Kentucky court costs will be going up in the future under a measure approved in a state Senate committee Monday. Proponents say the additional funds would help increase investigations of internet crimes against Kentucky children. The bill calls for an additional $10 fee in both circuit and district courts.
State Police Major John Bradley says child pornography cases involve victims beyond the trading of images.
"Many times when you find people trading these types of images and child pornography like this, there's a victim on the other end of that. It's not just two dimensional images, or something that happens in the abstract. These are real victims, we're talking about prepubescent children," said Bradley.
If given final approval, the additional fee is estimated to generate $1.6 million annually. Bradley says the money would pay for additional investigators and forensic examiners.
Northern Kentucky Senator John Schickel said he supports the intentions of the bill, but he voted against it.
"And you see the court costs, and the people that are literally drowning in the court costs. I think something this important, we need to fund it and we need to fund it right," said Schickel.
Bradley, meanwhile, told committee members three rescues of victimized children have occurred over the last two months.
