Restitution Paid to Survivors of Child Pornography

January 31, 2013

On January 24, 2013 The New York Times reported about the cases of several survivors of childhood sexual abuse who suffered the added trauma of knowing that videos and pictures of their horrifying childhood sexual abuse were sent over the internet and downloaded and viewed by numerous people.  The article is difficult to read because of its horrifying subject matter.   But it is worth reading because it effectively expresses the point that even when these viewers and receivers of childhood pornography do not actually engage in the act of sexually abusing the child, they are fueling the demand for it and are accomplices who encourage the abuse to happen in the first place, because of the nature of their crimes and how the pictures and videos are shared among their community.  It discusses these survivors’ rights to restitution paid by the perpetrator who downloads or views their images as is discussed in a recent Opinion by the 5^th Circuit Court of Appeals, In re Amy Unknown, 701 F.3d 749 (5th Cir. 2012), which is attached here.  There is a Circuit split on this issue which means the Supreme Court will decide the issue to resolve the conflict among the Circuits.