A. The Office of the Attorney General, in cooperation with the Department of State Police, shall keep and maintain a Child Pornography Registry (the Registry) to be located within the State Police, separate and apart from all other records maintained by either department. The purpose of the Registry shall be to assist the efforts of law-enforcement agencies statewide to protect their communities from repeat child pornographers and to protect children from becoming victims of criminal offenders by aiding in identifying victims and perpetrators. Criminal justice agencies, including law-enforcement agencies, may request of the State Police a search and comparison of child pornography images contained within the Registry with those images obtained by criminal justice agencies during the course of official investigations.
B. The Registry shall include copies of all known or suspected "child pornography," as that term is defined in subsection A of § 18.2-374.1, obtained during the course of a criminal investigation, or presented as evidence and used in any conviction for any offense enumerated in §§ 18.2-374.1 and 18.2-374.1:1.
C. Registry information provided under this section shall be used for the purposes of the administration of criminal justice, for victim identification, or for the protection of the public in general and children in particular. Use of the information or the images contained therein for purposes not authorized by this section is prohibited and a willful violation of this section with the intent to harass or intimidate another is a Class 6 felony.
D. The Virginia Criminal Information Network and any form or document used by the Department of State Police to disseminate information from the Registry shall provide notice that any unauthorized possession, use, or dissemination of the information or images is a crime punishable as a Class 6 felony.
2003, cc. 935, 938; 2019, cc. 3, 42.
Structure Code of Virginia
Title 19.2 - Criminal Procedure
Chapter 23 - Central Criminal Records Exchange
§ 19.2-387.1. Protective Order Registry; maintenance; access
§ 19.2-387.2. National Crime Prevention and Privacy Compact of 1998
§ 19.2-387.3. Substantial Risk Order Registry; maintenance; access
§ 19.2-388. Duties and authority of Exchange
§ 19.2-388.1. Fingerprints submitted by Live Scan device
§ 19.2-389. Dissemination of criminal history record information
§ 19.2-389.1. Dissemination of juvenile record information
§ 19.2-389.2. Background checks of applicants of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority
§ 19.2-390.01. Use of Virginia crime code references required
§ 19.2-390.02. Policies and procedures for law enforcement to conduct in-person and photo lineups
§ 19.2-390.04. Custodial interrogations; recording
§ 19.2-390.1. Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry; maintenance; access
§ 19.2-390.3. Child Pornography Registry; maintenance; access
§ 19.2-392. Fingerprints and photographs by police authorities