Opinion ID: 78775
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Statutory Regulatory Scheme

Text: Section 2251(b) of Title 18 provides that: Any parent, legal guardian, or person having custody or control of a minor who knowingly permits such minor to engage in, or to assist any other person to engage in, sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing any visual depiction of such conduct or for the purpose of transmitting a live visual depiction of such conduct shall be punished as provided under subsection (e) of this section, if such parent, legal guardian, or person knows or has reason to know that such visual depiction will be transported or transmitted using any means or facility of interstate or foreign commerce or in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce or mailed, if that visual depiction was produced or transmitted using materials that have been mailed, shipped, or transported in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce by any means, including by computer, or if such visual depiction has actually been transported or transmitted using any means or facility of interstate or foreign commerce or in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce or mailed. 18 U.S.C. § 2251(b). Section 2251 is part of the Child Pornography Prevention Act, (CPPA). See Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act of 1997, Pub.L. No. 104-208, § 121, 110 Stat. 3009, 3009-26 (1996). In support of Congress's child pornography prevention statutes, Congress made the following findings. See Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, Pub.L. No. 109-248, § 501, 120 Stat. 587, 623-24 (2006). First, Congress found that intrastate production, transportation, distribution, receipt, advertising, and possession of child pornography had a substantial and direct effect upon interstate commerce because (1) individuals who produce, distribute, receive, or possess child pornography entirely within the boundaries of one state are unlikely to be content with the amount of child pornography they produce or possess and are, therefore, likely to enter the interstate child pornography market; (2) when such individuals enter the interstate child pornography market, they are likely to distribute the child pornography they already possess, thereby increasing supply in the interstate market; and (3) [m]uch of the child pornography that supplies the interstate market in child pornography is produced entirely within the boundaries of one state . . . and enters the interstate market surreptitiously. Id. Congress also found that [p]rohibiting the intrastate production, transportation, distribution, receipt, advertising, and possession of child pornography . . . will cause some persons engaged in such intrastate activities to cease all such activities, thereby reducing both supply and demand in the interstate market for child pornography. Id.