1968
Certain Activities Relating to Material Involving
the
Sexual Exploitation of Minors18 U.S.C § § 2252 and
2252A
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Section 2252 of Title 18, United States Code sets forth four offenses.
Subsection (a)(1) prohibits anyone from knowingly transporting in interstate
or
foreign commerce or mailing any visual depiction involving the use of a
minor
engaging in sexually explicit conduct.
Subsection (a)(2) prohibits anyone from knowingly receiving or
distributing
any visual depiction of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct that
has
been mailed or transported in interstate or foreign commerce or from
knowingly
reproducing any such visual depiction for distribution in interstate or
foreign
commerce or through the mails.
Subsection (a)(3)(A) prohibits anyone in the special maritime and
territorial jurisdiction of the United States, or on any government land, or
in
any government facility, from selling or possessing with the intent to sell
any
visual depiction of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct that has
been
shipped in interstate or foreign commerce or was made with materials sent in
interstate or foreign commerce. Subsection (a)(3)(B) penalizes the knowing
sale
or possession with the intent to sell of any visual depiction of a minor
engaged
in sexually explicit conduct shipped in interstate or foreign commerce, or
produced using materials mailed or shipped by any means, including by
computer
where the production involved the use of a minor engaged in sexually
explicit
conduct and the visual depiction of such conduct.
Subsection (a)(4) prohibits the possession of one or more books,
magazines, periodicals, films, video tapes, or other matter containing any
visual
depiction of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct, which was
shipped or
transported or made with materials shipped or transported in interstate or
foreign commerce, including by computer.
Section 2252 imposes, for the first three offenses, a maximum 15 years'
imprisonment and/or a fine for the first offense and a minimum five years'
imprisonment to a maximum 30 years' imprisonment and/or a fine for a
subsequent conviction under this Section, under Chapter 109A, under Chapter
117, or under the laws of any state relating to aggravated sexual abuse, or
abusive sexual conduct involving a minor or ward, or the trafficking in
child pornography. The penalty for violation of Subsection (a)(4) is a
maximum sentence of five years and/or a fine for the first offense, and a
two year mandatory minimum with a ten year statutory maximum if the offender
has a prior conviction as set forth above.
It is an affirmative defense that if the person possessed less than
three
matters containing the proscribed visual depictions, such person promptly
reported same to law enforcement or took steps to destroy without sending it
to anyone else other than law enforcement.
[updated April 2000] [cited in USAM 9-75.001] | |