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Legal Director Jennifer Becker's testimony to the NJ Assembly Judiciary Committee on a proposed bill to make sextortion a crime was quoted in the New Jersey Monitor.
"Some children think they are chatting online with other kids their age but are then manipulated into sharing explicit content and being blackmailed for money. Other victims have their images hacked or recorded without their consent and feel they have no option but to comply, Becker said.
“Every time a victim is forced to create or produce sexually explicit images against their will or meet in person to engage in sexual conduct, that person is sexually assaulted, and they suffer the same harm as any other form of sex crime,” Becker said during her testimony to the Assembly Judiciary Committee."
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"As in many states currently, sexual extortion doesn’t fit with New Jersey’s existing laws or sexual assault framework, but lawmakers now have the chance to use a “simple legislative fix” to correct that, Becker said.
“Many perpetrators believe they are shielded from prosecution by the law that just hasn’t kept pace with the digital nature of our world, and in many respects, they have been,” Becker said."