Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “National Response to Exploitation and Sexual abuse of Children in Unaddressed Emergencies Act” or the “Child RESCUE Act”.
National Response to Exploitation and Sexual abuse of Children in Unaddressed Emergencies Act
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.
Sec. 2 Findings
Congress finds the following:
The growing international trade in child sexual abuse material creates demand and incentive for the sexual assault of children throughout the United States.
United States law enforcement efforts to combat child sexual exploitation have the potential to help multiple distinct groups of victims, including—
children depicted in child sexual abuse material (CSAM) who are still being assaulted;
children and adults whose victimization as a child continues to be viewed and shared online; and
children who are being sexually assaulted by adults who could be interdicted while accessing or sharing CSAM online.
In congressional hearings held by the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives in 2006, the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and State law enforcement leaders estimated that hundreds of thousands of adults in the United States are engaging in CSAM crimes.
A growing body of research—including academic studies, analysis by the United States Sentencing Commission, and findings by law enforcement polygraphers—indicates that a majority of individuals possessing and sharing CSAM are “dual offenders” who possess illegal imagery and also commit contact offenses.
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.”.
Law enforcement investigations of CyberTipline reports from the NCMEC frequently lead to the rescue of current child victims, thus enabling law enforcement to interdict offenders who are abusing children by circulating CSAM and also committing contact offenses. In 2020, 21,700,000 CyberTipline reports were submitted to NCMEC and approximately 200,000 CyberTipline reports were made available to the 61 Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) units across the country.
United States law enforcement’s ability to detect and interdict online traffic in CSAM provides a historic opportunity to locate sexual predators and rescue children through victim-centric investigations. In 2020, the Internet Crimes Against Children Child Online Protection Services (ICACCOPS) and other law enforcement investigative systems detected more than 325,000 unique IP addresses in the U.S. that were associated with CSAM and made available to the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Forces.
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.
Investigations of these crimes are complicated by the increasing prevalence of encryption and anonymizing services available to offenders.
Sec. 3 Definitions
In this Act:
Child sexual abuse material— The term child sexual abuse material has the meaning given the term child pornography in section 2256 of title 18, United States Code.
Known to law enforcement— The term known to law enforcement means a Federal, State, 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, computer global unique identifier, phone number, or other information attributable to that person or location.
Proactive policing— The term proactive policing means a specialized, covert, or undercover investigation conducted by a law enforcement agency that involves a person or organization that the law enforcement agency believes is engaging in a violation or violations of child sexual abuse, child exploitation, or child sex trafficking crimes.
Working group— The term Working Group means the United States Working Group on Children in Imminent Danger established under section 3(a).
Sec. 4 Establishment of working group
In general— Not later than 90 days after the date of 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”, to study victim-centric policing strategies and resource needs to rescue children in the United States who are—
victims of child sexual abuse material; or
victims of sexual abuse by individuals who are also engaged in child sexual abuse material crimes.
Priority— In carrying out the study under subsection (a), the Working Group shall give priority to investigative leads that indicate the possibility of identifying or rescuing child victims of sexual abuse or child sexual abuse material crimes.
Sec. 5 Duties of the working group
In carrying out the study under section 4, the Working Group shall—
develop estimates of the total number of adults in the United States who are committing crimes involving the production, distribution, receipt, or possession of child sexual abuse material, including the number of such individuals who—
could be interdicted by Federal, State, or local law enforcement agencies if sufficient funding resources were available; and
are committing crimes involving sexual contact with children;
develop estimates of the total number of minor victims of child sexual abuse in the United States, disaggregated by age range, who—
could be located and protected from further abuse through the interdiction of individuals committing offenses described in paragraph (1); or
are likely to become victims of contact sexual offenses by adults committing offenses described in paragraph (1) during the 10-year period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act;
develop estimates and descriptions of the funding, resources, and proactive and reactive strategies necessary for Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies to successfully locate and protect minor victims described in paragraph (2);
develop estimates of the number of child sexual abuse offenses that are reported annually involving adults in a position of trust or authority including—
the total number of such offenses annually known to social service agencies and other non-law enforcement child abuse investigators, and whether or not those reports received a concurrent law enforcement investigative response; and
potential strategies and resources that could be used to ensure that offenders reported to social service agencies alleged to have committed contact sexual offenses are also investigated for potential child sexual abuse material crimes; and
provide additional analysis and nonduplicative estimates of—
the number of adults who were arrested by Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies during the 5-year period ending on the date of enactment of this Act, by year, for any of the offenses described in paragraphs (1) and (4);
the number of adults who were prosecuted at the Federal or State level during the 5-year period ending on the date of enactment of this Act, by year, for any of the offenses described in paragraphs (1) and (4);
the estimated number of unidentified victims depicted in child abuse imagery that is known to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children; and
the estimated number of cases that receive no investigative follow-up and the underlying reasons for that outcome.
Sec. 6 Members of the working group
In general—
Attorney general discretion— The Working Group shall be composed of such representatives of Federal departments and agencies, non-Federal law enforcement agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and subject matter experts as the Attorney General considers appropriate.
Specified members— The Attorney General shall appoint representatives of the following agencies and nongovernmental organizations to the Working Group:
Three representatives from State or local grantees of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force program with extensive, direct experience conducting both CyberTipline investigations and proactive, online undercover investigations, including use of specialized tools for peer-to-peer investigations.
A Chief or Deputy Chief of the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section of the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice.
The National Coordinator for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction of the Department of Justice.
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.
A special agent of Homeland Security Investigations with expertise in both CyberTipline investigations and proactive online investigations.
A subject matter expert within Homeland Security Investigations with expertise in child victim identification.
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.
A representative from the National Children’s Alliance with expertise in child exploitation and child victim forensic interviewing.
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.
A special agent of the United States Postal Inspection Service with expertise in investigations of child sexual abuse material.
A representative from the National District Attorney’s Association.
A representative from the academic community with expertise in developing technology that can proactively detect the distribution of CSAM online.
At the election of the head of the relevant entity—
a representative of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force program;
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;
a representative at the Child Rescue Coalition with subject matter expertise on the CPS system and other child sexual exploitation and abuse investigations;
a representative of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children with subject matter expertise on child sexual exploitation and abuse and child victim identification; and
a representative of the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network with subject matter expertise on child sexual exploitation and abuse.
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.
Terms— A member of the Working Group shall be appointed for the life of the Working Group.
Vacancies—
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.
Manner of appointment— A vacancy in the Working Group shall be filled in the manner in which the original appointment was made.
Compensation— A member of the Working Group shall serve without pay.
Quorum— A majority of the members of the Working Group shall constitute a quorum, but a lesser number may hold hearings.
Chairperson— The Chairperson of the Working Group shall be elected by a majority vote of the Working Group.
Meetings— The Working Group shall hold virtual meetings monthly, and any subgroup of the Working Group shall hold additional meetings as necessary.
Sec. 7 Staff of working group; experts and consultants
Staff— The Chairperson of the Working Group may appoint and fix the pay of additional personnel as the Chairperson considers appropriate.
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.
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.
Sec. 8 Powers of working group
Hearings and sessions—
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.
Witnesses— The Working Group may administer oaths or affirmations to witnesses appearing before the Working Group.
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.
Obtaining official information—
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.
Furnishing information— Upon request of the Chairperson of the Working Group for information under paragraph (1), the head of the department or agency of the United States shall furnish that information to the Working Group.
Administrative support services— Upon the request of the Working Group, the Administrator of General Services shall provide to the Working Group, on a reimbursable basis, the administrative support services necessary for the Working Group to carry out the responsibilities of the Working Group under this Act.
Sec. 9 Report
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—
a detailed statement of the findings and conclusions of the Working Group, together with recommendations for legislation; and
a summary of the support, documents, and witnesses to the Committee provided by the Department of Justice to the Working Group.
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 subsection (a).
Sec. 10 Termination
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.
Reconvening group— If the Working Group terminates under subsection (a), the Attorney General may reconvene the Working Group in accordance with this Act.