WASHINGTON, D.C. – Following the lead of the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate yesterday took an important step to protect our children. By voice vote, the Senate passed legislation authored by Congresswoman Nancy Boyda (Kansas Second District) that strengthens prosecution for the possession and distribution of child pornography.

Rep. Boyda's bill, the Effective Child Pornography Prosecution Act of 2007, H.R. 4120, closes a legal loophole that allowed a Kansas man convicted of possessing child pornography to escape punishment.

The Department of Justice estimates that, in the last year, one in five children between the ages of 10 and 17 received a sexual solicitation or approach while they were using the Internet. Boyda said, “With so many threats out there, Congress must provide a unified message that we, as a society, will not stand for anything less than a safe Internet.”

In 2005, a northeast Kansas man, William Schaefer, was found guilty of both “knowingly receiving” and “knowingly possessing” child pornography that had been “transported in interstate commerce, by any means including by computer.”

Sadly, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned this decision, and the offender was not prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. The Court ruled that just because images are obtained on the Internet does not mean they were transmitted across state lines, and issued the following statements:

The Court essentially asked Congress to clarify its intent that the Internet is in fact interstate commerce. The U.S. House decisively made that clarification last November by voting unanimously for the Effective Child Pornography Prosecution Act of 2007. While the bill languished for many months in the Senate, yesterday’s vote is another step in closing the jurisdictional loophole that allowed a guilty man to go free.

Tuesday’s Senate action combines Boyda’s bill with H.R. 4136 – legislation that gives more tools to prosecutors in litigating child pornography cases.

Boyda added, “As concerned citizens, parents, and Members of Congress, we must do all we can to keep our children safe. That means we must make a commitment to being tough on crime – to make sure that those who violate the law are fully prosecuted – to ensure that the law is so clear that it deters such heinous crimes from happening.”