This bill establishes a separate crime for child sexual abuse and exploitation material, which was previously categorized under child endangerment laws. The intent behind this change is to enhance clarity in law enforcement and judicial processes, as well as improve the tracking of crime statistics related to these offenses. Additionally, the bill expands the definition of child sexual abuse and exploitation material to include manipulated images that appear to depict a child in a prohibited sexual act. It also revises definitions related to child erotica to align with a recent State Supreme Court ruling, and amends obscenity laws to include similar manipulated depictions.

Furthermore, the bill modifies the penalties for leading a network that shares child sexual abuse or exploitation material, lowering the threshold for a first-degree crime from 100,000 items to 1,000 items, while establishing a second-degree crime for offenses involving fewer than 1,000 items. This change is intended to align the penalties with those for possession with intent to distribute. The bill also updates the invasion of privacy statute to include manipulated images without consent and clarifies that consent to being recorded does not imply consent for distribution. The Office of Legislative Services anticipates that the bill may lead to increased state expenditures and revenues, although the exact fiscal impact remains indeterminate due to the uncertainty surrounding the number of prosecutions that may arise from these changes.

Statutes affected:
Introduced: 2A:4A-71.1, 2A:53A-7.4, 2A:82-46, 2A:84A-16.1, 2A:84A-32.4, 2A:156A-8, 2A:162-12, 2A:162-19, 2A:168A-8, 2C:7-2, 2C:13-6, 2C:13-7, 2C:13-10, 2C:14-9, 2C:24-4.1, 2C:39-7, 2C:43-3.8, 2C:43-6.4, 2C:44-6.3, 3B:5-14.1, 5:12-86, 9:2-4.1, 9:3-40.5, 9:6-8.84, 9:6A-10, 18A:6-7.1, 30:4-3.5, 30:4-91.8, 30:4-91.9, 30:4-123.53, 30:4-123.54, 30:4C-26.8, 30:4C-27.19, 30:5B-6.14, 30:5B-25.7, 30:6D-64, 39:5G-2, 39:5H-20, 46:8-56, 46:8-59, 53:1-20.20