Washington, D.C. — The National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) is calling on the U.S. House of Representatives to quickly pass a federal bill known as the Amy, Vicky, and Andy Child Pornography Victim Assistance Act of 2017 (S.2152). It establishes guidelines for restitution and seeks to ensure that victims receive timely and meaningful restitution.
The surge in child pornography on the Internet has led to increased victimization and trafficking to meet the demand for new pictures and live video of sexual violence against increasingly younger children. Currently, a child pornography victim must pursue every case in which a defendant was found to possess their image, although they may receive only a small amount of restitution in each case. Digital images of each child victim are trafficked worldwide, and there may be thousands of defendants found to possess each victim’s images.
“Preventing victims from collecting full restitution protects defendants, who are shielded from having to pay meaningful costs to those they have harmed,” reads the NAAG letter signed by 55 state and territory attorneys general. “While nothing can undo the harm done to these victims by perpetrators who produce, share and view these images, Congress can act to make it easier for victims to receive meaningful restitution.”
The NAAG letter was sent today to House leadership as the U.S. Senate already passed the bill on Jan. 23, 2018. NAAG previously supported similar legislation in 2014, which also passed the Senate, but not the House.
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