The PROTECT Act is a US federal bill signed in 2003 that aims to protect children and increase penalties for child abuse. It established national benchmarks for the AMBER Alert and Code ADAM systems and made virtual child pornography illegal, which caused controversy.
The PROTECT Act is a United States federal bill, signed in 2003, largely aimed at creating greater legal protections for children and tougher statutes regarding child pornography. These laws encompass a number of aspects of child protection, including making it easier for law enforcement agencies to investigate kidnappings, establishing and overseeing the national AMBER Alert program, and removing the statute of limitations on cases of child abuse or abduction. The PROTECT Act also established the grounds for prosecution of “virtual child pornography,” which gave law enforcement greater freedom to prosecute cases of possession or distribution of child pornography, but caused some controversy.
There are a number of different aspects to the PROTECT Act 2003, which is short for “Judicial Remedies and Other Means to End the Exploitation of Children Today”. Many of the sections were designed to increase the penalties available to the legal system for those convicted of child abuse of any kind. This included life imprisonment for anyone convicted of a second offense against a minor, tougher penalties for those convicted of kidnappings, and more criminal options for US citizens who engage in “sex tourism” in other countries.
Two of the most popular aspects of the PROTECT Act were the federal establishment and guidelines to oversee the continued use of the AMBER Alert and Code ADAM systems. These tools help businesses and law enforcement locate and apprehend kidnappers. While some of these systems were already in place in some states and used by some businesses, the PROTECT Act established national benchmarks for these programs. This act also instituted “Suzanne’s Law,” which changed laws that established a waiting period required to report a missing person over 18, and instead applied the waiting time only to those over 21.
One of the more controversial aspects of the PROTECT Act has been the establishment of “virtual child pornography” as illegal. Prior to the passage of this act, it could be difficult to prosecute someone who possessed child sexual abuse material on a computer, as the defendant could claim that it was impossible to determine the individual’s true age in digital images. The PROTECT Act established possession of virtual child pornography, in which participants are clearly intended to be children regardless of actual age, as a felony. There have been attacks against this part of the writ, since it potentially can be used to prosecute someone who possesses materials that don’t depict children, but where a person appears to be younger than they actually are.
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