From Deseret News archives:

Anti-child porn campaign to include 'hard-hitting' ad

Published: Saturday, Feb. 23, 2008 12:29 a.m. MST
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State and federal officials are hoping a gritty, hard-hitting public-service commercial, combined with state and federal legislation, will help to clamp down on those who deal in child pornography.

The commercial, sponsored by the Surviving Parents Coalition and the National Association to Protect Children, shows a small girl trapped in a glass box.

A woman's voice says, "When I was a little girl and when I was being photographed and raped, I used to try and send messages with my eyes down the lens and hope that one day a good person might see and come to save me."

At the state Capitol Friday morning, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, joined state lawmakers to address the need to combat child pornography.

Shurtleff called the "Not One More Child" campaign a "gritty and hard-hitting" ad that was hard to watch but important in putting a stop to the sexual exploitation of children. "Every Utahn needs to see this haunting and powerful public service announcement," Shurtleff said. "Awareness and enforcement are needed to stop this absolute evil being directed towards our children."

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According to the AG's office, child pornography is now a multibillion-dollar industry involving more than 100,000 Web sites. One study found that 80 percent of child porn images involved children ages 6 to 12 and 19 percent had images of infants and toddlers. According to the Internet Crimes Against Children Data Network, just one movie of child rape received 800,000 hits in a 26-month period.

Hatch hailed officers who make up the ICAC task forces for their efforts in taking down and catching those who produce and peddle child porn. Almost each state in the county now has an ICAC task force with the help of federal funding through the Justice Department.

However, Hatch noted that with current funding ICAC task forces are only able to investigate less than 2 percent of known child exploitation offenders. "We need to do everything in our power to fight this," Hatch said.

Hatch is co-sponsoring SB1738 before Congress that will provide $60 million more in funding for local task forces, plus an additional $40 million to hire new federal agents within the FBI, ICE and U.S. Postal Inspection Service to work with ICAC on investigating cases. The bill also includes funding for dedicated forensic crime labs and to beef up the ICAC Data Network.

Utah Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, said state lawmakers have been passing bills which will "provide legal weapons to put these monsters down."

Recent comments

uncannygunman, well put... and rather pathetic, unless, of course,...

Childrend | Feb. 24, 2008 at 11:43 p.m.

I would also like to add my THANK YOU to those individuals and...

the statistics are sad | Feb. 23, 2008 at 9:07 p.m.

So what exactly is the purpose of this ad? To get the tiny fraction...

uncannygunman | Feb. 23, 2008 at 10:20 a.m.

Image

At the Capitol in Salt Lake City Friday, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, left, Ed Smart and Utah Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, right, kick off a new public-service campaign to fight child pornography.

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