ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates by reference to several subsequent appeal judgments that prosecutors witnessed minor rather than substantial problems in a small number of cases, and that that the Supreme Court decision did not have a visible detrimental impact upon prosecutions and conviction rates as the government predicted. The chapter argues that the courts demonstrated their readiness to deal appropriately with defence claims that contested images were computer-generated images rather than depictions of real children. It provides a critical overview of the Protect Act 2003 amendments which were introduced by the US government as a response to the Supreme Court decision. The Child Pornography Prevention Act 1996 (CPPA) was introduced to criminalize material that depicts children engaging in sexually explicit conduct whether or not the content in question involved real children. The chapter closely examines post-Free Speech cases, as well as the available statistical data.
