This bill amends existing laws regarding child sexual abuse and exploitation material by creating a separate and distinct crime from the broader statute on child endangerment. The new provisions aim to enhance clarity in law enforcement and legal proceedings. The bill expands the definition of child sexual abuse and exploitation material to include manipulated depictions that appear to show a child engaging in prohibited sexual acts. Additionally, it updates definitions related to child erotica to align with a recent State Supreme Court ruling and modifies the obscenity statute to include similar manipulated depictions.

Furthermore, the bill adjusts 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 making it a second-degree crime for fewer items. This change is expected to result in longer incarceration terms for offenders. The bill also amends the invasion of privacy statute to include non-consensual manipulated depictions and clarifies consent regarding the distribution of intimate images. The Office of Legislative Services anticipates that these changes may lead to an indeterminate increase in state expenditures and revenues, particularly if prosecutions rise, impacting various state agencies involved in the legal process.

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