[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8183 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 8183
To direct the Attorney General to convene a national working group to
study proactive strategies and needed resources for the identification
and rescue of children from sexual exploitation and abuse, and for
other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 30, 2024
Ms. Spanberger (for herself, Mr. Fitzpatrick, and Mr. Owens) introduced
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To direct the Attorney General to convene a national working group to
study proactive strategies and needed resources for the identification
and rescue of children from sexual exploitation and abuse, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Child Rescue Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The growing international trade in child sexual abuse
material creates demand and incentive for the sexual assault of
children throughout the United States.
(2) United States law enforcement efforts to combat child
sexual exploitation have the potential to help multiple
distinct groups of victims, including--
(A) children depicted in child sexual abuse
material (CSAM) who are still being abused;
(B) children and adults whose victimization as a
child continues to be viewed and shared online; and
(C) children who are being sexually abused or
exploited by adults who could be interdicted while
accessing or sharing CSAM online.
(3) In 2021, law enforcement investigative systems detected
more than 325,000 unique Internet Protocol addresses in the
United States seen distributing child sexual abuse material
across peer-to-peer file sharing networks.
(4) A growing body of research, including academic studies,
analysis by the United States Sentencing Commission, and
findings by law enforcement polygraphers, indicates that a
significant percentage of majority of individuals possessing
and sharing CSAM are ``dual offenders'' who possess illegal
imagery and also commit contact offenses. In 2021, the United
States Sentencing Commission found that in fiscal year 2019, 48
percent of ``non-production child pornography offenders engaged
in aggravating sexual conduct prior to, or concurrently with'',
their current offense. Studies including Seto et al, the Butner
Redux, the OJJDP study, and Bourke et al Tactical Polygraph
study have found that between 50 and 80 percent of offenders
who possess CSAM are also committing contact sexual offenses
against children.
(5) According to a 2018 study by the National Center for
Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), ``in cases involving a
single victim and single offender, actively traded cases were
associated with having prepubescent victims. Actively traded
cases were also associated with more egregious content in terms
of sexual activity, and more likely to involve familial
offenders, particularly nuclear family members''.
(6) CyberTipline reports often lead to the rescue of
children through the successful investigation of offenders who
are not only exploiting children by circulating CSAM, but who
are also committing contact offenses. In 2020, 21,700,000
CyberTipline reports were submitted to NCMEC and approximately
288,000 CyberTipline reports were made available to the 61
Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) units across the
country.
(7) United States law enforcement's ability to detect and
interdict online traffic in CSAM provides an opportunity to
locate sexual predators and rescue children through victim-
centric investigations.
(8) With inadequate resources, United States law
enforcement agencies are increasingly unable to adequately
respond to this rapidly growing number of CyberTips and other
investigative leads, a problem which also reduces the number of
proactive undercover investigations and education activities
they can conduct.
(9) Investigations of these crimes are complicated by the
increasing prevalence of encryption and anonymizing services
available to offenders.
SEC. 3. UNITED STATES WORKING GROUP ON CHILDREN IN IMMINENT DANGER OF
SEXUAL ABUSE AND EXPLOITATION.
(a) Establishment.--Not later than 90 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall establish a national
working group, to be known as the ``United States Working Group on
Children in Imminent Danger of Sexual Abuse and Exploitation''
(hereinafter referred to as the ``Working Group''), to study victim-
centric policing strategies and resource needs to identify and rescue--
(1) children in the United States who are visually depicted
in child sexual abuse material;
(2) children in the United States who are victims of sexual
abuse by individuals who are engaged in an offense relating to
child sexual abuse materials; and
(3) children located outside the United States who are
visually depicted in child sexual abuse materials where the
perpetrators are in the United States.
(b) Duties of the Working Group.--
(1) Information request.--Not later than 30 days after the
establishment of the Working Group under subsection (a), the
Working Group shall solicit from each State, Tribal, or local
law enforcement agency the information necessary to develop the
estimates under paragraph (2).
(2) Development of estimates.--The Working Group shall:
(A) Develop estimates of the total number of
individuals suspected with respect to child sexual
abuse material or other crimes involving sexual contact
with children in the United States, including those who
are--
(i) known to a law enforcement agency;
(ii) identified by law enforcement through
proactive policing; or
(iii) reported to the CyberTipline of NCMEC
(or any successor to the CyberTipline operated
by NCMEC).
(B) Develop estimates of the total number of child
victims of child sexual abuse in the United States who
could be located and protected from further abuse
through the apprehension of suspects described under
subparagraph (A).
(C) Develop recommendations of the funding,
resources, and proactive and reactive strategies
necessary for law enforcement agencies to successfully
identify, locate, and protect child victims--
(i) described in subparagraph (B); and
(ii) who appear in child sexual abuse
material known to a law enforcement agency or
NCMEC.
(D) Develop or obtain estimates of the number of
child sexual abuse reports made annually to law
enforcement agencies and to State, Tribal, and local
child protective services, broken out by locality and
relationship between victim and offender, including
adults in a position of trust or authority.
(E) Develop recommendations for strategies, best
practices, and resources that could be used by law
enforcement agencies to determine whether offenders
alleged to have committed a crime involving sexual
contact should also be investigated for potential child
sexual abuse material crimes.
(F) Develop recommendations of victim-centric and
proactive policing strategies, international
collaboration, and resource needs to apprehend
offenders in the United States who are engaged in
offenses related to children as described in subsection
(a)(3).
(G) Develop estimates of, or compile data solicited
under paragraph (1)--
(i) the number of adults who were arrested
by law enforcement agencies during the 5-year
period preceding the date of enactment of this
Act, by year, for offenses or violations
described in subparagraphs (A) through (D);
(ii) the number of adults who were
prosecuted at the State, Tribal, or Federal
level during the 5-year period preceding the
date of the enactment of the Act, by year, for
offenses described in subparagraphs (A) through
(D); and
(iii) the number of children who are
unidentified victims of child sexual abuse
material described in subparagraph (C)(ii).
(H) Analyze and summarize common reasons why
investigations of reports of child sexual abuse or
exploitation do not go forward.
(I) Develop guidance for Internet Crimes Against
Children Task Forces to adopt a prioritization
framework with respect to the investigation and
prosecution of all child sexual abuse and exploitation,
including prioritizing investigating individuals using
encryption or anonymization.
(J) Develop guidance on the Attorney General's
response to technology companies that refuse to comply
with lawful requests for information related to
offenders who use virtual private networks.
(K) Evaluate the current duties and
responsibilities of ICAC Task Forces pursuant to
section 21114 of title 34, United States Code,
including on--
(i) workloads; and
(ii) their ability to pursue investigations
which are most likely to result in the
identification of offenders described in
subparagraph (A) and children described in
subparagraph (B).
(3) Report.--
(A) In general.--Not later than 365 days after the
date of enactment of this Act, the Working Group shall
submit to the Attorney General, the Committee on the
Judiciary of the Senate, the Committee on
Appropriations of the Senate, the Committee on the
Judiciary of the House of Representatives, and the
Committee on Appropriations of the House of
Representatives, a report that contains--
(i) a detailed statement of the findings
and conclusions of the Working Group, together
with recommendations for legislation; and
(ii) a summary of the support, documents,
and witnesses provided by the Attorney General
to the Working Group.
(B) Material included.--A majority vote of the
members of the Working Group shall determine the
findings, conclusions, and recommendations included in
the report submitted under subparagraph (A).
(C) Documentation of numerical edits.--If for any
reason the Working Group is unable to develop the
estimates under paragraph (2), the Working Group shall
in the report under this paragraph document the reasons
such estimates could not be developed and make
recommendations toward developing such estimates.
(c) Members of the Working Group.--
(1) In general.--
(A) Attorney general discretion.--The Working Group
shall be composed of representatives of Federal
departments and agencies, law enforcement agencies,
Tribal governmental agencies, nongovernmental
organizations, and other subject matter experts as the
Attorney General determines appropriate.
(B) Specified members.--The Attorney General shall
appoint representatives of the following agencies and
nongovernmental organizations to the Working Group:
(i) Three representatives from State or
unit of local government who have received a
grant from the Internet Crimes Against Children
Task Force program with extensive, direct
experience conducting both CyberTipline
investigations and proactive, online undercover
investigations, including the use of
specialized tools for peer-to-peer
investigations.
(ii) The Chief or Deputy Chief of the Child
Exploitation and Obscenity Section of the
Criminal Division of the Department of Justice.
(iii) The National Coordinator for Child
Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction of the
Department of Justice.
(iv) A representative of the Behavioral
Analysis Unit of the United States Marshals
Service with subject matter expertise in child
exploitation offenders who also commit contact
offenses.
(v) A special agent of Homeland Security
Investigations with expertise in both
CyberTipline investigations and proactive
online investigations.
(vi) A subject matter expert within
Homeland Security Investigations with expertise
in child victim identification.
(vii) A special agent of the Federal Bureau
of Investigation with expertise in both
CyberTipline investigations and proactive
online investigations and the use of polygraphs
in child sexual abuse material investigations.
(viii) A representative from the National
Children's Alliance with expertise in child
exploitation and child victim forensic
interviewing.
(ix) A special agent of the United States
Secret Service with expertise in investigations
of child sexual abuse material or polygraphs of
child sexual exploitation suspects.
(x) A Postal Inspector at the United States
Postal Inspection Service with expertise in
child sexual abuse material investigations.
(xi) A representative from the National
District Attorney's Association.
(xii) A representative from the academic
community with expertise in developing
technology that can proactively detect the
distribution of child sexual abuse material
online.
(xiii) A representative of the Office of
Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
with expertise in available data sources and
methods for developing prevalence estimates
using direct and indirect methods of
estimation.
(xiv) A representative of the Executive
Office of the United States Attorney.
(xv) A recently retired Internet Crimes
Against Children Task Force Commander.
(xvi) A representative from National Child
Protection Task Force.
(xvii) Representatives from the Department
of Justice Office of Tribal Justice and the
Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Justice
Services.
(xviii) A representative of the Rape, Abuse
& Incest National Network with subject matter
expertise on child sexual exploitation and
abuse.
(xix) A representative of the International
Justice Mission with subject matter expertise
on cross-border, live-streamed child sexual
abuse.
(C) Technical assistance.--The Working Group shall
establish a Technical Assistance Board to provide
guidance and technical assistance to the Working Group,
composed of the following:
(i) A representative from the ICAC Child
Online Protection System (ICACCOPS) at the
National Criminal Justice Training Center with
subject matter expertise on child sexual
exploitation and abuse investigations.
(ii) A representative from the Child Rescue
Coalition with subject matter expertise on the
Child Protection System and other child sexual
exploitation and abuse investigations.
(iii) A representative from the National
Center for Missing and Exploited Children with
subject matter expertise on child sexual
exploitation and abuse and child victim
identification.
The Working Group shall consult with the members of the
Technical Assistance Board throughout the execution of
its duties under subsection (b). Representatives of the
Technical Assistance Board under paragraph (1) from
each organization shall have the right to be present at
each Working Group meeting.
(2) Cessation of membership.--If an individual is appointed
to the Working Group based on membership in an agency or
organization and the individual ceases to be a member of that
agency or organization, the individual shall cease to be a
member of the Working Group on the date on which the member
ceases to be a member of the agency or organization.
(3) Terms.--A member of the Working Group shall be
appointed for the life of the Working Group.
(4) Vacancies.--
(A) Vacancy before expiration of term.--A member
appointed to the Working Group to fill a vacancy
occurring before the expiration of the term for which
the member's predecessor was appointed shall be
appointed only for the remainder of that term.
(B) Manner of appointment.--A vacancy in the
Working Group shall be filled in the manner in which
the original appointment was made.
(5) Compensation.--A member of the Working Group shall
serve without pay.
(6) Quorum.--A majority of the members of the Working Group
shall constitute a quorum, but a lesser number may hold
hearings.
(7) Chairperson.--The Chairperson of the Working Group
shall be appointed by the Attorney General from the membership
of the Working Group.
(8) Meetings.--The Working Group shall hold virtual
meetings monthly, and any subgroup of the Working Group shall
hold additional meetings as necessary.
(d) Staff of Working Group; Experts and Consultants.--
(1) Staff.--The Chairperson of the Working Group may
appoint and fix the pay of additional personnel as the
Chairperson considers appropriate.
(2) Experts and consultants.--The Chairperson of the
Working Group may procure temporary and intermittent services
under section 3109(b) of title 5, United States Code.
(3) Detailees.--Upon request of the Chairperson of the
Working Group, the head of any Federal department or agency may
detail, on a reimbursable basis, any of the personnel of that
department or agency to the Working Group to assist in carrying
out the duties of the Working Group under this Act.
(e) Powers of the Working Group.--
(1) Subpoena power.--
(A) By working group.--The Working may subpoena
witnesses and records related to the purposes of this
Act.
(B) Enforcement.--The district courts of the United
States have jurisdiction to enforce a subpoena issued
under this section. Trial is in the district in which
the proceeding is conducted. The court may punish a
refusal to obey a subpoena as a contempt of court.
(2) Hearings and sessions.--
(A) In general.--The Working Group may, for the
purpose of carrying out this Act, hold hearings, sit
and act at times and places, take testimony, and
receive evidence as the Working Group considers
appropriate.
(B) Witnesses.--The Working Group may administer
oaths or affirmations to witnesses appearing before the
Working Group.
(3) Powers of members and agents.--Any member or agent of
the Working Group may, if authorized by the Chairperson, take
any action that the Working Group is authorized to take under
this Section, including requesting information.
(4) Obtaining official information.--
(A) United states agencies and departments.--
(i) In general.--The Working Group may
secure directly from any department or agency
of the United States information necessary to
enable the Working Group to carry out this Act.
(ii) Furnishing information.--Upon request
of the Chairperson of the Working Group for
information solicited pursuant to subsection
(b), the head of the department or agency of
the United States shall furnish that
information to the Working Group.
(B) State and local information.--
(i) In general.--The Working Group may
obtain and review information and data from
State and local departments and agencies for
purposes of carrying out this Act.
(ii) Costs.--The Working Group shall pay
reasonable costs to state and local agencies
for records obtained pursuant to subsection
(b).
(5) Clearance for members of working group.--In the case
that the Working Group interacts with controlled unclassified
information, the Working Group shall follow all laws,
regulations, and government-wide policies with respect to such
information.
(f) Termination of Working Group.--
(1) In general.--The Working Group shall terminate 120 days
after submission of the report under section 9, unless the
Attorney General determines that such termination is not
appropriate.
(2) Reconvening group.--If the Working Group terminates
under subsection (a), the Attorney General may reconvene the
Working Group in accordance with this Act. If the Attorney
General reconvenes the Working Group, the Working Group shall
be convened in accordance with this section. The Attorney
General may re-appoint members to the Working Group who served
a previous term if the Working Group is reconvened.
(g) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Child.--The term ``child'' means any individual under
the age of eighteen years.
(2) Child sexual abuse material.--The term ``child sexual
abuse material'' shall have the meaning given the term ``child
pornography'' in section 2256 of title 18, United States Code.
(3) Crime involving sexual contact.--The term ``crime
involving sexual contact'' means--
(A) an offense involving a child under chapter 109A
of title 18, United States Code, or any attempt or
conspiracy to commit such an offense; or
(B) an offense involving a child under a State or
Tribal statute that is similar to a provision described
in subparagraph (A).
(4) Known to law enforcement.--The term ``known to law
enforcement'' means that a Federal, State, Tribal, or local law
enforcement agency has evidence of a crime that can be
attributed to a person or location, including an email address,
Internet Protocol address, screen name, universally unique
identifier, phone number, or other information attributable to
that person or location.
(5) Law enforcement agency.--The term ``law enforcement
agency'' means an agency of the Federal Government, a State, a
political subdivision of a State, or a federally recognized
tribe that is authorized by law to supervise the prevention,
detection, investigation, or prosecution of any violation of
criminal law.
(6) NCMEC.--The term ``NCMEC'' means the National Center
for Missing & Exploited Children.
(7) Proactive policing.--The term ``proactive policing''
means a covert or undercover investigation conducted by a law
enforcement agency that involves a person or organization that
the law enforcement agency believes is engaging or has engaged
in an offense or violation relating to child sexual abuse,
child sexual abuse material, child exploitation, or child sex
trafficking crimes.
(8) State.--The term ``State'' means each of the several
States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto
Rico, or any other territory or possession of the United
States.
(9) Victim-centric.--The term ``victim-centric'' refers to
the systematic focus on the needs and concerns of a victim to
ensure that services are delivered in a compassionate,
sensitive, non-judgmental, and culturally considerate manner
that seeks to minimize retraumatization associated with the
criminal justice process by providing the support of victim
advocates and service providers, empowering victims as engaged
participants in the process, and providing victims an
opportunity to play a role in seeing their abusers brought to
justice.
(10) United states.--The term ``United States'' means the
50 States of the United States of America and the District of
Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin
Islands, American Samoa, Wake Island, Midway Islands, Kingman
Reef, Johnston Atoll, the Northern Mariana Islands, and any
other trust territory or possession of the United States.
<all>