Child Pornography: - Center for Problem-Oriented Policing

Inadequate training and education for law-enforcement agents and supervisors, as well as
others who may work with sexually exploited children, also pose significant barriers to effective
intervention. 533 The unique nature of child-sexual-exploitation crimes necessitates
specialized training and education programs for law-enforcement agents and others working
to investigate and prosecute perpetrators.
Child pornography investigations generally tend to be labor-intensive and require
proactive approaches. 534 The growth of the Internet has also generated new challenges for the
law-enforcement community. 535 New technology has dramatically increased the potential
for children to be sexually exploited by adults and child pornography to be instantly
produced and distributed around the world. 536 The speed and global nature of the Internet
compounds the problems, making investigation and prosecution more difficult and driving up
the cost of identification and prevention efforts.
Finally a perception of judicial leniency for perpetrators of child sexual exploitation also
serves to discourage law-enforcement agencies from comprehensively targeting these crimes.
Despite extensive investigations, significant evidence, and even admissions of guilt, many
defendants convicted of child sexual exploitation serve little or no jail time. 537 In fact average
sentences for the FBI's Innocent Images cases average between 18 to 24 months. 538 Defense
attorneys argue that the meager sentences reflect judicial discomfort with child-sexual-exploitation-investigation
practices including having adults pose as children online. 539 Whatever the
reason, judicial reluctance to impose stiff sentences may be undermining law-enforcement
efforts in this area. 540
General Principles for Effective Intervention
While individual states and the federal government have taken strong positions in passing
laws to prohibit the sexual exploitation of children, there is considerable room for improvement
in many areas including enforcement, prosecution, and the provision of services to child
victims. 541 Based on the model law-enforcement approaches profiled above and other information
about best-practices in child-sexual-exploitation cases, the general principles described
below can help guide a more proactive and comprehensive approach to child pornography. 542
Enact New Legislation
Not all states have enacted comprehensive child-pornography legislation. In several states
possession of child pornography is not illegal, and in others the age of consent for sexual
activity is as young as 13. 543 Many model law-enforcement programs have been active in
drafting and supporting legislation that would enhance their ability to investigate and prosecute
child-sexual-exploitation cases. 544 Public awareness of and institutional support for such
legislative changes may facilitate needed reforms.
I Promote Multijurisdictional
and Multidisciplinary Approaches
The increase in prosecution and conviction of offenders in model programs around the
country suggests that the most effective means of identifying, investigating, and pros-
CHILD PORNOGRAPHY: THE CRIMINAL-JUSTICE-SYSTEM RESPONSE- 55