Overview
NCMEC’s Child Victim Identification Program (CVIP) has a dual mission: (1) to help prosecutors get convictions by proving that a real child is depicted in child pornography images; and (2) to assist law enforcement in locating unidentified child victims.

Because of the U.S. Supreme Court’s holding in Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition, 535 U.S. 234 (2002), there is a need for federal prosecutors to prove that the children depicted in child pornography images are real children.

Given the evolving technological advancements of the Internet, offenders are able to store an enormous volume of child pornography images and videos on their computers and other digital devices.  It is not uncommon for an offender to have tens of thousands of images of child pornography on his or her computer and investigators review this material for prosecutorial purposes. 

Evidence Reviews
CVIP assists with child-pornography cases across the country by using Child Recognition and Identification System (CRIS), a specialized computer software designed to efficiently determine which seized content appears to contain identified children. Local and federal law-enforcement agencies are able to submit copies of seized child pornography to federal law-enforcement agents assigned to NCMEC, accompanied by a written request that the images be reviewed for apparent identified children. Combining CRIS and visual reviews by CVIP analysts, files containing identified child victims are listed in a report provided to the submitting law-enforcement agency. The report contains detailed information about the law enforcement officer who identified each child victim; those officers can then provide any evidence needed in court.  Essentially CVIP acts as a law enforcement pointer system.

Image Analysis
A critical function of CVIP is the effort to assist law enforcement agencies in rescuing the child victims depicted in these images from their abusers. Until they are located and identified, these children may continue to be abused. While reviewing contraband, CVIP analysts closely examine the images and videos submitted by law enforcement and document any clues that may lead to the location of an unidentified child victim. Once a location has been determined, the appropriate law enforcement agency may begin an investigation to rescue the child(ren). Many children have been rescued from ongoing exploitation as a result of the cooperative efforts between CVIP and law enforcement.

New Victim Submission
CVIP requests notification and basic case information when a victim of child pornography is identified by law enforcement. Working with federal law-enforcement partners, information about such investigations are added to NCMEC’s system. The addition of this information increases the value of CVIP’s reviews by assisting in the prosecution of other offenders.