Project Safe Childhood Act

118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1170 AN ACT To reauthorize and update the Project Safe Childhood program, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 2 † S 1170 ES SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Project Safe Childhood 2 Act’’. 3 SEC. 2. PROJECT SAFE CHILDHOOD MODERNIZATION. 4 Section 143 of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and 5 Safety Act of 2006 (34 U.S.C. 20942) is amended to read 6 as follows: 7 ‘‘SEC. 143. PROJECT SAFE CHILDHOOD. 8 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 9 ‘‘(1) CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE MATERIAL.—The 10 term ‘child sexual abuse material’ has the meaning 11 given the term ‘child pornography’ in section 2256 12 of title 18, United States Code. 13 ‘‘(2) CHILD SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF- 14 FENSE.—The term ‘child sexual exploitation offense’ 15 means— 16 ‘‘(A)(i) an offense involving a minor under 17 section 1591 or chapter 117 of title 18, United 18 States Code; 19 ‘‘(ii) an offense under subsection (a), (b), 20 or (c) of section 2251 of title 18, United States 21 Code; 22 ‘‘(iii) an offense under section 2251A or 23 2252A(g) of title 18, United States Code; or 24 ‘‘(iv) any attempt or conspiracy to commit 25 an offense described in clause (i) or (ii); or 26 3 † S 1170 ES ‘‘(B) an offense involving a minor under a 1 State or Tribal statute that is similar to a pro- 2 vision described in subparagraph (A). 3 ‘‘(3) CIRCLE OF TRUST OFFENDER.—The term 4 ‘circle of trust offender’ means an offender who is 5 related to, or in a position of trust, authority, or su- 6 pervisory control with respect to, a child. 7 ‘‘(4) COMPUTER.—The term ‘computer’ has the 8 meaning given the term in section 1030 of title 18, 9 United States Code. 10 ‘‘(5) CONTACT SEXUAL OFFENSE.—The term 11 ‘contact sexual offense’ means— 12 ‘‘(A) an offense involving a minor under 13 chapter 109A of title 18, United States Code, 14 or any attempt or conspiracy to commit such an 15 offense; or 16 ‘‘(B) an offense involving a minor under a 17 State or Tribal statute that is similar to a pro- 18 vision described in subparagraph (A). 19 ‘‘(6) DUAL OFFENDER.—The term ‘dual of- 20 fender’ means— 21 ‘‘(A) a person who commits— 22 ‘‘(i) a technology-facilitated child sex- 23 ual exploitation offense or an offense in- 24 volving child sexual abuse material; and 25 4 † S 1170 ES ‘‘(ii) a contact sexual offense; and 1 ‘‘(B) without regard to whether the of- 2 fenses described in clauses (i) and (ii) of sub- 3 paragraph (A)— 4 ‘‘(i) are committed as part of the 5 same course of conduct; or 6 ‘‘(ii) involve the same victim. 7 ‘‘(7) FACILITATOR.—The term ‘facilitator’ 8 means an individual who facilitates the commission 9 by another individual of— 10 ‘‘(A) a technology-facilitated child sexual 11 exploitation offense or an offense involving child 12 sexual abuse material; or 13 ‘‘(B) a contact sexual offense. 14 ‘‘(8) ICAC AFFILIATE PARTNER.—The term 15 ‘ICAC affiliate partner’ means a law enforcement 16 agency that has entered into a formal operating 17 agreement with the ICAC Task Force Program. 18 ‘‘(9) ICAC TASK FORCE.—The term ‘ICAC task 19 force’ means a task force that is part of the ICAC 20 Task Force Program. 21 ‘‘(10) ICAC TASK FORCE PROGRAM.—The term 22 ‘ICAC Task Force Program’ means the National 23 Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Pro- 24 gram established under section 102 of the PRO- 25 5 † S 1170 ES TECT Our Children Act of 2008 (34 U.S.C. 1 21112). 2 ‘‘(11) OFFENSE INVOLVING CHILD SEXUAL 3 ABUSE MATERIAL.—The term ‘offense involving 4 child sexual abuse material’ means— 5 ‘‘(A) an offense under section 2251(d), 6 section 2252, or paragraphs (1) through (6) of 7 section 2252A(a) of title 18, United States 8 Code, or any attempt or conspiracy to commit 9 such an offense; or 10 ‘‘(B) an offense under a State or Tribal 11 statute that is similar to a provision described 12 in subparagraph (A). 13 ‘‘(12) SERIOUS OFFENDER.—The term ‘serious 14 offender’ means— 15 ‘‘(A) an offender who has committed a 16 contact sexual offense or child sexual exploi- 17 tation offense; 18 ‘‘(B) a dual offender, circle of trust of- 19 fender, or facilitator; or 20 ‘‘(C) an offender with a prior conviction 21 for a contact sexual offense, a child sexual ex- 22 ploitation offense, or an offense involving child 23 sexual abuse material. 24 6 † S 1170 ES ‘‘(13) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means a State 1 of the United States, the District of Columbia, and 2 any commonwealth, territory, or possession of the 3 United States. 4 ‘‘(14) TECHNOLOGY-FACILITATED.—The term 5 ‘technology-facilitated’, with respect to an offense, 6 means an offense that is committed through the use 7 of a computer, even if the use of a computer is not 8 an element of the offense. 9 ‘‘(b) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.—The Attorney 10 General shall create and maintain a nationwide initiative 11 to align Federal, State, and local entities to combat the 12 growing epidemic of online child sexual exploitation and 13 abuse, to be known as the ‘Project Safe Childhood pro- 14 gram’, in accordance with this section. 15 ‘‘(c) BEST PRACTICES.—The Attorney General, in 16 coordination with the Child Exploitation and Obscenity 17 Section of the Criminal Division of the Department of 18 Justice and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency 19 Prevention of the Department of Justice, and in consulta- 20 tion with training and technical assistance providers under 21 the ICAC Task Force Program who are funded by the At- 22 torney General and with appropriate nongovernmental or- 23 ganizations, shall— 24 7 † S 1170 ES ‘‘(1) develop best practices to adopt a balanced 1 approach to the investigation of suspect leads involv- 2 ing contact sexual offenses, child sexual exploitation 3 offenses, and offenses involving child sexual abuse 4 material, and the prosecution of those offenses, 5 prioritizing when feasible the identification of a child 6 victim or a serious offender, which approach shall 7 incorporate the use of— 8 ‘‘(A) proactively generated leads, including 9 leads generated by current and emerging tech- 10 nology; 11 ‘‘(B) in-district investigative referrals; and 12 ‘‘(C) CyberTipline reports from the Na- 13 tional Center for Missing and Exploited Chil- 14 dren; 15 ‘‘(2) develop best practices to be used by each 16 United States Attorney and ICAC task force to as- 17 sess the likelihood that an individual could be a seri- 18 ous offender or that a child victim may be identified; 19 ‘‘(3) develop and implement a tracking and 20 communication system for Federal, State, and local 21 law enforcement agencies and prosecutor’s offices to 22 report successful cases of victim identification and 23 child rescue to the Department of Justice and the 24 public; and 25 8 † S 1170 ES ‘‘(4) encourage the submission of all lawfully 1 seized visual depictions to the Child Victim Identi- 2 fication Program of the National Center for Missing 3 and Exploited Children. 4 ‘‘(d) IMPLEMENTATION.—Except as authorized 5 under subsection (e), funds authorized under this section 6 may only be used for the following 4 purposes: 7 ‘‘(1) Integrated Federal, State, and local efforts 8 to investigate and prosecute contact sexual offenses, 9 child sexual exploitation offenses, and offenses in- 10 volving child sexual abuse material, including— 11 ‘‘(A) the partnership by each United 12 States Attorney with each Internet Crimes 13 Against Children Task Force within the district 14 of such attorney; 15 ‘‘(B) training of Federal, State, and local 16 law enforcement officers and prosecutors 17 through— 18 ‘‘(i) programs facilitated by the ICAC 19 Task Force Program; 20 ‘‘(ii) ICAC training programs sup- 21 ported by the Office of Juvenile Justice 22 and Delinquency Prevention of the Depart- 23 ment of Justice; 24 9 † S 1170 ES ‘‘(iii) programs facilitated by appro- 1 priate nongovernmental organizations with 2 subject matter expertise, technical skill, or 3 technological tools to assist in the identi- 4 fication of and response to serious offend- 5 ers, contact sexual offenses, child sexual 6 exploitation offenses, or offenses involving 7 child sexual abuse material; and 8 ‘‘(iv) any other program that provides 9 training— 10 ‘‘(I) on the investigation and 11 identification of serious offenders or 12 victims of contact sexual offenses, 13 child sexual exploitation offenses, or 14 offenses involving child sexual abuse 15 material; or 16 ‘‘(II) that specifically addresses 17 the use of existing and emerging tech- 18 nologies to commit or facilitate con- 19 tact sexual offenses, child sexual ex- 20 ploitation offenses, or offenses involv- 21 ing child sexual abuse material; 22 ‘‘(C) the development by each United 23 States Attorney of a district-specific strategic 24 plan to coordinate with State and local law en- 25 10 † S 1170 ES forcement agencies and prosecutor’s offices, in- 1 cluding ICAC task forces and their ICAC affil- 2 iate partners, on the investigation of suspect 3 leads involving serious offenders, contact sexual 4 offenses, child sexual exploitation offenses, and 5 offenses involving child sexual abuse material, 6 and the prosecution of those offenders and of- 7 fenses, which plan— 8 ‘‘(i) shall include— 9 ‘‘(I) the use of the best practices 10 developed under paragraphs (1) and 11 (2) of subsection (c); 12 ‘‘(II) the development of plans 13 and protocols to target and rapidly in- 14 vestigate cases involving potential se- 15 rious offenders or the identification 16 and rescue of a victim of a contact 17 sexual offense, a child sexual exploi- 18 tation offense, or an offense involving 19 child sexual abuse material; 20 ‘‘(III) the use of training and 21 technical assistance programs to in- 22 corporate victim-centered, trauma-in- 23 formed practices in cases involving 24 victims of contact sexual offenses, 25 11 † S 1170 ES child sexual exploitation offenses, and 1 offenses involving child sexual abuse 2 material, which may include the use of 3 child protective services, children’s ad- 4 vocacy centers, victim support special- 5 ists, or other supportive services; 6 ‘‘(IV) the development of plans to 7 track, report, and clearly commu- 8 nicate successful cases of victim iden- 9 tification and child rescue to the De- 10 partment of Justice and the public; 11 ‘‘(V) an analysis of the investiga- 12 tive and forensic capacity of law en- 13 forcement agencies and prosecutor’s 14 offices within the district, and goals 15 for improving capacity and effective- 16 ness; 17 ‘‘(VI) a written policy describing 18 the criteria for referrals for prosecu- 19 tion from Federal, State, or local law 20 enforcement agencies, particularly 21 when the investigation may involve a 22 potential serious offender or the iden- 23 tification or rescue of a child victim; 24 12 † S 1170 ES ‘‘(VII) plans and budgets for 1 training of relevant personnel on con- 2 tact sexual offenses, child sexual ex- 3 ploitation offenses, and offenses in- 4 volving child sexual abuse material; 5 ‘‘(VIII) plans for coordination 6 and cooperation with State, local, and 7 Tribal law enforcement agencies and 8 prosecutorial offices; and 9 ‘‘(IX) evidence-based programs 10 that educate the public about and in- 11 crease awareness of such offenses; and 12 ‘‘(ii) shall be developed in consulta- 13 tion, as appropriate, with— 14 ‘‘(I) the local ICAC task force; 15 ‘‘(II) the United States Marshals 16 Service Sex Offender Targeting Cen- 17 ter; 18 ‘‘(III) training and technical as- 19 sistance providers under the ICAC 20 Task Force Program who are funded 21 by the Attorney General; 22 ‘‘(IV) nongovernmental organiza- 23 tions with subject matter expertise, 24 technical skill, or technological tools 25 13 † S 1170 ES to assist in the identification of and 1 response to contact sexual offenses, 2 child sexual exploitation offenses, or 3 offenses involving child sexual abuse 4 material; 5 ‘‘(V) any relevant component of 6 Homeland Security Investigations; 7 ‘‘(VI) any relevant component of 8 the Federal Bureau of Investigation; 9 ‘‘(VII) the Office of Juvenile Jus- 10 tice and Delinquency Prevention of 11 the Department of Justice; 12 ‘‘(VIII) the Child Exploitation 13 and Obscenity Section of the Criminal 14 Division of the Department of Justice; 15 ‘‘(IX) the United States Postal 16 Inspection Service; 17 ‘‘(X) the United States Secret 18 Service; and 19 ‘‘(XI) each military criminal in- 20 vestigation organization of the De- 21 partment of Defense; and 22 ‘‘(D) a quadrennial assessment by each 23 United States Attorney of the investigations 24 within the district of such attorney of contact 25 14 † S 1170 ES sexual offenses, child sexual exploitation of- 1 fenses, and offenses involving child sexual abuse 2 material— 3 ‘‘(i) with consideration of— 4 ‘‘(I) the variety of sources for 5 leads; 6 ‘‘(II) the proportion of work in- 7 volving proactive or undercover law 8 enforcement investigations; 9 ‘‘(III) the number of serious of- 10 fenders identified and prosecuted; and 11 ‘‘(IV) the number of children 12 identified or rescued; and 13 ‘‘(ii) information from which may be 14 used by the United States Attorney, as ap- 15 propriate, to revise the plan described in 16 subparagraph (C). 17 ‘‘(2) Major case coordination by the Depart- 18 ment of Justice (or other Federal agencies as appro- 19 priate), including specific cooperation, as appro- 20 priate, with— 21 ‘‘(A) the Child Exploitation and Obscenity 22 Section of the Criminal Division of the Depart- 23 ment of Justice; 24 15 † S 1170 ES ‘‘(B) any relevant component of Homeland 1 Security Investigations; 2 ‘‘(C) any relevant component of the Fed- 3 eral Bureau of Investigation; 4 ‘‘(D) the ICAC task forces and ICAC affil- 5 iate partners; 6 ‘‘(E) the United States Marshals Service, 7 including the Sex Offender Targeting Center; 8 ‘‘(F) the United States Postal Inspection 9 Service; 10 ‘‘(G) the United States Secret Service; 11 ‘‘(H) each Military Criminal Investigation 12 Organization of the Department of Defense; 13 and 14 ‘‘(I) any task forces established in connec- 15 tion with the Project Safe Childhood program 16 set forth under subsection (b). 17 ‘‘(3) Increased Federal involvement in, and 18 commitment to, the prevention and prosecution of 19 technology-facilitated child sexual exploitation of- 20 fenses or offenses involving child sexual abuse mate- 21 rial by— 22 ‘‘(A) using technology to identify victims 23 and serious offenders; 24 16 † S 1170 ES ‘‘(B) developing processes and tools to 1 identify victims and offenders; and 2 ‘‘(C) taking measures to improve informa- 3 tion sharing among Federal law enforcement [Text truncated for display. 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