[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 98 (Wednesday, June 13, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H5119-H5121]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




CURBING REALISTIC EXPLOITATIVE ELECTRONIC PEDOPHILIC ROBOTS ACT OF 2017

  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 4655) to amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit the 
importation or transportation of child sex dolls, and for other 
purposes.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows

                               H.R. 4655

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Curbing Realistic 
     Exploitative Electronic Pedophilic Robots Act of 2017'' or as 
     the ``CREEPER Act of 2017''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       The Congress finds as follows:
       (1) There is a correlation between possession of the 
     obscene dolls, and robots, and possession of and 
     participation in child pornography.
       (2) The physical features, and potentially the 
     ``personalities'' of the robots are customizable or morphable 
     and can resemble actual children.
       (3) Some owners and makers of the robots have made their 
     children interact with the robots as if the robots are 
     members of the family.
       (4) The robots can have settings that simulate rape.
       (5) The dolls and robots not only lead to rape, but they 
     make rape easier by teaching the rapist about how to overcome 
     resistance and subdue the victim.

[[Page H5120]]

       (6) For users and children exposed to their use, the dolls 
     and robots normalize submissiveness and normalize sex between 
     adults and minors.
       (7) As the Supreme Court has recognized, obscene material 
     is often used as part of a method of seducing child victims.
       (8) The dolls and robots are intrinsically related to abuse 
     of minors, and they cause the exploitation, objectification, 
     abuse, and rape of minors.

     SEC. 3. PROHIBITION OF IMPORTATION OR TRANSPORTATION OF CHILD 
                   SEX DOLLS.

       Section 1462 of title 18, United States Code, is amended--
       (1) in paragraph (a), by striking ``or'' at the end;
       (2) in paragraph (b), by striking ``or'' at the end;
       (3) by inserting after paragraph (c) the following:
       ``(d) any child sex doll; or''; and
       (4) by adding at the end the following:
     ``In this section, the term `child sex doll' means an 
     anatomically-correct doll, mannequin, or robot, with the 
     features of, or with features that resemble those of, a 
     minor, intended for use in sexual acts.''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte) and the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson 
Lee) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Virginia.


                             General Leave

  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to 
include extraneous materials on H.R. 4655 currently under 
consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Virginia?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, today we consider the Curbing Realistic Exploitative 
Electronic Pedophilic Robots Act of 2017. It criminalizes the 
importation and transportation of child sex dolls.
  I have mixed feelings today about bringing this bill to the floor. I 
am happy that this legislation is moving through, and we are taking 
steps to address a problem that very much needs to be addressed. I am 
distraught, however, that this problem even exists. I am saddened that 
there are people in this world who would create realistic child sex 
dolls and distraught that there are people in this world who would buy 
them.
  These dolls are being manufactured in China and Japan and being 
shipped all over the world. Consumers can order bespoke dolls providing 
pictures of specific children they would like the doll to resemble. 
They can indicate a preferred facial expression, such as sadness or 
fear. These dolls can be programmed to simulate rape. The very thought 
makes me nauseous.
  While a small group of people advocate for the use of these dolls to 
curb pedophilia, there is absolutely no scientific literature 
supporting this view. To the contrary, these dolls create a real risk 
of reinforcing pedophilic behavior, and they desensitize the user, 
causing him to engage in sicker and sicker behavior. They put our 
children in danger, and we must not tolerate them.
  In April of this year, Amazon announced it was removing anatomically 
correct child sex dolls from its website. I call upon all internet-
based retailers and media platforms to do the same.
  Australia and the United Kingdom have already taken steps to 
criminalize the importation of child sex dolls and are actively 
prosecuting these cases. There is no reason that the United States 
should not follow suit.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank Mr. Donovan of New York for 
introducing this bill. I urge my colleagues to support this important 
legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, sex toys with children is disgusting, and I believe it 
is something that one would want simply to say pass a bill to cease and 
desist.
  But I would like to discuss H.R. 4655, the Curbing Realistic 
Exploitative Electronic Pedophilic Robots Act of 2017, also known as 
the CREEPER Act of 2017.
  There is no doubt that we oppose what this bill is intending to do. 
The bill seeks to prohibit the importation and transportation of child 
sex dolls.
  There is no doubt that child sexual exploitation is a serious, grave 
problem in our country. It is a growing and ever-evolving problem that 
requires a multifaceted response, and one might argue that the creation 
of these dolls, besides being exploitation of our most precious 
resource, is just to make money. That is absolutely both disgraceful 
and absurd.
  Combating child sexual exploitation requires aggressive action by the 
Congress of the United States, and we must remain always vigilant to 
stamp out any new methods in technology developed and used by child 
predators to harm our children.
  Just yesterday, the Department of Justice announced that, in a 
coordinated effort spanning all 50 States during March, April, and May, 
2,300 suspected child sex offenders were arrested. In my own hometown 
of Houston in 2016, 126 people were arrested as online predators as 
part of a coordinated effort to tackle the problem of child 
exploitation; and last year, 13 were arrested.
  We must protect our children everywhere from any and all bad actors 
who want to do them harm. I am concerned, however, that the majority 
has not given us sufficient time to properly consider this bill, its 
basis for making a correlation between the possession of obscene dolls 
and possession of child pornography, and its relation to child abuse. 
Those are important points, and I know that this bill has great 
intentions. We might have made it even greater.
  We also did not have the opportunity to assess whether this bill 
would implicate a reporting statute for sex offenders or to identify 
any other problems and perhaps an opportunity to offer ways to improve 
this bill to ensure we are, in fact, protecting all of our children. 
Mr. Speaker, I look forward, however, to hearing further in the 
discussion of this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to 
the gentleman from New York (Mr. Donovan), the chief sponsor of this 
legislation.
  Mr. DONOVAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding to me.
  Before I came to Congress, I was an elected district attorney for 12 
years in Staten Island, New York. Prior to that, I spent 8 years in the 
Manhattan DA's office as a prosecutor.
  Very few things disturb me after all of those 20 years of prosecuting 
cases, but then it came to my attention about sex dolls being shipped 
from foreign lands to the United States for only one purpose: to be 
used as sex objects that simulate a young child.
  As the chairman spoke earlier, these dolls can be formed. They can be 
created. They can be designed to appear in any shape or form that the 
abuser wants them to be. They have realistic eyelashes, realistic hair, 
warming devices, and cleaning apparatuses. They are totally, as my good 
friend from Texas said, disgusting.

                              {time}  1430

  They appear to be lifelike replicas of young children. A fully 
customized doll can cost up to $10,000. But the dolls that the chairman 
was referring to on Amazon were as low as $409 with free shipping. That 
is less than the cost of an iPhone.
  The good news is, as the chairman brought out, Amazon no longer sells 
these products. The bad news is the dolls are still available for sale 
on other websites. The dolls when they are shipped are purposely 
labeled as mannequins to disguise what their true purpose is.
  Science has shown that dolls normalize pedophilic behavior rather 
than discourage pedophiles from acting out on their urges or 
aggression.
  The bill is supported by the Stop Abuse Campaign, the Stop Child 
Predators, and the Foundation for Responsible Robotics. Over 166,000 
signatures have been written on a petition by Change.org. This 
demonstrates that this bill is something that the American people want.
  In the first year of its ban, the United Kingdom found that 85 
percent of the men who possessed these dolls also possessed child 
pornography.
  We are trying to get ahead of this problem. We are trying to protect 
children. I believe this legislation will protect countless children 
from pedophiles throughout our Nation.

[[Page H5121]]

  Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for his support, and I urge all of 
my colleagues in the House to pass H.R. 4655, the CREEPER Act.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume to close.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman for his explanation of the 
CREEPER bill. As I stated, it is disgusting, but, more importantly, it 
harms our children.
  What we want to do in this Congress is to ensure that not only do we 
register our concern for the fairness of the criminal justice system, 
the criminal code, but that we provide the greatest protection we can 
ever provide for our children.
  So the idea of sex toys and the utilization of child sex toys is what 
I want to be clear, and the importation and transportation is a 
dastardly act. I hope as this bill makes its way through the Congress 
that we will be assured that it frames itself to go after those who are 
the most vile and vicious as it relates to the child sex toys and in 
keeping with the confines and the parameters of a just criminal code.
  Might I also just say that I just feel compelled, as the gentleman I 
know has worked on many issues, to remind this House that we have a 
crisis at the border. It is very important as we relate to children and 
children being taken away from families--mothers--that we also turn our 
attention to protecting those children.
  So with that point, I want to indicate my support for effective 
measures to protect our children. I thank the gentleman for his 
leadership.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
  Mr. Speaker, this truly is, as the gentlewoman from Texas said, a 
disgusting topic, but it is one that I think is very necessary to 
protect our children and to protect our society.
  I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
  I, again, thank the gentleman from New York for offering it. His 
experience as a prosecutor and his testimony to how horrific he finds 
it, even as a veteran prosecutor, should tell all the Members all they 
need to know about how important it is to pass this bill and start 
doing what the United Kingdom and Australia are already doing, and that 
is getting after the people who would import this kind of trash into 
the United States.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte) that the House suspend the 
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 4655.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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