Less than one percent of child sex-crime victims have sought monetary restitution from the individuals who exploited them, leading Congress to examine a bill that would broaden the definition of what constitutes a loss to the victim.
Having already passed the Senate, the legislation, known as the Amy and Vicky Child Pornography Victim Restitution Act, is likely to be approved in the House, and is one kernel of hope for child sex-trade and pornography combatants who are disheartened over a larger sex-trafficking bill having been stalled in the Senate.
House Judiciary members will examine on Thursday why only 15 of about 8,500 child sex-crime victims have sought monetary restitution from the individuals who exploited, and then vote on the Amy legislation. The bill would allow victims to collect restitution from not just the first offender, but by any subsequent offenders as well.
The legislation is expected to enhance last year’s Supreme Court ruling in Paroline v. United States, which allows child sex crime victims to claim damages from from everyone who has has been caught viewing images of those explicit crimes.
Members of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations plan to comb through some of the finer details of the act with a panel of four experts, which includes criminal law professor and former federal judge Paul Cassell, who represented “Amy” in court.
Senate lawmakers approved of the bill by a vote of 98-0 and passed it to the House last month.
Although the court system has documented more than 8,000 child pornography victims, there are far more victims who have yet to be identified, said Grier Weeks, executive director of National Association to Protect Children, who will be testifying before the panel on Thursday.
His association believes that more than 50,000 victims exist, and describe it as “only the tip of a much larger iceberg” of a “massive human rights crime,” he told The Washington Times.
“The fact is, no one knows — or could know — how many children are actually victims of the child pornography market, because until about two years ago, there was no serious effort even being made to find out,” Mr. Weeks said in testimony obtained by The Times.
As for the large discrepancy between the number of victims the courts have identified and the number of victims willing to seek monetary restitution, that variance hinges on the ability and willingness of child pornography victims to hire a lawyer and confront the men or women who have sexually abused them, Mr. Weeks told the Times.
Taking legal action against a sex offender is “a traumatic and difficult thing for many survivors,” he said.
Child victims of pornography have their images viewed multiple times, fetching a handsome profit for the criminals who exploit them, said Mr. Weeks.
“Essentially, we’ve turned children into a commodity,” he said.
Should House lawmakers review and approve the bill, then the Department of Justice will be held accountable for keeping track of whether the new initiative is successful, according to the bill’s language.
That language stipulates that the Attorney General must to submit to Congress a report on any progress the Justice Department has made on obtaining restitution for sex-crime victims a year after the bill has become law.
Mr. Cassell told The Times that he was “very optimistic” that the bill would move through the House quickly.
“I don’t think there are going to be any hiccups,” Mr. Cassell said.
• Maggie Ybarra can be reached at mybarra@washingtontimes.com.
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