TITLE 18 PART I CHAPTER 71 § 1466A
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§ 1466A. Obscene visual representations of the sexual abuse of
children

Release date: 2005-08-03

(a) In General.- Any person who, in a circumstance described in
subsection (d), knowingly produces, distributes, receives, or possesses
with intent to distribute, a visual depiction of any kind, including a
drawing, cartoon, sculpture, or painting, that-
(1)
(A) depicts a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct; and
(B) is obscene; or
(2)
(A) depicts an image that is, or appears to be, of a minor engaging in
graphic bestiality, sadistic or masochistic abuse, or sexual
intercourse, including genital-genital, oral-genital, anal-genital, or
oral-anal, whether between persons of the same or opposite sex; and
(B) lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value;
or attempts or conspires to do so, shall be subject to the penalties
provided in section 2252A (b)(1), including the penalties provided for
cases involving a prior conviction.
(b) Additional Offenses.- Any person who, in a circumstance
described in subsection (d), knowingly possesses a visual depiction of
any kind, including a drawing, cartoon, sculpture, or painting, that-

(1)
(A) depicts a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct; and
(B) is obscene; or
(2)
(A) depicts an image that is, or appears to be, of a minor engaging in
graphic bestiality, sadistic or masochistic abuse, or sexual
intercourse, including genital-genital, oral-genital, anal-genital, or
oral-anal, whether between persons of the same or opposite sex; and
(B) lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value;
or attempts or conspires to do so, shall be subject to the penalties
provided in section 2252A (b)(2), including the penalties provided for
cases involving a prior conviction.
(c) Nonrequired Element of Offense.- It is not a required element of
any offense under this section that the minor depicted actually exist.
(d) Circumstances.- The circumstance referred to in subsections (a)
and (b) is that-
(1) any communication involved in or made in furtherance of the offense
is communicated or transported by the mail, or in interstate or foreign
commerce by any means, including by computer, or any means or
instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce is otherwise used in
committing or in furtherance of the commission of the offense;
(2) any communication involved in or made in furtherance of the offense
contemplates the transmission or transportation of a visual depiction
by the mail, or in interstate or foreign commerce by any means,
including by computer;
(3) any person travels or is transported in interstate or foreign
commerce in the course of the commission or in furtherance of the
commission of the offense;
(4) any visual depiction involved in the offense has been mailed, or
has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce by
any means, including by computer, or was produced using materials that
have been mailed, or that have been shipped or transported in
interstate or foreign commerce by any means, including by computer; or
(5) the offense is committed in the special maritime and territorial
jurisdiction of the United States or in any territory or possession of
the United States.
(e) Affirmative Defense.- It shall be an affirmative defense to a
charge of violating subsection (b) that the defendant-
(1) possessed less than 3 such visual depictions; and
(2) promptly and in good faith, and without retaining or allowing any
person, other than a law enforcement agency, to access any such visual
depiction-
(A) took reasonable steps to destroy each such visual depiction; or
(B) reported the matter to a law enforcement agency and afforded that
agency access to each such visual depiction.
(f) Definitions.- For purposes of this section-
(1) the term "visual depiction" includes undeveloped film and
videotape, and data stored on a computer disk or by electronic means
which is capable of conversion into a visual image, and also includes
any photograph, film, video, picture, digital image or picture,
computer image or picture, or computer generated image or picture,
whether made or produced by electronic, mechanical, or other means;
(2) the term "sexually explicit conduct" has the meaning given the
term in section 2256 (2)(A) or 2256 (2)(B); and
(3) the term "graphic", when used with respect to a depiction of
sexually explicit conduct, means that a viewer can observe any part of
the genitals or pubic area of any depicted person or animal during any
part of the time that the sexually explicit conduct is being depicted.