Child Pornography: - Center for Problem-Oriented Policing

Legal Analysis
How does the legal system address the problem of child pornography? The following section
discusses the various federal and state statutes designed to combat this challenging problem.
Because many of the state-statutory schemes are based on federal statutes and case law, federal
laws are addressed first. The section also describes promising law-enforcement approaches
and sets forth some general principles of successful programs.
Federal Law
Several federal statutes address child sexual exploitation and specific child-pornography
offenses. For these statutes to apply the conduct must fall under federal jurisdiction. 157 Federal
crimes may carry greater penalties, and law-enforcement agencies should work collaboratively
when charges under both state and federal statutes may be possible. Whether federal, state, or
both federal and state crimes are charged, law enforcement should collaborate to ensure offenders
are charged with those offenses that appropriately represent the crimes committed
with penalties that best serve the interest of justice.
Evolution of Federal Child Pornography Law
An understanding of the evolution of federal child-pornography law helps clarify its current
application. The first federal law to specifically prohibit the pornographic exploitation of
children was the Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation Act of 1977. 158 It prohibited
use of a minor, at the time defined as a child younger than 16 years of age, to engage in
sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing any visual or print medium of such
conduct with the knowledge it was or would be transported in interstate or foreign commerce.
This first prohibition applied only to child pornography that satisfied the definition of
obscenity set forth inMiller v. California. 159
History of Federal Child Pornography Legislation
Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation Act of 1977
Child Protection Act of 1984
Child Sexual Abuse and Pornography Act of 1986
Child Abuse Victims' Rights Act of 1986
Child Protection and Obscenity Enforcement Act of 1988
Child Protection Restoration and Penalties Enhancement Act of 1990
Communications Decency Act of 1996
Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1996
Child Online Protection Act of 1998
Protection of Children from Sexual Predators Act of 1998
Children's Internet Protection Act of 2000
Some states such as New York, however, took a more aggressive approach than the federal
statute and prohibited the production and distribution of nonobscene child pornography.
The New York statute was soon challenged under the First Amendment. Although the New
York Court of Appeals 160 found the statute unconstitutional, the United States Supreme Court
12 - CHILD PORNOGRAPHY: THE CRIMINAL-JUSTICE-SYSTEM RESPONSE