BATON ROUGE, LA – Louisiana
Attorney General Jeff Landry today joined all of his fellow state Attorneys
General in a letter to U.S. House leadership calling for Congress to pass the
“Amy, Vicky, and Andy Child Pornography Victim Assistance Act of 2017.”
“Our office works around the clock to find child predators and bring them to
justice,” said General Landry. “As in all crimes, our main concern is for the
victims; and this Act ensures child criminal victims get the compensation they
deserve in a timely and professional manner.”
Arresting child predators has been a priority of General Landry’s office. His
Cyber Crime Unit – working with 155 other law enforcement agencies – lead the
Louisiana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, who arrested 284 people
in Louisiana last year on child pornography and other cyber crimes. Today’s
petition continues General Landry’s commitment to the victims of these heinous
crimes.
The Amy, Vicky, and Andy Child
Pornography Victim Assistance Act of 2017 seeks to guarantee restitution to
victims of sex crimes. Current law mandates a child pornography victim must
pursue every case in which a defendant was found to possess their image. With
digital images of children victims being trafficked worldwide, this could mean
thousands of defendants to pursue – an extremely costly and time-consuming
endeavor for these crime victims. The proposed legislation, which passed the
U.S. Senate on January 23rd, would assist victims in their efforts
by:
- Clarifying Congressional intent that victims be fully compensated for all the harms resulting from every perpetrator who contributed to their trauma;
- Establishing a more meaningful definition of “full amount of a victim’s losses;”
- Clarifying restitution owed to victims;
- Establishing a process for victims to receive compensation from the Child Pornography Victims Reserve within the federal Crime Victims Fund and requiring judicial appointment of a guardian ad litem for victims of child pornography production;
- Allowing victims and their attorneys access to images in which they are depicted which is crucial for victim identification, expert testimony, forensic review, treatment, and the prevention and prosecution of future crimes; and
- Requiring the U.S. Department of Justice to report on implementation within two years.
The letter, signed by 55 state and territory Attorneys General, reads in part:
“Preventing victims from collecting full restitution protects defendants, who
are shielded from having to pay meaningful costs to those they have harmed.
While nothing can undo the harm done to these victims by perpetrators who
produce, share and views these images, Congress can act to make it easier for
victims to receive meaningful restitution.”
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