1966. Sexual Exploitation Of Children

Title 18 U.S.C. § 2251 sets forth three offenses. Subsection (a) proscribes the employment or enticement of a minor to engage in sexually explicit activity for the purpose of producing any visual depiction of such conduct. Either the visual depiction must be actually transported in interstate or foreign commerce, or mailed, or the person must know or have reason to know that it will be so transported, or the visual depiction must be produced using materials that have been mailed, shipped, or transported in interstate or foreign commerce by any means, including by computer.

Subsection (b) prohibits any parent, legal guardian, or person having custody or control over a minor to permit such minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing any visual depiction of such conduct.

Subsection (c) penalizes anyone who makes, prints or publishes any notice or advertisement seeking or offering: (1) to receive, exchange, buy, produce, display, distribute or reproduce a visual depiction of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct; or (2) to participate in any act of sexually explicit conduct by or with a minor. Such person should know or have reason to know that such notice or advertisement will be transported in interstate or foreign commerce by any means, including by computer or mail.

Section 2251 imposes a mandatory minimum of 10 years' imprisonment and/or a fine to a twenty year maximum for the first offense and a minimum of 15 years' to a maximum thirty years' imprisonment together with a fine for the second offense if the offender has one prior conviction under Chapter 110, Chapter 109A, or Chapter 117, or under the laws of any state relating to the sexual exploitation of children. An offender with two or more such prior convictions faces a mandatory minimum of thirty years with a maximum sentence of life in prison.

[updated April 2000] [cited in JM 9-75.001]