Recently in Child Trafficking and Exploitation Category

Earlier this month, in an uninspired decision in United States v. Benoit, the Tenth Circuit held that "showing only that defendant participated in the audience of persons who viewed the images of the victim…may be sufficient to establish that defendant's actions were one cause of the generalized harm victims suffered due to the circulation of their images on the internet, but it is not sufficient to show that they were a proximate cause of any particular losses."

In other words, "generalized harm" = no foul and no restitution for victims of child pornography.

According to the Tenth Circuit:

Courts have struggled with articulating a precise standard of proximate cause in the restitution context under § 2259. Although this court has not specified the nature of the proximate cause requirement in § 2259, several other circuits have determined that the government must show the victim's losses were proximately caused by the particular defendant in question and that a showing of causation more generally is insufficient.

Although the Court "acknowledged" the Fifth Circuit's groundbreaking en banc decision in In re Amy Unknown, it was instead "persuaded by the majority of our sibling circuits."

The Court held that "in determining the scope of restitution to be awarded to a child pornography victim, § 2259 requires a showing that the victim's losses are proximately caused by the defendant's offense. Some circuits have relied on the “series-qualifier” canon to conclude that the proximate cause requirement applies to each of the subsections included in § 2259(b)(3)."

The Court concluded that "because proximate cause is such a widely accepted principle, we will not conclude that Congress intended to abrogate it in drafting § 2259 without good reason. … We agree with the majority of courts that Congress did not intend to create a system of strict liability under § 2259."

The only remaining Circuit which has not considered restitution for victims of child pornography possession is the Third Circuit covering Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. The Marsh Law Firm, which helped write the brief in this case, is readying a case for appeal in the Third Circuit. In the meantime, three petitions for a writ of certiorari, also authored by the Marsh Law Firm, remain pending in the United States Supreme Court.

Emily Bazelon discusses her New York Times Magazine cover story, The Price of a Stolen Childhood, about the Marsh Law Firm's groundbreaking work representing victims of child pornography.

Behind the Cover Story: Emily Bazelon on Pornography and Punishment

"It's a common refrain in child pornography cases to say that it is a victimless crime. The person who downloaded the image was quote unquote just looking. Restitution helps force them to see that they are part of a market that depends on hurting real children."

Today the National Center for Youth Law released a new report, Ending Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children: A Call for Multi-System Collaboration in California.

Report author Kate Walker, an Equal Justice Works Fellow and Attorney at the Center, commented that "Every day, the unthinkable happens: thousands of America's children are coerced into performing sex for hire. Exploitation can start as young as age ten. Some exploited children are brutally beaten and raped. Others are isolated, drugged, and starved until they become "willing" participants. Yet, these children are regularly arrested and held in juvenile detention facilities even though they are victims of crime."

Worldwide, human trafficking is a $32 billion industry, involving 100,000 children in the U.S. The FBI has determined that three of the nation's thirteen High Intensity Child Prostitution areas are located in California.

Studies estimate that between 50 and 80 percent of commercially sexually exploited children (CSEC) are or were formally involved with the child welfare system. "We all need to come together to reinvent the way we respond to this problem," said Patrick Gardner, President of Young Minds Advocacy Project. "This report is a first step."

Four of the report's key recommendations highlight the urgent need for:

1. Safe, secure and specialized homes for exploited children and children at risk
2. New screening tools to help professionals working with children identify both victims and children at risk
3. Special training for "child serving" professionals and systems to identify and support vulnerable individuals
4. Increased data collection and information sharing to promote collaboration across systems and raise public awareness

"Rather than criminalizing these children and funneling them into the juvenile justice system, California's child welfare system, which is designed to protect and serve children and families who experience abuse and neglect, is the more appropriate system to support exploited children," said Walker.

"We know from our daily work that the level of system coordination required to address the emotional trauma, constant physical danger and coercive techniques used by traffickers does not yet exist in California," said Stacey Katz, Executive Director of WestCoast Children's Clinic, an agency that serves over 100 commercially sexually exploited children per year in Alameda County, California.

Katz states, "The traffickers benefit directly from these system gaps. Until the agencies responsible for serving and protecting young people come together, we will continue to see youth who are severely traumatized and whose lives are in danger. We can do better by these youth-this is not an issue of resources. It's an issue of will."

According to Leslie Heimov, Executive Director of Children's Law Center of California, "the more we learn about child sex trafficking, the clearer it becomes that we are facing a national crisis. Without safe placements, access to highly trained therapists and other experts, we are powerless to stop the brutalization and re-victimization of the youth the child welfare system seeks to protect."

For more information about this report and its recommendations, contact:

Young Minds Advocacy Project (YMAP)
Patrick Gardner, J.D. President
650.494.4930
Patrick@youngmindsadvocacy.org

National Center for Youth Law (NCYL)
Oakland, California
Kate Walker, Attorney & Equal Justice Works Fellow
510.835.8098 x 3050
Kwalker@youthlaw.org

WestCoast Children's Clinic
Oakland, California
Jodie Langs, Director of Policy & Communications
510.452.7400
Jlangs@westcoastcc.org

Children's Law Center of California
Los Angeles & Sacramento, California
Leslie Heimov, Executive Director
323.980.5762
Heimovl@clccal.org

The sexual abuse of children is a public health epidemic in the United States. Recent child sex abuse cases at Penn State University, the release of documents concerning sexual abuse and the Boy Scouts and consistent reports of abuse within other institutions, demands action to protect children and to provide a means of obtaining justice for adult survivors.

Research has shown that as many as one in four women and one in five men suffered abuse as a child and that almost 90% of abuse never gets reported. Those that do come forward find themselves barred by the legal technicality of a statute of limitation. Considering how long victims often take to find the courage to speak out, statutes of limitation are woefully short and act as an arbitrary barrier to justice.

If you or someone you know was sexually abused, the Marsh Law Firm can help. Contact us for a free confidential consultation.

To participate in the petition effort click here.

For more information visit the National Center for Victims of Crime.

The New York Times Magazine has a feature article about the Marsh Law Firm's groundbreaking work over the past eight years to obtain restitution for child pornography victims. The story was over a year in the making. It’s a remarkable piece written by noted journalist Emily Bazelon and tells the tragic yet hopeful tale of two victims of child pornography and their quest to rebuild their lives.

In an ever-widening child sex abuse case which started with an email to the Marsh Law Firm from a parent who was concerned about child pornography in her child's elementary school, an additional lawsuit claims the former principal was notified of the abuse years ago but took no action to protect students.

The family of another young child who attends Hildebran Elementary School in Burke County, North Carolina, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court sitting in Asheville, North Carolina.

The details of the case are as follows:

The horrifying sexual exploitation and distribution of child sex abuse images involving dozens of Burke County school children came to light in June 2012 when the European Police Office (EUROPOL) intercepted a child pornography syndicate operating in Spain. This spurred an investigation by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and the FBI, who established that many of the victims were abused and filmed by Alexander inside Hildebran Elementary School during school hours. Alexander has since been sentenced to almost 50 years in prison.

Throughout his 12 year tenure, Alexander was allowed to excuse young girls from other classes and school activities and keep them with him alone long enough to engage in sex acts and, for some, create and distribute child sex abuse images to a worldwide audience.

The previously filed lawsuit alleged that the child reported Alexander’s misconduct to her guidance counselor, Bradshaw, and that she was accused of lying and sent her back to Alexander’s class.

One of the new suits filed is on behalf of a young girl who was being abused by Alexander at the very same time as the previous victim.

As with the previous suit, this victim is represented by Washington, DC attorneys Douglas Fierberg and Peter Grenier. Messrs. Fierberg and Grenier previously represented approximately 20 victims of the massacre at Virginia Tech University, and were responsible for negotiating the historic settlement with the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Mr. Fierberg is currently lead counsel in a number of sexual abuse and school violence lawsuits across the country, including for the victims of the 2010 massacre at the University of Alabama, Huntsville.

Raleigh attorney, Robert M. Tatum, is co-counsel. Mr. Tatum proudly served with the U.S. Army Special Forces and has been successful in numerous federal and state suits involving sexual abuse of students, including against the Brunswick County Board of Education.

The original case was evaluated and referred by the Marsh Law Firm PLLC which is one of the nation's premier law firms representing victims of child pornography.

Concerning this new lawsuit, Mr. Fierberg states, “It has become clear that this school and its senior officials turned a blind eye to numerous reports of heinous misconduct by Alexander towards his young students. The deliberate indifference to these children cannot ever be tolerated or repeated by teachers and officials responsible for our children. These lawsuits not only seek compensation, but also send a message to schools and adults entrusted with children’s safety that they will be held accountable if they refuse to protect children from such atrocities.”

A.B. v. Burke County Public Schools by Marsh Law Firm PLLC