Department of Justice
The Department of Justice (DoJ) is the nation’s primary federal law enforcement agency. The Attorney General—currently John Ashcroft—serves as its head.
The DoJ’s stated mission is “To enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States according to the law, to provide Federal leadership in preventing and controlling crime, to seek just punishment for those guilty of unlawful behavior, to administer and enforce the Nation's immigration laws fairly and effectively, and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans.”1
Within the DoJ, the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are the two agencies that deal specifically with obscenity and child exploitation, including child pornography.
Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS)
The Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section – currently headed by Andrew Oosterbaan – was created in 1987. The CEOS exists to prosecute those who possess, manufacture, or distribute child pornography; those who sell, buy, or transport women and children to engage in sexually explicit conduct; those who travel in order to sexually abuse children; and those who transport obscene materials in interstate or foreign commerce. CEOS attorneys assist the 93 United States Attorney Offices (USAOs) in investigations, trials, and appeals related to these offenses.2
The CEOS also works closely with the FBI, the United States Customs Service, and the United States Postal Inspection Service to reduce the proliferation of child pornography. CEOS and the FBI together initiated the Innocent Images Project to combat the use of computers to traffic in child pornography and exploit children online. The FBI is now coordinating all computer pornography cases through the Innocent Images Project office. CEOS also provides training on child pornography issues to FBI personnel, federal and state prosecutors, and local and state law enforcement personnel.3
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
The FBI is the principal investigative arm of the United States Department of Justice and is authorized to investigate specific crimes and provide other law enforcement agencies with cooperative services, such as fingerprint identification, laboratory examinations, and police training. The current director is Robert Mueller. The FBI’s distinct office for dealing with children is the Crimes Against Children Program.
Crimes Against Children Program
The FBI's Crimes Against Children (CAC) program's mission is to provide a quick and effective response to all incidences of crimes against children. These investigations include violations of federal statutes relating to kidnappings, such as child abductions and domestic and international parental kidnappings. In addition, the FBI also investigates online child pornography/child sexual exploitation violations through the Innocent Images National Initiative.
Innocent Images National Initiative
The Innocent Images National Initiative (IINI) began in 1995 to address the illicit activities conducted online. The mission of the IINI is to identify, investigate, and prosecute sexual predators who use the Internet to sexually exploit children; establish a law enforcement presence on the Internet as a deterrent to subjects that use it to exploit children; and identify and rescue witting and unwitting child victims.
Innocent Images focuses most of its investigations on individuals who indicate a willingness to engage in interstate travel for the purpose of sexual activity with a minor and on major producers and/or distributors of child pornography. In addition, the IINI works to identify child victims and obtain appropriate services/assistance for them.4
U.S. Postal Inspection Service
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigates the distribution of child pornography and obscene material through the U.S. Mails.
The Postal Inspection Service warns: “Pornographic pictures of children that are mailed need not be ‘obscene’ to violate the law. As information, federal law (Title 18, United States Code, Section 1461), makes it a crime to mail ‘obscene’ matter, and the mailing of such matter has been investigated by the Postal Inspection Service for over a century.”5
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC)
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children was founded as a non-profit organization in 1984. The NCMEC provides assistance to parents, children, law enforcement, schools, and the community in recovering missing children and raising public awareness about ways to help prevent child abduction, molestation, and sexual exploitation. The Center has already received more than 100,000 tips through its CyberTipline.6
NCMEC works with the FBI, U.S. Customs Service, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and state and local law enforcement in Internet Crimes Against Children Task Forces. The CyberTipline handles leads from individuals reporting the sexual exploitation of children. These include the possession, manufacture, and distribution of child pornography; online enticement of children for sexual acts; child prostitution; child-sex tourism; child sexual molestation; and unsolicited obscene material sent to a child.7
