Leto was recently interviewed by two members of the National Center for Victims of Crime who were conducting a survey to determine how victims of child pornography can be better served by our legal system and victim support networks.
In the course of the interview she learned more about the services provided by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, commonly referred to as NCMC. NCMC has a database of images of children who have been sexually exploited. NCMC does NOT have contact information for the victims, but it has contact information for the FBI agents involved in investigating the perpetrators of crimes against that child. That way, if NCMC receives information that the child’s image has appeared on the internet, they can inform the FBI, which maintains a database of contact information for the children and their representatives.
Currently, people helping victims of perpetrators who are only accused of state crimes, but not federal crimes, do not have access to this information that is maintained by NCMC and the FBI. Often, children and adults who know that sexually exploitive photos were taken of them have no idea where these photographs may be, or who may have seen them. This is certainly something that the National Center for Victims of Crime is taking into account in its work. Hopefully, there can be better coordination with state law enforcement agencies, NCMC and the FBI in the future.