USAO-KS marks National Crime Victims’ Rights Week

KANSAS CITY, KAN. - U.S. Attorney Ryan A. Kriegshauser of the District of Kansas champions National Crime Victims' Rights Week (NCVRW), an initiative to raise awareness about the importance of providing crime victims with resources and support. Since 1981, U.S. Department of Justice's Office for Victims of Crime has designated this time to challenge the nation to confront and remove barriers to achieving justice for victims of crime. The theme for 2026 is:

While NCVRW applies to all victims of crime, U.S. Attorney Kriegshauser is drawing added attention to those victims whose images were used to create child sexual abuse material (CSAM) either as actual images or through generative artificial intelligence (GenAI). USAO-KS wants the public to know that federal, state, and local agencies are actively working to bring those who produce, share and/or possess CSAM before a court of law.

"Whether the image is real or fake, creating, sharing, and possessing CSAM is a crime. It's our job to prosecute these offenses, and we will work diligently so that the people engaging in this behavior are convicted and sentenced to federal prison," said U.S. Attorney Kriegshauser.

USAO-KS is committed to educating the public about the legal parameters surrounding the use of GenAI. In 2025, Congress passed the TAKE IT DOWN Act to protect victims from the nonconsensual online publication of intimate visual depictions of individuals, both authentic and computer-generated digital forgeries. This Act includes enhanced criminal penalties when the victim is a minor.

"When it comes to the creation of sexually explicit deepfakes, our office is filing an increasing number of cases against defendants under the age of 25," said Kriegshauser. "We are encouraging parents to talk to their teenagers and young adult children so that they understand this behavior is not a joke. It's a felony."

This week, U.S. Attorney Kriegshauser gave interviews warning of the dangers of CSAM on morning talk radio shows in Wichita and Kansas City. The USAO-KS also held a joint press conference with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Kansas Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) in Kansas City, Kansas. The topics included trends in the numbers of CSAM cases reported to law enforcement and sextortion. Sextortion is when an online predator coaxes victims into providing sexually explicit content then blackmails them by threatening to share this content with the public.

"Thousands of FBI agents, intelligence analysts, and professional staff work daily to combat the threat of child exploitation," said Acting Special Agent in Charge Jeff Berkebile of the FBI-Kansas City Office. "Collectively, these crimes contribute to one of the most pervasive and urgent problems facing our world today: children being targeted and abused online. We must all work together to stop it. What we do, and how we teach our children to recognize and avoid this danger, will make all the difference."

U.S. Attorney Kriegshauser also voiced a public service announcement on NCVRW that was sent to college radio stations throughout Kansas.

Here are some resources that parents and other trusted adults can use to help protect our children from predators.

• https://www.dhs.gov/know2protect/trainingLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the "external link" icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link.
• https://icactaskforce.org/OCEPI#:~:text=The%20Online%20Child%20Exploitation%20Prevention,online%20sexual%20exploitation%20and%20abuseLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the "external link" icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link..

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