2C:24-4.1 Leader of child pornography network; degree of crime; definitions.

8. a. A person is a leader of a child pornography network if he knowingly conspires with others as an organizer, moderator, administrator, programmer, recruiter, or facilitator to engage in a scheme or course of conduct to establish or maintain an interconnected network through which files containing one or more items depicting the sexual exploitation or abuse of a child are in any way made available to or accessible among an organized group of users or participants.

b. Leader of a child pornography network is a crime of the first degree if the offense involves 100,000 or more items depicting the sexual exploitation or abuse of a child; a crime of the second degree if the offense involves at least 1,000 but less than 100,000 items depicting the sexual exploitation or abuse of a child; and a crime of the third degree if the offense involves less than 1,000 items depicting the sexual exploitation or abuse of a child.

c. For aggregation purposes, each item depicting the sexual exploitation or abuse of a child made available or accessible through a distribution network shall be considered a separate item, provided that each item that is in the form of a photograph, picture, image, or visual depiction of a similar nature shall be considered to be one item and each depiction that is in the form of a film, video, video-clip, movie, or visual depiction of a similar nature shall be considered to be 10 separate items.

d. Notwithstanding the provisions of N.J.S.2C:1-8, a conviction of leader of a child pornography network shall not merge with the conviction for any offense which is the object of the conspiracy, nor shall the other conviction merge with a conviction under this section. Nothing contained in this section shall be construed in any way to preclude or limit the prosecution or conviction of any person for conspiracy under the provisions of N.J.S.2C:5-2, or any prosecution or conviction for endangering the welfare of children under the provisions of N.J.S.2C:24-4 or any other provision of law.

e. As used in this section:

"Interconnected network" means a set of computer nodes, including but not limited to personal computers, mobile devices, and physical or virtual servers that are linked together to facilitate the transmission of data between users.

"Item depicting the sexual exploitation or abuse of a child" shall have the same meaning as provided in subsection b. of N.J.S.2C:24-4.

L.2017, c.141, s.8.