Source: nbc4i.com 4/21/26 New legislation in the Ohio Senate would make some significant updates to Ohio’s existing laws against child sex offenders. Senate Bill 393, sponsored by Ohio Sens. Jane Timken (R-Jackson Twp.) and Nathan Manning (R-North Ridgeville), would increase penalties for offenders based on the age of their victims and the amount of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) in their possession. It would also establish artificially generated CSAM as a felony offense and give prosecutors more options in how to handle sexting and other sexual conduct between minors. Last…
Read MoreTag: Child Pornography (CP)
CA: Auburn man’s decades-long child porn sentence vacated on appeal
Source: fingerlakes1.com 4/5/26 A decades-long prison sentence for an Auburn man tied to a massive child pornography case just got wiped away on appeal, according to The Citizen. Darryl M. Overstreet, had been serving time after a 50-count indictment. An appeals court vacated his sentence last month, citing a legal error during sentencing. … Read the full article
Read MoreCanada: Convicted child pornography designated a long-term offender
Source: globalnews.ca 3/17/26 Convicted child pornography designated a long-term offender. Repeat child pornography offender Shane _______ has been designated a long-term offender. On Thursday morning, judge Richard Danyliuk accepted a joint submission from the Crown and defence for a seven-year prison sentence and a 10-year supervision order Watch the video
Read MoreOR: Oregon Supreme Court reverses child sex abuse conviction on privacy grounds
Source: philomathnews.com 3/29/26 The Oregon Supreme Court on Thursday overturned a Lane County man’s conviction for encouraging child sex abuse, ruling that local authorities subjected him to a warrantless search when monitoring his use of a restaurant’s free wireless internet network. In 2018 and 2019, Oakridge resident Randall De Witt Simons had accessed an A&W restaurant’s wireless internet network which extended into the range of his own home in Lane County. The network required a terms of service agreement, which noted that the restaurant chain may cooperate with legal authorities…
Read MoreWhen All Files Count the Same: The Problem of Undifferentiated Images in Child Pornography Sentencing
Source: harvardlawreview.org Our society generally agrees that possessing, producing, and distributing child sexual abuse material (CSAM)1 is morally reprehensible.2 This societal judgment is represented in sentencing outcomes for those convicted of federal child pornography offenses. Of the individuals who were sentenced in 2023 for child pornography–related offenses, ninety-nine percent were sentenced to prison, with an average sentence of 114 months.3 But, despite the severity of these crimes, sentencing fails to consider certain forensic evidence that could help distinguish more and less culpable offenders. Judges have discretion over sentencing outcomes but…
Read MoreWI: Wisconsin Supreme Court OKs warrantless searches of potential child porn
Source: courthousenews.com 2/24/26 Social platforms like Google Photos that voluntarily scan for child sexual abuse materials are not acting as agents of the government and the search is private, according to the state’s top court. MADISON, Wis. (CN) — The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday unanimously held that Google’s voluntary scan for child sexual abuse materials is constitutional. Andreas Rauch Sharak stored child sexual abuse materials in his Google Photos account in violation of the terms of service, which warned such materials would be removed if detected and reported…
Read MoreSC: SC proposal increases minimum prison time for people with child sex abuse images
Source: scdailygazette.com 2/13/26 The bill is advancing as the GOP primary race for governor keeps turning to the topic of prosecuting sex offenders COLUMBIA — People who create or share images of children being sexually abused could be sent to prison for longer under legislation advancing in the Senate. This week’s unanimous vote by a Senate Judiciary panel comes amid continued allegations by U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace that her chief rivals in the governor’s race protect pedophiles — which they either deny as ridiculous or decline to respond to…
Read MoreSC: Bills aim to stiffen penalties for CP, including a minimum penalty
Source: foxcarolina.com 1/8/25 COLUMBIA, S.C. (FOX Carolina) – As South Carolina lawmakers prepare to head back to the statehouse, there’s now a push to crack down on penalties for child predators. FOX Carolina Investigates previously uncovered how hundreds of offenders convicted of having child pornography are able to avoid prison time. In South Carolina, if someone has child pornography, also called child sexual abuse material, they are charged with sexual exploitation of a minor. The law carries three degrees depending on the severity of the crime. For first degree, which is the…
Read MoreNJ: New Jersey sees 74% increase in child pornography arrests since 2020
Source: whyy.org 3/17/25 The state’s top law enforcement agent to those possessing and distributing child porn: If you harm our kids, we’re going to catch and prosecute you. The number of people charged with possession of child pornography is rising in New Jersey. During a news conference Thursday afternoon, Attorney General Matt Platkin, the chief law enforcement agent in the Garden State, said over the past several years there has been an uptick in reports of the number of tips about suspected predatory activity online, which has led to…
Read MoreCA: Solano County deputies seize 120 terabytes of child porn, from RV home
Source: kcra.com 2/24/25 VALLEJO, Calif. —Deputies arrested a person after they seized more than 120 terabytes — or 120,000 gigabytes — of child porn from a home in Vallejo, the Solano County Sheriff’s Office said Monday. On Thursday, the sheriff’s office said its investigators, along with Vacaville Police Department officers, searched the home of a person suspected of distributing and selling child porn. There, along with the massive collection of illegal porn, the sheriff’s office said it found 20 computers, a server and multiple anti-forensic and hacking tools. Photos shared…
Read MoreAction Alert nationwide: ICAC Federal Grants Are Up for Renewal! – Please contact your federal representatives today!
Source: Women Against Registry (W.A.R) [Please considering writing the letter they describe below. – Janice] ———————————————— Let’s Kill ICAC (Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force) Let’s reach out to our Federal congressmen to oppose the funding of ICAC, which is the task force which uses all kinds of sketchy (and illegal) tactics to hunt down people who click on illegal images (which ICAC rarely takes down). In the current political climate, it seems crazy that they’re spending hundreds of millions of dollars on ICAC! Way down at the…
Read MoreChild Pornography And Criminal Justice Reform
Source: Dawinder S. Sidhu & Kelsey Robinson Drug offenses lie at the heart of the movement for criminal justice reform, and for good reason. Drug policy is defined by severe and disproportionate penalties owing to a retributive, factually flawed, and hurried congressional process. These central characteristics apply to the child pornography context as well. Though drug sentencing is problematic enough, child pornography sentencing is arguably worse. The U.S. Sentencing Commission has disavowed the child pornography sentencing guidelines and invited judges to vary from them. Judges have done just that, varying…
Read MoreFL: North Lauderdale Man Who Transported Child Pornography Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison
Source: justice.gov 4/19/24 MIAMI – On March 14, a North Lauderdale man, who is a registered sex offender, and who was convicted of transportation of over 620 electronic images and videos depicting the sexual exploitation of children, was sentenced to 180 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore, who sits in Miami. Jason Hemans, 40, arrived at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport from Jamaica on August 18, 2023. Due to Hemans being a registered sex offender, United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers conducted an…
Read MoreMA: A father did everything he could to protect his son. Until he couldn’t.
Source: bostonglobe.com 2/22/24 BRAINTREE — Kevin Berner hung up the phone and — in a daze — headed toward the kitchen and his 12-year-old son. Hey buddy, can we talk? Minutes earlier, Berner had received a phone call from another father in the neighborhood who shared a disturbing story. He said his son had been in a carpool recently when another boy pulled up a cellphone photo of Berner’s son. The seventh-grader was naked in the photo “from head to toe.” Berner knew that his son — whose learning disabilities…
Read MoreOH: 2 police officers being investigated after telling a father his 11-year-old daughter could face child porn charges for sending images to a man online
Source: cnn.com 9/21/23 The police chief in Columbus, Ohio, is condemning an incident in which two officers told a father his 11-year-old daughter could face child porn charges for sending images to a man online. Chief Elaine Bryant said as soon as the department learned of the incident, captured on doorbell camera video, it “immediately reached out to the father to apologize, and to assure him that this matter was being fully investigated – both the actions of this officer, and more importantly, any crime committed against his child.” Bryant…
Read MoreAI-generated child sex images spawn new nightmare for the web
Source: washingtonpost.com 6/19/23 The revolution in artificial intelligence has sparked an explosion of disturbingly lifelike images showing child sexual exploitation, fueling concerns among child-safety investigators that they will undermine efforts to find victims and combat real-world abuse. Generative-AI tools have set off what one analyst called a “predatory arms race” on pedophile forums because they can create within seconds realistic images of children performing sex acts, commonly known as child pornography. Thousands of AI-generated child-sex images have been found on forums across the dark web, a layer of…
Read MoreFrance: Victims lose €3.5m in scam accusing them of viewing child abuse images
Source: theguardian.com 6/23/23 Eighteen arrests in France and one in Belgium over false emails threatening people with prosecution Police in France and Belgium say they have smashed a criminal ring that used fake court summonses accusing people of viewing child sexual abuse images to extort at least €3.5m (£3m). The phishing scam involved false emails from police, judges or institutions such as Europol threatening victims with prosecution unless they paid a “fine”. Police said they arrested 18 people in France and one in Belgium in an operation on Monday, with…
Read MoreINTERPOL and UNICEF sign cooperation agreement to address child sexual exploitation and abuse
Source: unicef.org 4/13/23 The two organizations to coordinate efforts to support governments in protecting children from sexual exploitation and abuse, including in digital environments LYON, France/NEW YORK, 13 April 2023 – INTERPOL Secretary General Jürgen Stock and UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell have signed an agreement of cooperation that will support national governments around the world to prevent and address online child sexual exploitation and abuse and other child protection issues. Under the new agreement, the two organizations will cooperate in supporting national law enforcement agencies globally to improve their…
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