ASSEMBLY APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE
STATEMENT TO
[Second Reprint]
ASSEMBLY, No. 5004
with committee amendments
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
DATED: JUNE 19, 2025
The Assembly Appropriations Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Assembly Bill No. 5004 (2R).
This bill amends and updates the law prohibiting child sexual abuse and exploitation material in three respects.
First, under the bill, the statute concerning child sexual abuse and exploitation material is separated from its current placement within the statute concerning child endangerment to create a separate and distinct crime. This is intended to provide clarity in law enforcement, court documents, and the analysis and tracking of crime statistics when referring to child sexual abuse and exploitation material, rather than the broader crime of child endangerment. Because of this recodification of the statute, it is necessary to also update the cross references in other sections of law that refer to either child sexual abuse and exploitation material or child endangerment.
Second, under the bill, the crime of child sexual abuse and exploitation material is expanded to include manipulated depictions that, by means of image manipulation, creation, or modification, appear to show an identifiable child or a purported child engaging in a prohibited sexual act or in the simulation of such an act.
Third, the bill amends certain definitions concerning sexually exploitative, but less than fully nude, depictions of children, also known as “child erotica,” in order to conform the statute with the decision of the State Supreme Court in State v. Higginbotham, 257 N.J. 260 (2024), which held that certain provisions of the statute concerning “child erotica” were unconstitutional.
The bill also amends current law concerning obscenity to include manipulated depictions that, by means of image manipulation, creation, or modification, appear to show a purported child engaging in a prohibited sexual act or in the simulation of such an act. Under current jurisprudence, the distinction between child sexual abuse and exploitation material and obscenity is that child sexual abuse and exploitation material involves the depiction of an actual victim (i.e., an identifiable child), while obscenity does not require the depiction of an actual victim. The bill includes findings and declarations related to obscene material. The bill provides that the Legislature finds and declares that even though obscene material does not necessarily depict an actual child, obscene material created using advanced computer technology, such as generative artificial intelligence, nevertheless draw from datasets that include images of actual children.
The bill also amends current law concerning leaders of networks that share child sexual abuse or exploitation material to conform with the provision of the child sexual abuse or exploitation material statute concerning possession with intent to distribute. Under current law, leading a network that shares child sexual abuse or exploitation material is: a crime of the first degree if the offense involves 100,000 or more items depicting the sexual exploitation or abuse of a child; a crime of the second degree if the offense involves at least 1,000 but less than 100,000 items; and a crime of the third degree if the offense involves less than 1,000 items. Under the bill, leading a network that shares child sexual abuse or exploitation material is a crime of the first degree if the offense involves 1,000 or more items; otherwise, it is a crime of the second degree. The bill would make these the same thresholds as the crime of possession with intent to distribute child sexual abuse or exploitation material.
A crime of the first degree is punishable by a term of imprisonment of 10 to 20 years, a fine of up to $200,000, or both. A crime of the second degree is punishable by a term of imprisonment of five to 10 years, a fine of up to $150,000, or both. A crime of the third degree is punishable by a term of imprisonment of three to five years, a fine of up to $15,000, or both.
Finally, the bill also amends the invasion of privacy statute in two respects. First, the statute is amended to include manipulated depictions that, by means of image manipulation, creation, or modification, appear to show an intimate or sexually-explicit image of a person who did not in fact consent to such depiction or engage in the depicted conduct. Second, the statute is amended to clarify that a person’s consent to being photographed, filmed, or recorded in an intimate or sexual manner does not imply consent to the distribution of such images.
COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:
The committee amended the bill to:
- conform certain provisions of the statute concerning “child erotica” to a decision of the New Jersey Supreme Court in State v. Higginbotham;
- clarify the immunity from liability concerning obscenity, applicable under federal law for interactive computer service providers and others pursuant to 47 U.S.C. s.230, as well as telecommunications carriers and others under 47 U.S.C. s.153; and
- limit the definition of “knowingly” to having actual knowledge of the character and content of obscene material regulated under the bill.