State Child pornography legislation

Cumulative Supplement

Cases:

Virtual child pornography: Evidence that children in visual depictions were real children, rather than computer-generated images, was sufficient to sustain defendant's conviction of receiving child pornography, notwithstanding that prosecution expert who testified as to age of children in images acknowledged that she was not trained to detect if images were of actual children. 18 U.S.C.A. § 2252A. U.S. v. Farrelly, 389 F.3d 649, 2004, 2004 FED App. 0362P (6th Cir. 2004); West's Key Number Digest, Obscenity 17.

Amendments to Michigan statute which added criminal prohibitions against using computers or the Internet to disseminate sexually explicit materials to minors violated First Amendment; although state had compelling interest to protect minor children from exposure to obscene materials, amendments were not narrowly tailored to meet that interest nor did they provide least restrictive means, given less-intrusive means to filter reception of obscene materials existed, including filters or child-friendly software that accomplished similar restrictions and parents could turn off computer to control information that came into their homes from internet. U.S.C.A. Const. Amend. 1; M.C.L.A. § 722.675(1). Cyberspace Communications, Inc. v. Engler, 142 F. Supp. 2d 827 (E.D. Mich. 2001); West's Key Number Digest, Telecommunications 461.15.

Under the Children's Internet Protection Act, public library was entitled to adopt internet user agreements prohibiting the use of library internet computers to access visual depictions that constituted obscenity or child pornography; policy was consistent with library's interest in providing internet access for research, learning, and recreational pursuits while also preventing use of library computers to view online pornography. Children's Internet Protection Act, § 1701, 114 Stat. 2763A-335. Miller v. Northwest Region Library Bd., 348 F. Supp. 2d 563, 33 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 1243 (M.D. N.C. 2004); West's Key Number Digest, Municipal Corporations 717.

Virginia statute criminalizing "computer-generated reproduction" of child pornography did not violate First Amendment free speech guarantee, since it criminalized the reproduction not of sexually explicit images of "virtual" or non-existent children, but rather of sexually explicit images of real children, whether reproduced by a computer or other means. U.S.C.A. Const.Amend. 1; West's V.C.A. § 18.2-374.1, subd. B, par. 3. Slavek v. Hinkle, 359 F. Supp. 2d 473 (E.D. Va. 2005); West's Key Number Digest, Constitutional Law 90.4(1).

Dissemination statute, which made it a crime to disseminate sexually explicit material depicting child pornography, was not unconstitutionally vague, even though statute did not specifically refer to images contained on computer files; on its face, statute prohibited disseminating mechanically reproduced visual material depicting child pornography, files contained on computer contained mechanically reproduced visual material, and ordinary person reading statute would understand that dissemination of computer files depicting child pornography was prohibited because files contained mechanically reproduced visual materials. U.S.C.A. Const.Amend. 5; 17 M.R.S.A. § 2923(1) (1998). State v. Weeks, 2000 ME 171, 761 A.2d 44 (Me. 2000); West's Key Number Digest, Obscenity 2.1.

Evidence that defendant intended to distribute laptop containing child sexually abusive material to his former employer was insufficient to support a conviction for distributing child sexually abusive material, where there was no evidence suggesting that defendant distributed the material with a criminal intent or that he made anyone at former place of employment aware, or attempted to make anyone aware, of the presence of the material, and evidence showed that defendant anticipated that no one at his former place of employment would review his files, but instead he thought the entire hard drive would be merely erased and reformatted. M.C.L.A. § 750.145c(3). People v. Tombs, 472 Mich. 446, 697 N.W.2d 494 (2005); West's Key Number Digest, Obscenity 7.