Children featured in pornographic pictures are asking for financial restitution, and they’re getting it. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta ruled Friday that a Georgia man caught with child pornography must pay a girl shown in an incest video, even though he did not shoot the pictures or attack the child. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports Ricky Lee McDaniel must pay $12,700 to the child who was 10 years old when her own father raped her and recorded the attack. In a written statement the girl said that every day she knows “someone is watching the most terrifying moments of my life and taking grotesque pleasure in them”
U.S. Attorney Sally Yates calls McDaniel a “secondary abuser” who should help pay for the victim’s treatment and counseling, adding that children are re-victimized every time someone views their images.
The New York Times profiles a similar case in Connecticut. A young woman who was molested by her uncle is asking for a total of $3.4 million in damages to be collected from everyone caught with an image of her. Her pictures have been circulating online for the last 10 years and turn up often in child porn cases.