Carney's child pornographers legislation is signed into law

President Bush signed new act Washington — Congressman Christopher P. Carney’s legislation, Enhancing the Effective Prosecution of Child Pornography Act, was signed into law by President Bush on Wednesday, Oct. 8. The legislation was passed the House of Representatives and Senate unanimously. It was included as part of HR 4120, The Effective Child Pornography Prosecution Act. Carney’s legislation allows the Justice Department to more effectively prosecute people who produce child pornography or knowingly access child pornography repeatedly with the intent to view it. “I am extremely proud we were able to get this bipartisan legislation signed into law. We are trying to dry up the source of demand for child pornographers,” said Congressman Carney. “This legislation addresses a component of the problem that has been difficult for prosecutors to combat — the repeat consumer. We need to stop child pornography at the source, and we need to stifle the demand.” Child pornography has become a $3 billion annual industry. According to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, more than 20,000 images of child pornography are posted online every week. U.S. Customs Services estimate that 100,000 websites offer illegal child pornography, and according to the National Center for Mission and Exploited Children, approximately 20 percent of all Internet pornography involves children. The legislation changes the U.S. Federal Code to improve the efficiency in the prosecution of child pornography cases by including money laundering as a prosecution tool. Additionally, the bill expands the U.S.C. (the code) to make it easier to prosecute those who knowingly and repeatedly view child pornography. “This is not about playing ‘gotcha’ games with anyone accidentally stumbling across a mis-typed web address; this is going after those who repeatedly seek out child pornography and those who continue to produce it. This is a serious issue, and we need to protect our children and stop child pornography at its source and now it has rightfully become law,” said Congressman Carney.