I 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4981 

To amend section 2259 of title 18, United States Code, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 26, 2014 

Mr. CARTWRIGHT (for himself, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mr. BRALEY of Iowa, Mrs. BROOKS of Indiana, Ms. BROWN of 

Florida, Ms. CHU, Mr. CICILLINE, Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts, Mr. 

COFFMAN, Mr. COHEN, Mr. COOPER, Mr. COLE, Mr. COTTON, Mr. 

CROWLEY, Mr. CUMMINGS, Ms. DELBENE, Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. DEFAZIO, 

Mr. DESANTIS, Mr. DEUTCH, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. FARR, Mr. FATTAH, Ms. 

FUDGE, Mr. GARCIA, Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. HASTINGS of Washington, Mr. ISRAEL, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Ms. 

KAPTUR, Ms. KUSTER, Mrs. LOWEY, Mr. MARINO, Mr. MEEHAN, Ms. 

MATSUI, Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York, Mr. MEADOWS, Mr. MESSER, 

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr. MEEKS, Mr. MULLIN, Mr. NEAL, 

Mr. NOLAN, Ms. NORTON, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. PERRY, Mr. 

RANGEL, Mr. REICHERT, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr. RUIZ, Ms. SCHWARTZ, 

Ms. SHEA-PORTER, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Ms. SPEIER, Mr. STOCKMAN, Mr. 

TERRY, Ms. TITUS, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. VARGAS, Mr. VELA, Mr. 

WEBER of Texas, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Mr. YARMUTH, Ms. DELAURO, 

Mrs. DAVIS of California, Mr. JORDAN, Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee, Mr. 

BACHUS, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Mr. HONDA, Mr. KING of New York, and 

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend section 2259 of title 18, United States Code, 

and for other purposes. 


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1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Amy and Vicky Child 

5 Pornography Victim Restitution Improvement Act of 

6 2014’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

8 Congress finds the following: 

9 (1) The demand for child pornography harms 

10 children because it drives production, which involves 

11 severe and often irreparable child sexual abuse and 

12 exploitation. 

13 (2) The harms caused by child pornography are 

14 more extensive than the harms caused by child sex 

15 abuse alone because child pornography is a perma16 nent record of the abuse of the depicted child, and 

17 the harm to the child is exacerbated by its circula18 tion. Every viewing of child pornography is a repeti19 tion of the victim’s original childhood sexual abuse. 

20 (3) Victims suffer continuing and grievous 

21 harm as a result of knowing that a large, indetermi22 nate number of individuals have viewed and will in 

23 the future view images of their childhood sexual 

24 abuse. Harms of this sort are a major reason that 

25 child pornography is outlawed. 


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1 (4) The unlawful collective conduct of every in2 dividual who reproduces, distributes, or possesses 

3 the images of a victim’s childhood sexual abuse plays 

4 a part in sustaining and aggravating the harms to 

5 that individual victim. Multiple actors independently 

6 commit intentional crimes that combine to produce 

7 an indivisible injury to a victim. 

8 (5) It is the intent of Congress that victims of 

9 child pornography be fully compensated for all the 

10 harms resulting from each and every perpetrator 

11 who contributes to their anguish. 

12 (6) Congress intends to adopt and hereby 

13 adopts an aggregate causation standard to address 

14 the unique crime of child pornography and the 

15 unique harms caused by child pornography. 

16 (7) Victims should not be limited to receiving 

17 restitution from defendants only for losses caused by 

18 each defendant’s own offense of conviction. Courts 

19 must apply a less restrictive aggregate causation 

20 standard in child pornography cases, while also rec21 ognizing appropriate constitutional limits and pro22 tections for defendants. 

23 SEC. 3. MANDATORY RESTITUTION. 

24 Section 2259 of title 18, United States Code, is 

25 amended— 


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1 (1) in subsection (b), by striking paragraph (3) 

2 and inserting the following: 

3 ‘‘(3) DEFINITION.—(A) For purposes of this 

4 subsection, the term ‘full amount of the victim’s 

5 losses’ includes any costs incurred by the victim 

6 for— 

7 ‘‘(i) lifetime medical services relating to 

8 physical, psychiatric, or psychological care; 

9 ‘‘(ii) lifetime physical and occupational 

10 therapy or rehabilitation; 

11 ‘‘(iii) necessary transportation, temporary 

12 housing, and child care expenses; 

13 ‘‘(iv) lifetime lost income; and 

14 ‘‘(v) attorneys’ fees, as well as other costs 

15 incurred. 

16 ‘‘(B) For purposes of this subsection, the term 

17 ‘full amount of the victim’s losses’ also includes any 

18 other losses suffered by the victim, in addition to the 

19 costs listed in subparagraph (A), if those losses are 

20 a proximate result of the offense. 

21 ‘‘(C) For purposes of this subsection, the term 

22 ‘full amount of the victim’s losses’ also includes any 

23 losses suffered by the victim from any sexual act or 

24 sexual conduct (as those terms are defined in section 

25 2246) in preparation for or during the production of 


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1 child pornography depicting the victim involved in 

2 the offense.’’; 

3 (2) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub4 section (d); 

5 (3) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol6 lowing: 

7 ‘‘(c) DETERMINING RESTITUTION.— 

8 ‘‘(1) HARMED BY ONE DEFENDANT.—If the vic9 tim was harmed as a result of the commission of an 

10 offense under section 2251, 2251A, 2252, 2252A, or 

11 2260 by 1 defendant, the court shall determine the 

12 full amount of the victim’s losses caused by the de13 fendant and enter an order of restitution for an 

14 amount that is not less than the full amount of the 

15 victim’s losses. 

16 ‘‘(2) HARMED BY MORE THAN ONE DEFEND17 ANT.—If the victim was harmed as a result of of18 fenses under section 2251, 2251A, 2252, 2252A, or 

19 2260 by more than 1 person, regardless of whether 

20 the persons have been charged, prosecuted, or con21 victed in any Federal or State court of competent ju22 risdiction within the United States, the court shall 

23 determine the full amount of the victim’s losses 

24 caused by all such persons, or reasonably expected 

25 to be caused by such persons, and enter an order of 


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1 restitution against the defendant in favor of the vic2 tim for— 

3 ‘‘(A) the full amount of the victim’s losses; 

4 or 

5 ‘‘(B) an amount that is not more than the 

6 amount described in subparagraph (A) and not 

7 less than— 

8 ‘‘(i) $250,000 for any offense or of9 fenses under section 2251(a), 2251(b), 

10 2251(c), 2251A, 2252A(g), or 2260(a); 

11 ‘‘(ii) $150,000 for any offense or of12 fenses under section 2251(d), 2252(a)(1), 

13 2252(a)(2), 2252(a)(3), 2252A(a)(1), 

14 2252A(a)(2), 2252A(a)(3), 2252A(a)(4), 

15 2252A(a)(6), 2252A(a)(7), or 2260(b); or 

16 ‘‘(iii) $25,000 for any offense or of17 fenses under section 2252(a)(4) or 

18 2252A(a)(5). 

19 ‘‘(3) MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF RESTITUTION.—No 

20 order of restitution issued under this section may ex21 ceed the full amount of the victim’s losses. 

22 ‘‘(4) JOINT AND SEVERAL LIABILITY.—Each 

23 defendant against whom an order of restitution is 

24 issued under paragraph (2)(A) shall be jointly and 

25 severally liable to the victim with all other defendVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:20 Jul 02, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4981.IH H4981

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1 ants against whom an order of restitution is issued 

2 under paragraph (2)(A) in favor of such victim. 

3 ‘‘(5) CONTRIBUTION.—Each defendant who is 

4 ordered to pay restitution under paragraph (2)(A), 

5 and has made full payment to the victim equal to or 

6 exceeding the statutory minimum amount described 

7 in paragraph (2)(B), may recover contribution from 

8 any defendant who is also ordered to pay restitution 

9 under paragraph (2)(A). Such claims shall be 

10 brought in accordance with this section and the Fed11 eral Rules of Civil Procedure. In resolving contribu12 tion claims, the court may allocate payments among 

13 liable parties using such equitable factors as the 

14 court determines are appropriate so long as no pay15 ments to victims are reduced or delayed. No action 

16 for contribution may be commenced more than 5 

17 years after the date on which the defendant seeking 

18 contribution was ordered to pay restitution under 

19 this section.’’; 

20 (4) in subsection (d), as redesignated, by strik21 ing ‘‘a commission of a crime under this chapter,’’ 

22 and inserting ‘‘or by the commission of (i) an of23 fense under this chapter or (ii) a series of offenses 

24 under this chapter committed by the defendant and 

25 other persons causing aggregated losses,’’; and 


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1 (5) by adding at the end the following: 

2 ‘‘(e) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

3 of enactment of the Amy and Vicky Child Pornography 

4 Victim Restitution Improvement Act of 2014, the Attor5 ney General shall submit to Congress a report on the 

6 progress, if any, of the Department of Justice in obtaining 

7 restitution for victims of any offense under section 2251, 

8 2251A, 2252, 2252A, or 2260.’’. 

Æ 


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