Remarks at a White House
Briefing for Supporters of Proposed Legislation on Child Protection and
Obscenity Enforcement
Today
I am submitting to Congress for its immediate consideration and enactment the
Child Protection and Obscenity Enforcement Act of 1987. This act is a direct
outgrowth of the deep concern this administration has had with the effects of
obscenity and child pornography in our nation.
In
1984 I signed legislation isolating child pornography as a distinct criminal
offense. The bill I'm now presenting expands on these concerns, addressing both
child pornography and adult obscenity. The goal of this proposed legislation is
two-fold: first, to update the law to take into account technologies newly
utilized by the pornography industry; second, to remove the loopholes and
weaknesses in existing Federal law, which have given criminals in this area the
upper hand for far too long.
In
the last several years, distributors of obscenity and child pornography have
expanded into new areas, employing new technologies, and reaching new
audiences. Neither our Constitution, our courts, our people,
nor our respect for common decency and human suffering will allow this
trafficking in obscene material -- which exploits women, children, and men
alike -- to continue.
With
this act, and the implementation of the seven-point
plan of the Attorney General's Pornography Commission -- in which the creation
of the National Obscenity Enforcement Unit is the centerpiece -- this
administration is putting the purveyors of illegal obscenity and child
pornography on notice: Your industry's days are numbered. Just this year,
there's been a dramatic increase in the Federal prosecution effort against
child pornography and obscenity. This is evidenced by the recent announcements
of more than 100 indictments across the Nation against child pornographers and
traffickers of obscene material.
The
Child Protection and Obscenity Enforcement Act of 1987 proposes
changes in three basic areas. First, protection of children
from sexual exploitation. Our bill will amend the racketeer-influenced
and corrupt organizations statute to include child pornography offenses,
thereby permitting law enforcement officials to go after the child pornography
industry.
Our
bill would amend Federal law to prevent parents and guardians from contracting
the use of their children in pornography, virtually a form of child slavery.
And it would target the high-tech aspects of child pornography, making illegal
the computerized, nationwide network that child molesters and collectors of
child pornography have developed.
The
second basic area is obscenity. Organized crime controls the vast majority of
the multibillion-dollar obscenity market. According to law enforcement
estimates, revenues from the obscenity industry, most of which will go into the
coffers of organized crime, are estimated to be between 7 and 10 billion
dollars a year. A set of three ``syndicate buster'' amendments will block these
illicit enterprises from taking advantage of inconsistencies in existing
Federal law.
One
of these amendments will prohibit the use of Federal roads, interstate
railroads, motor vehicles, boats, airplanes, or other methods for obscenity
trafficking across State lines. Another will inject a little common sense into
the law by allowing a jury to presume, without the prosecutors having to prove
it, that obscenity produced in one State and now located in another State has
in fact traveled in interstate commerce. This will apply in a similar fashion
to material produced in a foreign country.
Still
another of these amendments will outlaw interstate or international activity or
communication to further acts that are themselves illegal under obscenity and
child pornography laws. This means, for example, that an interstate phone call
from a retailer to a distributor regarding an interstate shipment of obscenity
would itself be a criminal offense, as would be the use of the mails to pay for
such a shipment.
Civil
and criminal forfeiture provisions for those convicted of Federal obscenity
violations are also provided for in the act. It's been proven time and again
that the best way to dismantle any organized criminal operation is to
confiscate its ill-gotten gains. Isn't it about time we removed the profit
motive from activities that are sick and obscene? When it comes to court orders
for such things as wiretaps, the Government can get them in cases involving
drug trafficking, extortion, and many other crimes, but it cannot do so for
felony obscenity offenses. This bill will rectify that needless deficiency.
The
third major area involves child protection amendments. In the interest of
protecting those most vulnerable and impressionable members of our society, our
children, this act will prohibit transmission of
obscenity over cable or subscription television. And it will provide
prosecutors with a powerful weapon to attack the so-called dial-a-porn business
that profits from obscenity. And here, I would just like to thank Congressman
Tom Bliley and Senator Jesse Helms for all the work that they've been doing in
leading the crusade in Congress against dial-a-porn.
I've
read statistics that, in a single city, one company has received up to 800,000
calls per day -- 180 million calls in a single year -- and law enforcement
officials have estimated that a great number of these calls are made by
children. Every time a child calls one of these numbers, he or she hears an
explicit sexual dramatization. And the time has come for this to stop.
At
a dark hour in British history, Winston Churchill said, ``Give us the tools,
and we will finish the job.'' Federal prosecutors and law enforcement officials
are saying the same thing today. The Attorney General's Commission on
Pornography has recommended it. The public is demanding it. And the legislation
I am proposing today will give our prosecutors just that -- the tools they need
to get the job done.
I
might add that this legislation is not only a wholesome and balanced response
to the Attorney General's Commission but to the grassroots movement of
concerned parents and grandparents rising up in cities all across
Well,
I look to the American people to support this legislation and to the Congress
to enact it with all due speed. If this nation can send men to the Moon, then
we can certainly do some cleaning up here at home and give our sons and
daughters the simplicity and beauty that an American childhood should entail.
Well,
I have a little writing to do, signing to do, and I shall say, at the same
time, thank you all, and God bless you all.
Note: The President
spoke at