Federal Cuts Mean Less Child Porn Prosecutions

7-18-2013 Nevada:

U. S. Attorney for Nevada Daniel Bogden said sequestration is affecting his office's ability to prosecute child pornographers in Nevada.

The last cut equaled a loss of $1 million and more sequestration cuts are possible.

Bogden said the cuts are terrible timing because there are more child pornography cases than ever thanks to the growth of the Internet.

On the Internet, child porn is not limited to pictures of naked children.

"One was a room where they actually were able to take young children and actually sexually assault then while they were video cameraing them," Bogden said. "Then they were using a feed and sending it out throughout the nation."

Bogden said that's just one of the worst cases his office prosecuted.

Worse yet, a victim these days is a victim over and over and over again, because those images stay in cyberspace.

"I just couldn't think of a worse victimization of a child," Bogden said.

In 2006, the Justice Department created Project Safe Childhood.

The department joined federal, state and local attorneys and law enforcement to go after people committing such crimes.

"I've been told by those officers and those agents that there are so many defendants out there it's like shooting fish in a barrel," Bogden said.

Fishing offenders out is one thing; getting a conviction is another.

Bogden said he's short 12 assistant U.S. attorneys.

This year, when the Justice Department lost $1.6 billion in federal funding, Bogden said it trickled down to the Nevada office as a $1 million budget cut.

Bogden said in 2014, the Justice Department is expected to be cut by $2.2 billion. ..Source.. by Cristina Rodda