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Monday, July 25, 2011

Pierluisi Supports Legislation to Prevent and Prosecute Child Pornography

WASHINGTON, DC- Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi has joined a group of his colleagues in cosponsoring federal legislation that would provide federal law enforcement agencies with additional tools to identify, indict and prosecute individuals who disseminate child pornography over the Internet.

Often, child pornography offenders can be located through connectivity logs that can link an image to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) address. However, when this digital evidence is erased by ISPs, law enforcement officers are not able to pursue the offenders. H.R. 1981, the Protecting Children From Internet Pornographers Act of 2011, would require ISPs to retain these logs for a sufficient amount of time to allow investigations of child pornography offenders to proceed.

This legislation, which was introduced by the House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) and Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), would also create a new federal offense allowing for federal prosecution of any person who conducts a financial transaction knowing that it will facilitate access to child pornography. In addition, the bill strengthens protections for child witnesses and victims, who are often subjected to harassment and intimidation throughout the trial period.

“Child pornography is one of the most appalling crimes in our society. Child pornography on the Internet is increasing on average by 150% each year. The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that there are more than one million pornographic images of children on the Internet, with an additional 200 images posted every day. Federal law enforcement agencies should have all the tools they need to investigate and prosecute these criminals, so they can be brought to justice,” said Pierluisi.

The Resident Commissioner has joined multiple federal initiatives directed at targeting individuals who sexually exploit children and has strongly supported the establishment of the Puerto Rico Crimes Against Children Task Force, led by the San Juan Office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which has already resulted in multiple arrests on the Island.

H.R. 1981 is scheduled to be marked up by the House Judiciary Committee, on which Congressman Pierluisi serves, on Wednesday, July 27th.