Child pornography victims could have better access to federal restitution under a bipartisan bill President Donald Trump signed into law Friday.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, a key sponsor of the Amy, Vicky, and Andy Child Pornography Victim Assistance Act, called the signing a “momentous” day that was many years in the making.
“This bipartisan legislation will provide meaningful assistance for child pornography victims to support their recovery and allow them to reclaim their lives. I am proud of this legislation and look forward to seeing it change the world for good,” he said.
The bill is named after victims depicted in some of the most widely circulated child pornography series in the world. “Amy,” “Vicky,” and “Andy” all supported the bill.
“I’m lucky, and so is Vicky and Amy and so many other mostly silent victims out there, to have you on our side and everyone else in the Senate,” Andy, a Utah resident, said in a statement.
“Just knowing that so many important people think that we matter, that the terrible things that happened to us as kids are being considered all the way up in the Congress of the United States,” he wrote. “If we can all agree on something, it’s that victims deserve justice.”
FAC has a good take on this new law:
https://floridaactioncommittee.org/reason-the-amy-vicky-and-andy-act-is-signed-into-law/
The no bail lawyer from UT working for the State of AZ wrote an article on Reason for Volokh:
https://reason.com/volokh/2018/12/10/amy-and-vicky-act-signed-into-law
I wonder if this is retroactive. My conviction for misdemeanor possession was in 2001.
I’m so biased that I can never accept that these immoral criminal regimes are ever doing anything decent. F them every day.
And I have to say that I’m just 150% skeptical every single dang time that $$$ is involved. It just kills all thoughts that I have that there might be some decent motivations behind something for a change. Once you put $$$ on something, the corruption must happen. It is guaranteed. I think the only way that could possibly be avoided is if every single $$$ had to be used to combat criminals. But even then, you’ve got people acting like the morons already do with respect to their drug war/business. They love the $$$ they make off of that and how it keeps Nanny Big Government big, gives them jobs, and lets them get their jollies playing their games. F them every day.
I was $EXUALLY abused as a child. I truly wish that it had been filmed, that thousands of new people were watching it every day today, and that I was collecting $$$ from each victimizer. I really do wish that. You know why? Because shit happens. Things happened and I don’t really care today who knows it or sees it. Wouldn’t victimize me at all. I’m not ashamed at all of my past. None of it. But I do understand that everyone is not like me.
Hmm Utah,
Is Utah not the home of the Mormon?
Is NSA’s electronic surveillance facility in Saratoga Springs?
Does not the Homeland Security advocates claim the sexual sadist the MOST serious threat to security? Not the Russians, Chinese or communists but the rapist. What a crock!
Mr. Hatch takes place the moral high ground while simultaneously indentured persons suffer the machines. So easy to make the sex offender the scapegoat for the surveillance saints.
Be a professional victim is VERY profitable in America. Just ask John Walsh.
This vengenace-based “law” is false entitlement rubbish.
I don’t understand, and I read a few of the articles. Is the 17k cap on payment the total an offender pays on all images he had or can that amount be levied against him per image?
Is this going to be retroactive/ex post facto, like all other sex offender punishments? Do I have to be worried that I will be fined $3000 for my child pornography posession conviction 12 years ago (a few images of “victims” unknown to me on a computer long ago destroyed by the police who confiscated it).
I find it rather amazing that when I discovered some of these sites I looked at them only to find out the police were monitoring them to see who was visiting, but they didn’t shut the site down, they just let it run, or perhaps were running it themselves, and then destroying peoples lives who viewed it. I understand that the government has several thousand full time hackers online everyday searching for cyber security issues, yet they are unable to shut these sites made by mostly novice people out of their homes. The feds were able to hack into Iran’s nuclear facility and shut it down, but they can’t protect the public by shutting these sites down. Where is the public safety factor? Every toy, appliance, auto, home and anything else you buy in the US has government regulations to allow it on the market–except certain things on the internet. It has nothing to do with free speech or press either, the sites are already deemed illegal. I have to conclude that they don’t’ want the sites shut down. Doesn’t the government have some responsibility to try to protect people from this garbage rather then having the goal of incarcerating them?
Once again the surveillance saints as represented by Mr. Hatch R-Utah have capitalized upon the sexual wrealm. To be sure amature porn is on the rise and being captured by electronic device. Images of naked humans including children are naturally available.