Here are a few highlights from the new law: As factual support for the Act, Congress found that "the unlawful collective conduct of every individual who reproduces, distributes, or possesses the images of a victim's childhood sexual abuse plays a part in sustaining and aggravating the harms to that individual victim." (Sec. 2(f)). As a result, the Act requires a court sentencing a defendant convicted of a child pornography crime harming a victim to determine the full amount of that victim's losses and then to order restitution from a defendant for amount reflecting the defendant's relative role in the causal process. (Sec. 3(a)(2)(B)). But -- and here's a new innovation -- a trial court must impose restitution in the minimum amount of $3,000.

The AVA also creates a fund for compensating victims of child pornography trafficking in child pornography trafficking (advertising, distribution, and possession) and child pornography production. Whenever a defendant is convicted of a child pornography trafficking crime, for example, a victim has the option of electing to receive a one-time "defined monetary assistance" in the amount of $35,000 (indexed for inflation). The fund will be paid for, in party, through special assessments levied on defendants who are convicted of trafficking crimes, with an additional appropriation of $10 million per year if necessary. Attorneys' fees are capped at 15%.