Durbin’s STOP CSAM Act would crack down on the proliferation of child sexual abuse material online
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, questioned witnesses in today’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing entitled “Protecting Our Children Online Against the Evolving Offender.” Durbin first questioned Jessica Smolar, a former federal prosecutor who investigated and prosecuted child exploitation offenses, about the current child exploitation sentencing guidelines and whether those current guidelines are deficient in assessing the evolving child sexual offender.
“What you tell us [in Ms. Smolar’s testimony] is [that] less than 30 percent of nonproduction child pornography defendants were sentenced within the recommended guidelines, reflecting broad judicial dissatisfaction at 70 percent, and inconsistent sentencing nationwide. You say, ‘as federal prosecutors, my colleagues and I often considered plea offers to binding sentences to avoid the application of the insufficient sentencing guidelines and disparities.’ Tell me a little more, what are you talking about here?” Durbin asked.
Ms. Smolar responded in cases when ‘you are talking about possession of CSAM, where there is no mandatory minimum sentence—often times, my colleagues and I, not just in the Western District of Pennsylvania but nationwide, would see sentences that we felt were insufficient.’ She continued to state she believes that sentences for “people who are collecting that type of material [CSAM] should be significant in order to protect victims and to deter others from collecting it. So, it's important that the sentencing guidelines are useful.”
“I understand part of the problem was a numeric issue. Initially, so many instances of objects that a person had led to a certain sentencing guideline. Now that they are being collected in video form [or] different technology form—that counting numbers doesn't really tell the story, is that your impression?” Durbin asked.
Ms. Smolar responded that it doesn’t tell the story. She continued to say the sentencing guidelines follow numbers and “math;” but it is not about “math,” it is about “real offenders.” She continued to say the sentencing guidelines don’t necessarily take into account whether there are multiple platforms used against children, how severe the images are, and how many victims there are. She stated, “that is not necessarily encompassed by the sentencing guidelines right now, so legislation is needed to address offender risk.”
Durbin then asked Lauren Coffren, Executive Director for the Exploited Children’s Division at NCMEC, about the scope of this exploitation.
“I was interested in the Chairman’s question that you responded to—sometimes the scope of this exploitation is chaos, it’s not financial. Tell me a little more about that. What is the value of this perpetrator wasting all of these hours, leading to the self-harm of a young person or worse?” Durbin asked.
Ms. Coffren responded that the groups going after children online are “are fueled and motivated by [having] clout and notoriety for the impact of their actions. This means it extends much more beyond CSAM. It is how can they use children to harm themselves or others, and then harm the community, as well... Child sexual exploitation has actually been hijacked as one methodology for a larger way of trying to be able to use children against the community.”
Durbin then questioned Tamia Woods, who lost her 17-year-old son James to suicide after being financially-sextorted online.
“Ms. Woods, how long do you think your son was being exploited before he finally lost his life?” Durbin asked.
Ms. Woods responded, “It was 19 and a half hours. He received 200 messages in 19 and a half hours with what we believe were four different people attacking him at one time.”
Durbin asked, “Do you have any idea where the source of these attacks was?”
Ms. Woods responded, “His murderers were in the Ivory Coast. Of course, we are told we are never going to receive justice for James.”
Video of Durbin’s questions in Committee is available here.
Audio of Durbin’s questions in Committee is available here.
Footage of Durbin’s questions in Committee is available here for TV Stations.
Durbin has used his role on the Senate Judiciary Committee to prioritize child safety online through hearings, legislation, and oversight efforts. On January 31, 2024, while Durbin was serving as Chair, the Committee held a hearing featuring testimony from the CEOs of social media companies Discord, Meta, Snap, TikTok, and X (formerly known as Twitter). This hearing highlighted the ongoing risk to children and the immediate need for Congress to act on the bipartisan bills reported by the Committee.
Durbin and U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) also joined forces to re-introduce the bipartisan STOP CSAM Act, which would combat online child sexual abuse material. The bill passed the Judiciary Committee unanimously and awaits action on the Senate floor.
In addition, Durbin’s bipartisan Disrupt Explicit Forged Images and Non-Consensual Edits Act of 2024 (DEFIANCE Act) passed the Senate in July 2024—and was reintroduced in the Senate this year. The legislation would hold accountable those responsible for the proliferation of nonconsensual, sexually-explicit “deepfake” images and videos. The volume of “deepfake” content available online is increasing exponentially as the technology used to create it has become more accessible to the public. The overwhelming majority of this material is sexually explicit and produced without the consent of the person depicted.
Earlier this year, the Judiciary Committee held a hearing entitled “Children’s Safety in the Digital Era: Strengthening Protections and Addressing Legal Gaps.” Durbin’s opening statement from that hearing is available here, and his questions for the witnesses are available here.
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