Child Protection and Obscenity Enforcement Act of 1988

The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:15 a.m., in room 2226, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. William J. Hughes (chairman of the subcommittee), presiding.

Present: Representatives Hughes, Mazzoli, McCollum, Shaw, and Gekas.

Staff present: Hayden Gregory, counsel; Eric E. Sterling, assistant counsel; Paul J. McNulty, associate counsel; and Phyllis N. Henderson, clerical staff.

Mr. HUGHES. The Subcommittee on Crime will come to order.

The Chair has received a request to cover this hearing in whole or in part by television broadcast, radio broadcast, still photography, or by other similar methods. In accordance with committee rule 5(a), permission will be granted unless there is objection.

Is there objection? Hearing none, such coverage is permitted. Good morning. This morning the Subcommittee on Crime is beginning its examination of the Child Protection and Obscenity Enforcement Act of 1988. This bill is probably the most ambitious assault on obscenity introduced certainly in the past decade. Like the problem of control of firearms, it is an extremely emotional issue involving important national values. Interestingly, we are now moving gun legislation before the Congress and we are going to be reporting out today, hopefully, out of full committee a bill that would in fact ban so-called plastic firearms that are not detectable. And nothing generates more heat and less light than guns, generally. In any event, this is certainly another issue that generates quite a bit of interest and controversy. It is an emotional but it is an important issue dealing with national values. The subcommittee, as we demonstrated in the case of firearms legislation, wants to look carefully at the proposals that are presented.

We begin these hearings today with a record in this area that demonstrates, I think, a commitment by this committee to protect children from sexual exploitation. Our 1984 amendments eliminated the burden of having to prove that child pornography was obscene. We eliminated the previous requirement of proving that the protection or distribution of child pornography was for the purpose of sale. We raised the age of the children protected from 16 to 18

years. We raised the fines which could be imposed on those convic ed of child pornography and enabled the Government to seize th equipment used to produce the pornography and the profits of por nographers.

Our 1986 amendments, in the last Congress, prohibited advertis ing in connection with child pornography. No longer could someon advertise that they have child pornography or that they wanted t buy child pornography. No longer could someone advertise tha they had children available to participate in producing child por nography or that they wanted to participate in sexual acts with children for such purposes.

Our legislation has enabled the Federal Government to increase its prosecutions in this area by more than 600 percent over those brought under the Act created in 1978.

We are opposed to the dissemination of obscenity. We are revolted when we receive in the mail unsolicited sexual advertisements that if not obscene are certainly on the borderline. There is a right of privacy in the home that is invaded when unwanted smut is pushed through the mail slot, and such intrusions are just not acceptable. The bill before us does not address that issue, but it is one of the things that we should look at as a subcommittee.

Recognition of the right of privacy brings us into the area of sensitive and important constitutional rights that must be protected. I have found that most Americans are strongly opposed to obscenity, and at the same time are deeply committed to preserving First Amendment rights. We have demonstrated in the past that these interests are not irreconcilable in our development of the child protection legislation. I believe that we can do more to protect our children and families from obscenity while remaining totally consistent with constitutional precepts and principles.

We have two outstanding panels of witnesses today and I am looking forward to hearing their testimony as we begin a most careful examination. Later in this session, we will hear from the Justice Department, the Postal Service and the Customs Service about our law enforcement efforts, and from dozens of other witnesses who have requested the opportunity to testify. I look forward to that testimony.

The gentleman from Florida.

Mr. McCOLLUM. Mr. Chairman, I am very pleased that today we start our process of hearings on this important legislation because, not only is it critical from the standpoint of the substance that it has there, I think it is critical from the standpoint of the public to have an opportunity for us to hold forth in a hearing of this style the values that are really critical to families in this country and to our society as a whole.

H.R. 3889 has tremendous support, nearly 200 cosponsors right now of this bill. The Religious Alliance Against Pornography I think has an unprecedented 40 organizations plus church denominations that are involved in its group in order to unite on this one cause. The issue has generated more mail from my constituents, since this bill has been introduced, than anything else, including the gun legislation that we have been dealing with over the past several months. And so I think this is an important first step this morning that we are holding, and I commend you as the chairman

of the subcommittee for taking the initiative, sponsoring this bill and moving forward with these hearings.

I look forward to the hearing. I look forward to hearing from some of the attorneys today that I think will be expressing views that they are concerned about, legal aspects of this matter. I think they are going to be opposed to the legislation, the ones we are hearing from today. But, as you have indicated, it is my understanding, we will be hearing from the Justice Department and some of the attorneys later down the road who very much are for this legislation, and they give us a different legal perspective on this matter. And of course, we are interested and pleased that the lead-off witnesses in this whole process do come from the Religious Alliance Against Pornography.

So, again with that in mind, echoing the sentiments you expressed, I welcome the witnesses today and appreciate very much the fact we are kicking off the hearings on this, and hope we are not only able to have them today but that we are able to have the others speedily so we can go ahead and mark this bill up and have legislation this term of Congress.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. HUGHES. Thank you. You are very humble this morning. The legislation was jointly introduced by Mr. McCollum and myself, and we have developed a very good bipartisan partnership in developing legislation and we look forward to doing it in this important issue, too; hopefully, in this Congress.

Mr. MCCOLLUM. Well, if the gentleman will yield. I certainly agree with that and it is something that I think is important in this area. This is not a partisan committee, never has been. And a subject matter such as pornography or the gun legislation just is above that, and I have really enjoyed the relationship.

Mr. HUGHES. Our first panel today consists of very distinguished clergy and religious leaders. And as I introduce you, if you will come forward to the witness table, I would appreciate it.

Dr. Jerry Kirk is the Chairman of the Religious Alliance Against Pornography. He is also the President of the National Coalition Against Pornography, based in Cincinnati, OH.

Dr. Larry Baker is the Executive Director and Treasurer, Christian Life Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, based in Nashville, TN.

Elder John K. Carmack is the Area President for North America-North East, of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, based in Salt Lake City, UT. He is also a lawyer.

Bishop George Dallas McKinney is the Pastor of St. Stephen's Church of God in Christ, in San Diego, CA, and Bishop of the Southern California Second Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of the Church of God in Christ.

Father Bruce Ritter is the President of Covenant House, in New York City. He served as a member of the Attorney General's Commission on Pornography and is certainly no stranger to this committee.

Gentlemen, we are pleased to welcome you to the Subcommittee on Crime. We have received your prepared statements and, without objection, they will be made a part of the record in full. I might indicate to you, as I indicated to Dr. Kirk earlier, that we have

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Child Protection and Obscenity Enforcement Act of 1988: Hearings Before the ...