DOJ Announces Project Safe Childhood Initiative

The Department of Justice is committed to the safety and well-being of every child and has placed a high priority on protecting and combating sexual exploitation of minors. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales recently Project Safe Childhood, an initiative to protect our children as they navigate the Internet.

As technology advances and the Internet becomes more accessible, the number of computer-facilitated sexual exploitation crimes committed against children—including child pornography offenses—continues to grow. In fiscal year 2005, federal prosecutors brought 1,447 child exploitation cases against 1,503 defendants; the cases involved child pornography, coercion, and enticement.

This year, the Department of Justice will award more than $14 million to the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) program, a national network of 46 regional Task Forces funded by the Department’s Office of Justice Programs. The ICAC Task Forces are key partners in Project Safe Childhood.

Key Components of Project Safe Childhood

Project Safe Childhood will be implemented through a partnership of U.S. Attorneys; ICAC Task Forces; and other federal, state, and local law enforcement officials in each district, who will investigate and prosecute crimes against children facilitated through the Internet or other electronic media and communications devices. Communities will design and execute programs tailored to their individual needs while maximizing national resources and expertise. The initiative has five components:

• Integrated federal, state, and local efforts to investigate and prosecute child exploitation cases: Each U.S. Attorney will partner with the ICAC Task Forces within his or her district and other federal, state, and local law enforcement partners working in the district. Working with these partners, U.S. Attorneys will develop district-specific strategic plans to coordinate the investigation and prosecution of child exploitation crimes; efforts to identify and rescue victims; and local training, education, and awareness programs.

• Major case coordination by the Criminal Division: The Department’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, in conjunction with the FBI’s Innocent Images Unit, will integrate the Project Safe Childhood Task Forces into pursuing local leads generated from its major national operations.

• Increased federal involvement in child pornography and enticement cases: Given the investigative tools and stiffer punishments available under federal law, U.S. Attorneys and the federal investigative agencies will be expected to increase the number of sexual exploitation investigations and prosecutions. The goal is to ensure that the worst offenders get the maximum jail time.

• Training federal, state, and local law enforcement: Members of the Project Safe Childhood Task Forces will attend training programs facilitated by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), the ICAC program, and other ongoing programs, where they will learn how to investigate and prosecute computer-facilitated crimes against children and to pursue leads from national operations and from NCMEC’s CyberTipline and Child Victim-Identification programs.

• Community awareness and educational programs: Project Safe Childhood will partner with the national public awareness and educational programs of NCMEC and the ICAC Task Forces. These programs raise national awareness about the threat of online sexual predators and provide parents and children with the tools and information to report violations.

• Department of Justice commitment to Project Safe Childhood: While law enforcement at all levels is already working to combat this issue, this more coordinated national effort will maximize resources to obtain the strictest penalties available under state or federal law. Sexual predators who target the most vulnerable in our society - our children - will be relentlessly targeted and prosecuted by the Department of Justice.