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![handle is hein.crs/govepgm0001 and id is 1 raw text is: * Congressionol Research Service
Informing the Iegisl9tive debate since 1914
S
June 14, 2024
Project Safe Childhood and the National Strategy for Child
Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction
Countering child sexual exploitation is a perennial issue for
policymakers, law enforcement, and the public. Project Safe
Childhood (PSC) is the Department of Justice's (DOJ's)
nationwide initiative to counter child sexual exploitation
and abuse. To complement PSC, DOJ has a National
Strategyfor Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction,
outlining the department's efforts to counter child
exploitation and serving as a call to action for Congress and
others, including the technology industry and
nongovernmental organizations. Policymakers may
examine and evaluate DOJ's efforts to counter child
exploitation, among their broader efforts to counter
exploitation and keep children safe, particularly in the
online environment.
Project Safe Ch dhood
PSC was authorized by Title I of the Adam Walsh Child
Protection and Safety Act of 2006 (P.L. 109-248; 34 U.S.C.
§20942) and launched in May 2006. Within DOJ, PSC is
led by the U.S. Attorneys and the Criminal Division's Child
Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS). Other partners
include the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task
forces, federal law enforcement (e.g., the Federal Bureau of
Investigation [FBI], the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security
Investigations, the U.S. Secret Service, and the U.S.
Marshals Service); advocacy organizations; and state, local,
and tribal law enforcement.
Initially, PSC focused on technology-facilitated
exploitation. However, in May 2011 DOJ expanded the
initiative to encompass all federal crimes involving the
sexual exploitation of a minor, including sex trafficking of a
minor and crimes against children committed in Indian
country. Failure to register as a sex offender offenses now
also fall within the ambit of Project Safe Childhood. The
primary activities of PSC are the following:
* Building partnerships. These collaborations integrate
federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement efforts to
investigate and prosecute child exploitation, and include
partnerships with the ICAC task forces. They may also
involve efforts to raise awareness and identify and
rescue victims of exploitation.
* Coordinating law enforcement. This involves federal
case coordination within DOJ and with
multijurisdictional task forces established in connection
with PSC.
* Training PSC partners. This involves training on the
investigation and prosecution of computer-facilitated
crimes against children.
* Enhancing public awareness. The goal is to provide
national public awareness and educational programs on
the threat of online sexual predators and how to report
possible child exploitation violations.
* Holding offenders accountable. This involves
increasing federal involvement in child exploitation and
enticement cases, including by providing for enhanced
investigative tools and federal prosecutions.
The authorizing legislation for PSC also authorized DOJ to
add Assistant U.S. Attorneys dedicated to prosecuting PSC-
related cases, establish new ICAC task forces, enhance
forensic capabilities of ICAC task forces, enhance FBI task
forces focused on countering child exploitation, and expand
the purposes of PSC, as deemed necessary.
ICAC Task Forces
DOJ's ICAC Task Force program supports state and local
law enforcement task forces in responding to online
enticement of children, child exploitation, and child
obscenity and child sexual abuse material (CSAM) cases.
ICAC task force support involves investigative assistance,
training and technical assistance, victim services, and
community education. Currently, 61 ICAC task forces are
in operation; these represent over 5,400 federal, state, local,
and tribal law enforcement and prosecutorial agencies.
The ICAC program notes that since its inception in 1998, it
has reviewed over 844,600 complaints of child sexual
victimization, resulting in over 89,400 individuals being
arrested. The program also provides training to ICAC
members through webinars, in-person classroom training,
and e-learning to complement the in-person training. (The
ICAC program receives funding as part of DOJ's broader
Missing and Exploited Children program, which also
provides support for the National Center for Missing and
Exploited Children [NCMEC] and the AMBER Alert
Program.)
Natonal Strategy for Child Exploftation
Prevention and nterdction
While not authorized as part of PSC, DOJ's National
Strategyfor Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction
directly supports PSC's goals of countering child
exploitation. The Providing Resources, Officers, and
Technology To Eradicate Cyber Threats to Our Children
Act of 2008 (PROTECT Our Children Act of 2008, P.L.
110-401), among other things, directed DOJ to establish
and implement a national strategy on the prevention and
interdiction of child sexual exploitation. It specified that the
national strategy is to establish long-range, comprehensive
goals to combat child exploitation and that DOJ is to](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.crs/govepgm0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)