the Department of Justice has released its first ever National Strategy for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction. The strategy also provides the first comprehensive threat assessment of the dangers facing children from child pornography, online enticement, child sex tourism, commercial sexual exploitation, and sexual exploitation in Indian Country and outlines a blueprint to strengthen the fight against these crimes. The strategy builds upon the Department of Justice’s accomplishments in combating child exploitation by establishing specific, aggressive goals and priorities and increasing cooperation and collaboration at all levels of government and the private sector.
As part of the overall strategy, the U.S. Marshals Service is launching a nationwide operation targeting the top 500 most dangerous, non-compliant sex offenders in the nation. Additionally, the department will create a national database to allow federal, state, tribal, local, and international law enforcement partners to deconflict their cases with each other, engage in undercover operations from a portal facilitated or hosted by the database, share information and intelligence, and conduct analysis on dangerous offenders and future threats and trends. The department also created 38 additional Assistant U.S. Attorney positions to devote to child exploitation cases and, over the coming months, will work to fill the vacancies and train the new assistants in this specialized area.
“Although we’ve made meaningful progress in protecting children across the country, and although we’ve brought a record number of offenders to justice in recent years, it is time to renew our commitment to this work. It is time to intensify our efforts,” said Attorney General Holder. “This new Strategy provides the roadmap necessary to do just that - to streamline our education, prevention and prosecution activities; to improve information sharing and collaboration; and to make the most effective use of limited resources. Together, we are sending an important message - that the U.S. government, and our nation’s Department of Justice, has never been more committed to protecting our children and to bringing offenders to justice.”
United States Attorney Rose had a four-fold message: “Kids, be safe on the Internet. Parents, watch your children closely on the Internet and contact law enforcement if you have any concerns. Offenders, you can’t hide on the Internet – if you exploit children, you’re going to prison for a long time. Released offenders, we will keep an eye on you once you finally get out of prison.”
Since fiscal year 2006, the Department of Justice has filed 8,464 Project Safe Childhood (PSC) cases against 8,637 defendants. These cases include prosecutions of online enticement of children to engage in sexual activity; interstate transportation to engage in sexual activity with children; production, distribution, and possession of child pornography; and other offenses. In the Northern District of Iowa, 87 PSC cases have been filed against 88 defendants since 2006.
Sentences for child exploitation crimes are severe. People who simply view child pornography on the Internet or possess child pornography can be sentenced to up to 10 years in federal prison. Those who receive or distribute child pornography face sentences of at least 5 years’ and up to 20 years’ imprisonment. Producers of child pornography face sentences of at least 15 years’ and up to 30 years’ imprisonment, and those who use the Internet to entice child victims face sentences of at least 10 years’ and up to life imprisonment. There is no parole from federal sentences.
In the area of sex offender registration, in May of this year, the U.S. Marshals Service in the Northern District of Iowa worked with state and local law enforcement to conduct a first-in-the-nation 100% compliance check on registered sex offenders. At least 10 federal prosecutions have already resulted from that compliance check.
Despite vigorously fighting all aspects of child exploitation, the department recognized that more work remains to be done. To that end, the department’s strategy lays out goals to increase coordination among the nation’s investigators, better train investigators and prosecutors, advance law enforcement’s technological capabilities, and enhance research to inform decisions on deterrence, incarceration, and monitoring. The strategy also includes a renewed commitment to public awareness and community outreach.
As part of its public outreach efforts, the department today re-launched ProjectSafeChildhood.gov, the PSC public website. PSC is a department initiative launched in 2006 that aims to combat the proliferation of technology-facilitated sexual exploitation crimes against children. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, PSC marshals federal, state, tribal, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet as well as to identify and rescue victims.
For more information regarding the National Strategy for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction, please visit: www.projectsafechildhood.gov/docs/natstrategyreport.pdf.
