What a great partner I have found in the National Association to Protect Children (PROTECT), a non-partisan group dedicated to the protection of children from abuse, exploitation, and neglect. I want you to know about them and I want you to get involved.
I got to know PROTECT almost four years ago when they sponsored my SB 33 – the bill that successfully closed the incest loophole in California. Up until that point in California, if you sexually molested a child under 16 years of age, you went to prison for 6 to 16 years. UNLESS the child was your own, or your stepchild, or even if you had a "famial" relationship – THEN you could get probation, and even were reunified with your victim (meaning daddy came home to molest again). An insane law if there ever was one.
Incidentally, the original, terrible, law was signed by then Governor Jerry Brown
PROTECT has turned its sights on child pornography, a genuine human rights crisis that has profound effects on innocent children.
Sadly, California finds itself as the child pornography capital of the country, and one of the largest areas of consumption in the world. The Internet makes child pornography distribution as simple as a mouse click, and as the number of available images has grown, so has the brutality of the abuse.
These numbers are shocking. In 83% of child pornography, the children are between 6 and 12 years of age and 80% of the images are of an innocent child being raped by an adult twice their size. An appalling 21% of the photos and videos show children that are gagged, bound, blindfolded or otherwise enduring sadistic sex. Only 1% of child pornography is the simple nude child.
PROTECT, working with Crime Victims United of California, is currently promoting a way of fighting back against child pornography using, with no little irony, the Internet as law enforcement’s main weapon.
California has four of the nation’s forty-six Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task forces which combine old fashioned investigative work with cutting edge technology to track the online distribution of child pornography from one user to another. Task force operators know that an IP Address is just as accurate as a home address and can ensure a warrant that leads to a hard drive that law enforcement knows contains child pornography. This means a high probability of conviction.
Literally thousands of child pornography images and videos are traded daily in this state, but law enforcement lacks the resources to make a significant impact. Our four ICACs only receive $250,000 each from the federal government and some supplemental local funding – but not a dime from the state.
That is not nearly enough to tackle this multi-billion dollar crime. PROTECT and I introduced SB 590 this year to establish a state ICAC task force grant program and commit California to spending $4 million combating child pornography.
I am pleased to say our efforts have attracted bipartisan support. Senate Public Safety Chair Gloria Romero agreed to become a joint author of my bill and Assembly authors include Republican Assemblywoman Garcia and Democrat Assemblymembers Parra, Galgiani, and Portentino.
Two weeks ago, one of PROTECT’s national board members, the actor David Keith, and I were given an opportunity to make our funding pitch directly to the Governor. The Governor quickly saw the ICAC program’s value and directed the funding to be included in his May Revise which was released last week.
The Governor’s commitment to protecting children from sexual predators is an area that he deserves more credit for from the public. Last year he convened and implemented the High Risk Sex Offender Task Force recommendations on dealing with sexually violent predators, and he was actively involved in passing Jessica’s Law on the November ballot. Just last week he signed legislation by Senator George Runner to fund key provisions of that important initiative. Legislators, like me, who have met with him on the topic will tell you that he is genuinely concerned about protecting children.
Just having an important program included in the budget, though, is no guarantee of success and there is still much work that needs to be done. The heartbreaking images of young lives being shattered demand a greater response from our state and I am pleased we have taken that first step. If you are unfamiliar with PROTECT and the great work they are doing in California and across the nation, I encourage you to check out their website. Get involved and let’s protect our kids.