North Hills Man Sentenced to 18 Years in Prison for Producing Sexual Images of Minors. Melrose Man Sentenced to 60 Months for Child Pornography Offenses. Boylston Man Charged with Distributing Child Pornography. Navajo Man from Churchrock Pleads Guilty to Federal Child Sexual Abuse Charge. Vestal Man Pleads Guilty to Distributing and Receiving Child Pornography. Binghamton Man Pleads Guilty to 12 Counts of Distributing Child Pornography.

Rarely a week goes by in the United States that a child pornographer is not charged or sentenced for federal crimes related to the sexual exploitation of children. The press release headlines above from the Department of Justice were issued on a single day last month.

In coordination with local, state, federal, and international partners—both law enforcement and non-governmental organizations—the FBI devotes extensive resources to fighting the sexual exploitation of children. And while the high number of arrests and convictions speaks to law enforcement’s successes, there is still much work to be done. According to a 2016 Department of Justice report to Congress, “The expansion of the Internet has led to an explosion in the market for child pornography.”

“After you’ve been doing this awhile, you think you’ve seen it all, and then you get a new case,” said Special Agent Eric Campbell, who investigates violent crimes against children in the FBI’s Phoenix Division. “I am surprised by how often I am surprised at what people will do.”

Campbell points to one of his recent cases as an example. In February 2017, a 28-year-old Arizona woman was sentenced to more than five years in prison for mailing child pornography to her imprisoned husband. He was behind bars in Tucson awaiting trial on separate child pornography charges—for which he would eventually receive a 20-year sentence.