Every year, thousands of children become victims of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) posted online. While authorities are aware of this rising problem, they often stand powerless to rescue these vulnerable children because of the inability to identify the victims. The Renewed Hope Act of 2024 was introduced in both the House and the Senate to address this problem, equipping authorities with the necessary personnel and resources to help these helpless children.
Criminal activity involving child pornography is increasing to unprecedented levels. Since 2019, reports for this abusive content have more than doubled. In 2023, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) received 35.9 million reports of child sexual abuse material. In comparison, the NCMEC received 16.9 million reports in 2019. Moreover, more than 50,000 children remain unidentified from the Interpol International Child Sexual Exploitation database.
In 2023, the Department of Homeland Security’s Cyber Crime Center launched Operation Renewed Hope (ORH), a three-week program in which multiple nations collaborated in identifying victims of CSAM. This task force included analysts from Homeland Security, officers from law enforcement agencies such as the FBI, the DOJ, and Virginia State Police, and victim identification specialists from foreign law enforcement agencies. Within just those three weeks, over 300 victims were tentatively identified and hundreds of children were rescued. In 2024, the program was launched for another 3 weeks and resulted in over 400 referrals and the positive identification of 80 victims. Law enforcement knows how to identify and rescue these children. They only lack the resources to enable them to do so.
While Operation Renewed Hope saw great success, that success was limited to the program’s short three week timeline. During the rest of the year, the Department of Homeland Security’s Cyber Team (C3) is the only United States team focused on victim identification. With only 10 dedicated analyst positions operating under the C3 program, there are not enough workers dedicated to tackle this widespread problem. The Renewed Hope Act fills this resource gap to allow the successes of Operation Renewed Hope to continue year-round. The act requires the hiring and training of at least 200 investigators, computer forensics, and criminal analysts who will work to identify and rescue victims. It also establishes a program to train agents in new and advanced victim identification technology. This ensures both that there are enough workers dedicated to helping the helpless and that they are fully equipped to do so.
Various organizations support the Renewed Hope Act as a necessary step in protecting children and prosecuting their abusers. Numerous child safety organizations support this legislation such as ChildFund International, Child Rescue Coalition, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), National Child Protection Task Force, International Justice Mission, PACT, National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE), and Rights4Girls. Law enforcement organizations such as the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association and the Major County Sheriffs of America also support this bill.
By allocating more resources to identifying and rescuing victims, law enforcement can renew hope for those who feel hopeless. Congress must provide law enforcement with resources proportional to the magnitude of this abuse by passing the Renewed Hope Act.
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