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Federal Child Pornography Offenses

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Federal Child Pornography Offenses FEDERAL CHILD PORNOGRAPHY OFFENSES Patti B. Saris Chair William B. Carr, Jr. Vice Chair Ketanji B. Jackson Vice Chair Ricardo H. Hinojosa Commissioner Beryl A. Howell Commissioner Dabney L. Friedrich Commissioner Jonathan J. Wroblewski Commissioner, Ex-officio Isaac Fulwood, Jr. Commissioner, Ex-officio FEDERAL CHILD PORNOGRAPHY OFFENSES TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................................... i A. Overview .............................................................................................................................. i B. Summary of the Child Pornography Sentencing Scheme .................................................. iv C. Highlights of the Commission’s Report ............................................................................ vi D. Recommendations to Congress ....................................................................................... xvii E. Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... xxi CHAPTER 1: THE PURPOSES AND METHODOLOGY OF THIS REPORT ...........................................1 A. Introduction ..........................................................................................................................1 B. Background ..........................................................................................................................3 C. General Trends in Sentencing Data .....................................................................................6 D. Criticisms of the Existing Non-Production Penalty Scheme and a Widespread Belief that Changes are Necessary .....................................................................................10 E. Overview of Report ............................................................................................................15 1. Methodology ..........................................................................................................15 2. Child Pornography Special Coding Project: The Commission’s Contribution to the Emerging Social Science Research About Offense Conduct and Offender Characteristics ...................................................................16 3. Organization ...........................................................................................................18 CHAPTER 2: STATUTORY AND GUIDELINE PROVISIONS IN CHILD PORNOGRAPHY CASES ..................................................................................................................21 A. Federal Statutes Concerning Child Pornography ...............................................................21 1. Overview of Federal Child Pornography Penal Statutes .......................................21 2. Definition of “Child Pornography” .......................................................................22 3. Production Offenses ...............................................................................................23 4. Non-Production Offenses.......................................................................................24 5. Summary of Statutory Penalty Ranges ..................................................................27 6. Related Sex Crimes: “Enticement” and “Travel” Offenses ..................................30 B. Child Pornography Sentencing Guidelines ........................................................................31 1. Sections 2G2.1 and 2G2.2 .....................................................................................31 2. Recurring Legal Issues Concerning Enhancements in Child Pornography Cases.................................................................................................33 C. Additional Sentencing Enhancements for Certain Child Pornography Offenders ............36 D. State Criminal Penalties for Child Pornography Offenses ................................................38 E. Conclusion .........................................................................................................................38 CHAPTER 3: TECHNOLOGY AND INVESTIGATION BY LAW ENFORCEMENT IN CHILD PORNOGRAPHY CASES ..................................................................................................................41 A. Child Pornography Offenders’ Use of Technology to Commit the Offense .....................41 1. Technology Primer .................................................................................................43 2. Internet Technologies Used to Access Child Pornography ...................................47 3. Technology Child Pornography Offenders Use to Evade Detection and Prosecution .....................................................................................56 i 4. Emerging Technology ............................................................................................59 5. Offender Culpability and Technology ...................................................................61 B. Law Enforcement Efforts to Combat Child Pornography .................................................62 1. Organization Overview ..........................................................................................63 2. Law Enforcement Investigations ...........................................................................64 3. Digital Forensics ....................................................................................................67 C. Conclusion .........................................................................................................................71 CHAPTER 4: CHILD PORNOGRAPHY OFFENDER BEHAVIOR .......................................................73 A. Types of Child Pornography Offenders .............................................................................73 B. Motivations to Collect Child Pornography ........................................................................76 1. Sexual Motivations to Collect Child Pornography ................................................77 2. Non-Sexual Motivations to Collect Child Pornography ........................................78 C. Child Pornography Offender Collecting Behavior ............................................................80 1. Child Pornography Collecting Activities ...............................................................80 2. Child Pornography Collections .............................................................................84 D. Child Pornography “Community” Behavior ......................................................................92 1. Child Pornography Communities and Socialization ..............................................92 2. Structure of Child Pornography Communities ......................................................94 3. Child Pornography Communities and Deviant Beliefs ..........................................97 4. Child Pornography Communities and the Child Pornography “Market” ..............98 E. Relationship Between Child Pornography Offending and Criminal Sexually Dangerous Behavior ............................................................................................99 1. Distinguishing Child Pornography Offenders Who Have Committed Other Sex Offenses ..............................................................................................100 2. Discussion of a Causal Relationship Between Child Pornography and Other Sex Offending ............................................................................................102 3. Child Pornography as an Alternative to Other Sex Offending ............................103 F. Conclusion .......................................................................................................................104 CHAPTER 5: VICTIMS OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY ......................................................................107 A. Victimization Through Production ..................................................................................107 B. Recurrent Victimization Through Existence of Images ...................................................112 C. Crime Victims’ Rights Issues Specific to Child Pornography Victims ...........................114 1. Victim Notification and the Right to Be Heard ...................................................115 2. Restitution to Victims ..........................................................................................117 D. Conclusion .......................................................................................................................118 CHAPTER 6: ANALYSIS OF SENTENCING DATA IN CASES IN WHICH OFFENDERS WERE SENTENCED UNDER THE NON-PRODUCTION GUIDELINES ............................................121 A. Introduction ......................................................................................................................121 B. Understanding the Data Based on the Changing Legal Landscape from 1992 to 2010 ............................................................................................................122 C. Non-Production Sentencing Data Derived from the Commission’s Annual Datafiles ..............................................................................................................126 1. Introduction ..........................................................................................................126 2. Sentence Length Data ..........................................................................................129 3. Comparative Proportionality
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