H.R. 6063 (112th): Child Protection Act of 2012

Introduced:
Jun 29, 2012 (112th Congress, 2011–2013)
Sponsor:
Rep. Lamar Smith [R-TX21]
Status:
Signed by the President
Slip Law:
This bill became Pub.L. 112-206.

The bill’s title was written by the bill’s sponsor. H.R. stands for House of Representatives bill.

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Status

This bill was enacted after being signed by the President on December 7, 2012.

Progress
Introduced Jun 29, 2012
Referred to Committee Jun 29, 2012
Reported by Committee Jul 10, 2012
Passed House Aug 01, 2012
Passed Senate Nov 26, 2012
Signed by the President Dec 07, 2012
Cosponsors
40 cosponsors (25D, 15R) (show)
Committees

House Judiciary

Senate Judiciary

The committee chair determines whether a bill will move past the committee stage.

Full Title

To amend title 18, United States Code, with respect to child pornography and child exploitation offenses.

Summary

No summaries available.

Text

Read Bill Text »

Last updated Jan 01, 2012.
5 pages

Primary Source

View on THOMAS (The Library of Congress)

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Citation

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GovTrack’s Bill Summary

We don’t have a summary available yet.

Library of Congress Summary

The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress.

12/7/2012--Public Law. (This measure has not been amended since it was passed by the House on August 1, 2012.
The summary of that version is repeated here.) Child Protection Act of 2012 - Amends the federal criminal code to impose a fine and/or prison term of up to 20 years for transporting, receiving, distributing, selling, or possessing pornographic images of a child under the age of 12.
Requires a U.S. district court to issue a protective order prohibiting harassment or intimidation of a minor victim or witness if the court finds evidence that the conduct at issue is reasonably likely to adversely affect the willingness of the minor witness or victim to testify or otherwise participate in a federal criminal case or investigation.
Directs the U.S. Sentencing Commission to review and amend the federal sentencing guidelines and policy statements to ensure that such guidelines provide an additional penalty for sex trafficking of children and other child abuse crimes.
Allows the Director of the U.S. Marshals Service to issue an administrative subpoena for the investigation of unregistered sex offenders by the U.S. Marshals Service. Amends the PROTECT Our Children Act of 2008 to:
(1) double the amount that the Attorney General may award a non-law enforcement agency entity annually to establish and conduct training courses for National Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program task force members and other law enforcement officials,
(2) require the Attorney General to designate a senior official at the Department of Justice (DOJ) with experience in investigating or prosecuting child exploitation cases as the National Coordinator for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction to be responsible for coordinating the development of the National Strategy for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction,
(3) authorize appropriations for carrying out such strategy for FY2014-FY2018,
(4) delete a requirement that the National Internet Crimes Against Children Data System identify high-priority suspects based on the volume of suspected criminal activity, and
(5) require the Attorney General to report within 90 days after enactment of this Act on the status of the establishment of such System.

House Republican Conference Summary

The summary below was written by the House Republican Conference, which is the caucus of Republicans in the House of Representatives.

This summary can be found at http://www.gop.gov/bill/112/2/hr6063.

Summary

H.R. 6063 would increase the maximum penalty from 10 to 20 years for offenses involving prepubescent minors or minors under the age of 12. 

The bill would amend Federal code to expand protection of minor victims and witnesses from harassment or intimidation.  The bill would allow a federal court to issue a protective order if it determines that harassment or intimidation exists specifically in the case of a minor witness and that the intimidation would affect the willingness of the witness to testify in an ongoing investigation or Federal criminal matter.  Protective orders for minor witnesses would be issued for three years or until the witnesses’ 18th birthday, whichever is longer (protective orders for adults are capped at three years in length). 

H.R. 6063 would permit courts to issue protection orders to restrict the harassing or intimidating distribution of a witness’s restricted personal information on the Internet. 

H.R. 6063 would seek to fill a gap in current law by creating criminal penalties of a fine, imprisonment up to five years, or both, for knowing and intentional violations of any protective order issued under current law.  Under the statute as currently written, there is no criminal enforcement capability for protective orders issued, and violators likely face nothing more than a contempt citation. 

The bill would instruct the U.S. Sentencing Commission to review, and increase if appropriate, the Sentencing Guidelines contained in current law, relating to penalties for witness intimidation in certain crimes against children offenses.

H.R. 6063 would amend current law (governing the powers and duties of the U.S. Marshals Service) to authorize the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) to issue administrative subpoenas in investigations of unregistered sex offenders.  The bill would also make a conforming amendment to current law (governing administrative subpoena authority) to authorize such authority for the USMS in apprehending unregistered sex offenders.  

The bill would increase the cap in training funding grants from $2 million to $4 million to ensure sufficient funding for the organizations that provide critical training to the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Forces.

H.R. 6063 would clarifyCongress’ original intent from the PROTECT our Children Act of 2008 that the National Coordinator should be a high-ranking official within the Justice Department with expertise in child exploitation investigations or prosecutions.

The bill would extent the current authorization level of $60 million a year for the Task Forces for an additional five years through fiscal year 2018.

H.R. 6063 wouldamend the PROTECT Our Children Act of 2008 to omit “volume” as a specifically enumerated indicator that must be established to identify a person as a high-priority suspect for purposes of the National Internet Crimes Against Children Data (NIDS) system.

Finally, the bill would direct the Attorney General to submit a report to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees on the status of the Department’s implementation of the NIDS system within 90 days of enactment of this Act.

Cost

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that implementing the bill would cost $121 million over the 2013-2017 period, assuming appropriation of the authorized amounts.  Enacting H.R. 6063 could affect direct spending and revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures apply.  However, CBO estimates that any net effects would be insignificant in any year.

House Democratic Caucus Summary

The House Democratic Caucus does not provide summaries of bills.

So, yes, we display the House Republican Conference’s summaries when available even if we do not have a Democratic summary available. That’s because we feel it is better to give you as much information as possible, even if we cannot provide every viewpoint.

We’ll be looking for a source of summaries from the other side in the meanwhile.

The bill contains the following citations to other parts of U.S. law:

United States Code

The United States Code is the compilation of permanent laws enacted by Congress. Temporary and other non-permanent laws do not appear in the United States Code. (About half of the United States Code is the law itself, called positive law. The other half is merely a compilation of the laws but has no legal significance.)