James T. Woods Act
Current understanding
The James T. Woods Act is a proposed federal legislative package that would expand the child-exploitation criminal framework by directing revisions to CSAM sentencing guidelines, creating new offenses for online coercion of minors to commit self-harm or other harm, and criminalizing sextortion threats that use child sexual abuse material. For individuals, it broadens the range of conduct against minors that carries federal criminal liability and strengthens sentencing exposure for CSAM offenses. For companies, the bill is primarily a criminal-law expansion rather than a platform-duty statute, though sextortion-related offenses may inform how providers scope reporting and trust-and-safety workflows. Status: introduced.
Evidence log
- 2026-04-16 — Pedophile Financial Accountability Act: cross-connection with pedophile-financial-accountability-act: Companion piece within the emerging package of 119th Congress bills expanding sanctions and consequences for child-exploitation offenders; James T. Woods Act adds criminal offenses and sentencing changes, while S4338 layers financial accountability. (novelty: 2)
- 2026-03-02 — James T. Woods Act: cross-connection with stop-csam-act: Parallel 119th Congress child-exploitation legislation: James T. Woods Act expands substantive federal criminal offenses (sextortion using CSAM, online coercion of minors) and CSAM sentencing guidelines, while STOP CSAM targets platform reporting duties and victim civil remedies. (novelty: 3)