Obscenity/Sexual Exploitation—Venue

Cases under the obscenity and child pornography statutes in which the proscribed item is mailed may be prosecuted in the district where the material is mailed or deposited with a facility of interstate commerce, the district of receipt, or any intermediate district through which the material passes.

See

18 U.S.C. § 3237. In cases where there are complaints by postal patrons about the unsolicited receipt of child pornography or obscene material, the district of receipt would appear to be the appropriate choice of venue. On the other hand, in cases involving numerous mailings by a distributor into various districts, the district of origin may be the appropriate venue for the case. Furthermore, if a case is to be based solely upon test purchases by postal inspectors, it may be venued in the district of receipt where the government has some information showing that there were prior mailings into the recipient districts by the individual involved. Prosecutions should not be brought in jurisdictions through which obscene material passes in transit except in unusual circumstances.

Cases under the child pornography and obscenity statutes in which the crime was committed via computer may be prosecuted in the district where the defendant committed any of the acts proscribed in the statutes. In general, in cases in which the crime was committed via the computer, all of the charges distribution, receipt, possession, etc.) should be brought in the district in which the target and his computer are located. Multiple prosecutions generally are discouraged.