18 U.S.C. § 1470
Section 1470 · Transfer of obscene material to minors
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 99 court decisions — leading case United States v. Kincade (2004)
Most recently applied in United States v. Randal Wise (April 2025)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Whoever, using the mail or any facility or means of interstate or foreign commerce, knowingly transfers obscene matter to another individual who has not attained the age of 16 years, knowing that such other individual has not attained the age of 16 years, or attempts to do so, shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Study on Limiting Availability of Pornography on Internet
Pub. L. 105–314, title IX, §901, Oct. 30, 1998, 112 Stat. 2991, provided that:
“(a) In General.—Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act [Oct. 30, 1998], the Attorney General shall request that the National Academy of Sciences, acting through its National Research Council, enter into a contract to conduct a study of computer-based technologies and other approaches to the problem of the availability of pornographic material to children on the Internet, in order to develop possible amendments to Federal criminal law and other law enforcement techniques to respond to the problem.
“(b) Contents of Study.—The study under this section shall address each of the following:
“(1) The capabilities of present-day computer-based control technologies for controlling electronic transmission of pornographic images.
“(2) Research needed to develop computer-based control technologies to the point of practical utility for controlling the electronic transmission of pornographic images.
“(3) Any inherent limitations of computer-based control technologies for controlling electronic transmission of pornographic images.
“(4) Operational policies or management techniques needed to ensure the effectiveness of these control technologies for controlling electronic transmission of pornographic images.
“(c) Final Report.—Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall submit to the Committees on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives and the Senate a final report of the study under this section, which report shall—
“(1) set forth the findings, conclusions, and recommendations of the Council; and
“(2) be submitted by the Committees on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives and the Senate to relevant Government agencies and committees of Congress.”