Home > 108th Congressional Public Laws > Pub.L. 108-022 To provide for the use and distribution of certain funds awarded to the Gila River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, and for other purposes. ...Pub.L. 108-022 To provide for the use and distribution of certain funds awarded to the Gila River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, and for other purposes. ...
guidelines, policy statements, and official commentary of the
Sentencing Commission. These amendments shall take effect upon
the date of enactment of this Act, in accordance with paragraph
(5).
(2) On <<NOTE: 28 USC 994 note.>> or before May 1, 2005, the
Sentencing Commission shall not promulgate any amendment to the
sentencing guidelines, policy statements, or official commentary
of the Sentencing Commission that is inconsistent with any
amendment made by subsection (b) or that adds any new grounds of
downward departure to Part K of chapter 5.
(3) With <<NOTE: 28 USC 994 note.>> respect to cases covered
by the amendments made by subsection (i) of this section, the
Sentencing Commission may make further amendments to the
sentencing guidelines, policy statements, or official commentary
of the Sentencing Commission, except that the Commission shall
not promulgate any amendments that, with respect to such cases,
would result in sentencing ranges that are lower than those that
would have applied under such subsection.
(4) At <<NOTE: 28 USC 994 note.>> no time may the Commission
promulgate any amendment that would alter or repeal the
amendments made by subsection (g) of this section.
(5) Section 3553(a) of title 18, United States Code, is
amended--
(A) by amending paragraph (4)(A) to read as follows:
``(A) the applicable category of offense committed
by the applicable category of defendant as set forth in
the guidelines--
[[Page 117 STAT. 674]]
``(i) issued by the Sentencing Commission
pursuant to section 994(a)(1) of title 28, United
States Code, subject to any amendments made to
such guidelines by act of Congress (regardless of
whether such amendments have yet to be
incorporated by the Sentencing Commission into
amendments issued under section 994(p) of title
28); and
``(ii) that, except as provided in section
3742(g), are in effect on the date the defendant
is sentenced; or'';
(B) in paragraph (4)(B), by inserting ``, taking
into account any amendments made to such guidelines or
policy statements by act of Congress (regardless of
whether such amendments have yet to be incorporated by
the Sentencing Commission into amendments issued under
section 994(p) of title 28)'' after ``Code'';
(C) by amending paragraph (5) to read as follows:
``(5) any pertinent policy statement--
``(A) issued by the Sentencing Commission pursuant
to section 994(a)(2) of title 28, United States Code,
subject to any amendments made to such policy statement
by act of Congress (regardless of whether such
amendments have yet to be incorporated by the Sentencing
Commission into amendments issued under section 994(p)
of title 28); and
``(B) that, except as provided in section 3742(g),
is in effect on the date the defendant is sentenced.''.
(k) Compliance With Statute.--Section 994(a) of title 28, United
States Code, is amended by striking ``consistent with all pertinent
provisions of this title and title 18, United States Code,'' and
inserting ``consistent with all pertinent provisions of any Federal
statute''.
(l) Report <<NOTE: 18 USC 3553 note.>> by Attorney General.--
(1) Defined term.--For purposes of this section, the term
``report described in paragraph (3)'' means a report, submitted
by the Attorney General, which states in detail the policies and
procedures that the Department of Justice has adopted subsequent
to the enactment of this Act--
(A) to ensure that Department of Justice attorneys
oppose sentencing adjustments, including downward
departures, that are not supported by the facts and the
law;
(B) to ensure that Department of Justice attorneys
in such cases make a sufficient record so as to permit
the possibility of an appeal;
(C) to delineate objective criteria, specified by
the Attorney General, as to which such cases may warrant
consideration of an appeal, either because of the nature
or magnitude of the sentencing error, its prevalence in
the district, or its prevalence with respect to a
particular judge;
(D) to ensure that Department of Justice attorneys
promptly notify the designated Department of Justice
component in Washington concerning such adverse
sentencing decisions; and
(E) to ensure the vigorous pursuit of appropriate
and meritorious appeals of such adverse decisions.
(2) Report required.--
[[Page 117 STAT. 675]]
(A) In general.--Not <<NOTE: Deadline.>> later than
15 days after a district court's grant of a downward
departure in any case, other than a case involving a
downward departure for substantial assistance to
authorities pursuant to section 5K1.1 of the United
States Sentencing Guidelines, the Attorney General shall
submit a report to the Committees on the Judiciary of
the House of Representatives and the Senate containing
the information described under subparagraph (B).
(B) Contents.--The report submitted pursuant to
subparagraph (A) shall set forth--
(i) the case;
(ii) the facts involved;
(iii) the identity of the district court
judge;
(iv) the district court's stated reasons,
whether or not the court provided the United
States with advance notice of its intention to
depart; and
(v) the position of the parties with respect
to the downward departure, whether or not the
United States has filed, or intends to file, a
motion for reconsideration.
(C) Appeal of the departure.--
Not <<NOTE: Deadline.>> later than 5 days after a
decision by the Solicitor General regarding the
authorization of an appeal of the departure, the
Attorney General shall submit a report to the Committees
on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives and the
Senate that describes the decision of the Solicitor
General and the basis for such decision.
(3) Effective date.--Paragraph (2) shall take effect on the
day that is 91 days after the date of enactment of this Act,
except that such paragraph shall not take effect if not more
than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act the
Attorney General has submitted to the Judiciary Committees of
the House of Representatives and the Senate the report described
in paragraph (3).
(m) Reform of <<NOTE: 28 USC 994 note. Deadline.>> Existing
Permissible Grounds of Downward Departures.--Not later than 180 days
after the enactment of this Act, the United States Sentencing Commission
shall--
(1) review the grounds of downward departure that are
authorized by the sentencing guidelines, policy statements, and
official commentary of the Sentencing Commission; and
(2) promulgate, pursuant to section 994 of title 28, United
States Code--
(A) appropriate amendments to the sentencing
guidelines, policy statements, and official commentary
to ensure that the incidence of downward departures are
substantially reduced;
(B) a policy statement authorizing a downward
departure of not more than 4 levels if the Government
files a motion for such departure pursuant to an early
disposition program authorized by the Attorney General
and the United States Attorney; and
(C) any other conforming amendments to the
sentencing guidelines, policy statements, and official
commentary of the Sentencing Commission necessitated by
this Act, including a revision of paragraph 4(b) of part
A of chapter 1 and a revision of section 5K2.0.
(n) Composition of Sentencing Commission.--
[[Page 117 STAT. 676]]
(1) In general.--Section 991(a) of title 28, United States
Code, is amended by striking ``At least three'' and inserting
``Not more than 3''.
(2) Applicability.--The <<NOTE: 28 USC 991 note.>> amendment
made under paragraph (1) shall not apply to any person who is
serving, or who has been nominated to serve, as a member of the
Sentencing Commission on the date of enactment of this Act.
TITLE V--OBSCENITY AND PORNOGRAPHY
Subtitle A--Child Obscenity and Pornography Prevention
SEC. 501. <<NOTE: 18 USC 2251 note.>> FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Obscenity and child pornography are not entitled to
protection under the First Amendment under Miller v. California,
413 U.S. 15 (1973) (obscenity), or New York v. Ferber, 458 U.S.
747 (1982) (child pornography) and thus may be prohibited.
(2) The Government has a compelling state interest in
protecting children from those who sexually exploit them,
including both child molesters and child pornographers. ``The
prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse of children
constitutes a government objective of surpassing importance,''
New York v. Ferber, 458 U.S. 747, 757 (1982), and this interest
extends to stamping out the vice of child pornography at all
levels in the distribution chain. Osborne v. Ohio, 495 U.S. 103,
110 (1990).
(3) The Government thus has a compelling interest in
ensuring that the criminal prohibitions against child
pornography remain enforceable and effective. ``The most
expeditious if not the only practical method of law enforcement
may be to dry up the market for this material by imposing severe
criminal penalties on persons selling, advertising, or otherwise
promoting the product.'' Ferber, 458 U.S. at 760.
(4) In 1982, when the Supreme Court decided Ferber, the
technology did not exist to--
(A) computer generate depictions of children that
are indistinguishable from depictions of real children;
(B) use parts of images of real children to create a
composite image that is unidentifiable as a particular
child and in a way that prevents even an expert from
concluding that parts of images of real children were
used; or
(C) disguise pictures of real children being abused
by making the image look computer-generated.
(5) Evidence submitted to the Congress, including from the
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, demonstrates
that technology already exists to disguise depictions of real
children to make them unidentifiable and to make depictions of
real children appear computer-generated. The technology will
soon exist, if it does not already, to computer generate
realistic images of children.
[[Page 117 STAT. 677]]
(6) The vast majority of child pornography prosecutions
today involve images contained on computer hard drives, computer
disks, and/or related media.
(7) There is no substantial evidence that any of the child
pornography images being trafficked today were made other than
by the abuse of real children. Nevertheless, technological
advances since Ferber have led many criminal defendants to
suggest that the images of child pornography they possess are
not those of real children, insisting that the government prove
beyond a reasonable doubt that the images are not computer-
generated. Such challenges increased significantly after the
decision in Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition, 535 U.S. 234
(2002).
(8) Child pornography circulating on the Internet has, by
definition, been digitally uploaded or scanned into computers
and has been transferred over the Internet, often in different
file formats, from trafficker to trafficker. An image seized
from a collector of child pornography is rarely a first-
generation product, and the retransmission of images can alter
the image so as to make it difficult for even an expert
conclusively to opine that a particular image depicts a real
child. If the original image has been scanned from a paper
version into a digital format, this task can be even harder
since proper forensic assessment may depend on the quality of
the image scanned and the tools used to scan it.
(9) The impact of the Free Speech Coalition decision on the
Government's ability to prosecute child pornography offenders is
already evident. The Ninth Circuit has seen a significant
adverse effect on prosecutions since the 1999 Ninth Circuit
Court of Appeals decision in Free Speech Coalition. After that
decision, prosecutions generally have been brought in the Ninth
Circuit only in the most clear-cut cases in which the government
can specifically identify the child in the depiction or
otherwise identify the origin of the image. This is a fraction
of meritorious child pornography cases. The National Center for
Missing and Exploited Children testified that, in light of the
Supreme Court's affirmation of the Ninth Circuit decision,
prosecutors in various parts of the country have expressed
concern about the continued viability of previously indicted
cases as well as declined potentially meritorious prosecutions.
(10) Since the Supreme Court's decision in Free Speech
Coalition, defendants in child pornography cases have almost
universally raised the contention that the images in question
could be virtual, thereby requiring the government, in nearly
every child pornography prosecution, to find proof that the
child is real. Some of these defense efforts have already been
successful. In addition, the number of prosecutions being
brought has been significantly and adversely affected as the
resources required to be dedicated to each child pornography
case now are significantly higher than ever before.
(11) Leading experts agree that, to the extent that the
technology exists to computer generate realistic images of child
pornography, the cost in terms of time, money, and expertise
is--and for the foreseeable future will remain--prohibitively
expensive. As a result, for the foreseeable future, it will be
more cost-effective to produce child pornography using real
[[Page 117 STAT. 678]]
children. It will not, however, be difficult or expensive to use
readily available technology to disguise those depictions of
real children to make them unidentifiable or to make them appear
computer-generated.
(12) Child pornography results from the abuse of real
children by sex offenders; the production of child pornography
is a byproduct of, and not the primary reason for, the sexual
abuse of children. There is no evidence that the future
development of easy and inexpensive means of computer generating
realistic images of children would stop or even reduce the
sexual abuse of real children or the practice of visually
recording that abuse.
(13) In the absence of congressional action, the
difficulties in enforcing the child pornography laws will
continue to grow increasingly worse. The mere prospect that the
technology exists to create composite or computer-generated
depictions that are indistinguishable from depictions of real
children will allow defendants who possess images of real
children to escape prosecution; for it threatens to create a
reasonable doubt in every case of computer images even when a
real child was abused. This threatens to render child
pornography laws that protect real children unenforceable.
Moreover, imposing an additional requirement that the Government
prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant knew that the
image was in fact a real child--as some courts have done--
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