{"id":86970,"date":"2018-12-22T22:18:04","date_gmt":"2018-12-23T03:18:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sentencing.net\/?p=86970"},"modified":"2019-11-05T15:41:24","modified_gmt":"2019-11-05T20:41:24","slug":"child-pornography-victim-assistance-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sentencing.net\/legislation\/child-pornography-victim-assistance-act","title":{"rendered":"The Amy, Vicky, and Andy Child Pornography Victim Assistance Act of 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t
What is the Amy, Vicky, and Andy Child Pornography Victim Assistance Act of 2018?<\/h2>\n
Child Pornography<\/p><\/div>\n
President Trump recently signed into law the Amy, Vicky, and Andy Child Pornography Victim Assistance Act of 2018 (“AVAA”). The AVAA is named after some of the victims of child pornography who were among the most widely disseminated images identified by the authorities. The law was proposed to secure full restitution for the victims of child pornography offenses and attempts to address the challenge that the courts have historically faced in imposing a restitution amount on a particular defendant. In previous cases involving victims of child pornography, including the dissemination of pornographic photos online, the courts encountered difficulty in figuring out how much of the\u00a0restitution owed to the victim that each defendant was required to pay. The reason for this challenge is that there are so many offenders involved in posting, sharing and viewing the illegal images online. Thus, the court could not reconcile forcing the defendant on trial to pay for the entire extent of emotional distress suffered by the victim.<\/p>\n
The AVAA partly solves this issue by requiring defendants convicted of child pornography crimes to pay a minimum of $3,000 in restitution to the victim. In addition, the AVAA establishes a fund to assist all victims of child pornography crimes with their recovery. If a defendant is convicted of a child pornography offense, the victim may choose to receive a single payment of $35,000 from the fund, which will also be apportioned an additional $10 million from Congress in order to maintain sufficient reserves for victims of child pornography crimes. To ensure that the fund will directly benefit victims of child pornography, attorneys’ fees from the fund are capped at 15 percent.<\/p>\n