Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation Act

The Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation Act of 1977, passed in January 1978, was the first anti-child pornography legislation. It redefined child pornography as sexual abuse, rather than as a morality issue, and extended the prohibitions on trafficking of minors to include boys as well as girls. Two women who participated in the policy debate over child sexual exploitation were Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman and Judianne Densen-Gerber.

The drafters of this legislation assumed that they were constrained by obscenity law standards in their approach. The Act, therefore, did not exceed the bounds of existing obscenity standards as articulated in Miller v. California. Following the decision in New York v. Ferber, the Child Protection Act of 1984 was passed, changing the meaning of "sexual conduct" to include certain non-obscene pictures of children and raising the age of "children" for purposes of the law from 16 to 18. Under the 1977 law, only 23 defendants were convicted during the seven years it was in effect. In contrast, at least 214 defendants were convicted in the 28 months following the enactment of the 1984 law.

Provisions

This Act targeted the commercial production of obscene materials that involved children under the age of sixteen. Penalties for possession ranged between a ten-year statutory maximum for first-time offenders with a two-year mandatory minimum, and a fifteen-year statutory maximum for subsequent offenders.