I found this article about the tough and some may say harsh sentences those who are arrested and charged with possessing child sexual abuse media (aka child pornography). To be honest the article pissed me off. Not because their may be a disparity in sentencing laws but because this article author doesn't seem to understand that possessing child sexual abuse media is a crime. The quote below is from the article:
They are also among the most severely
punished; federal sentencing guidelines and enhancements often result in
a defendant convicted of a run-of-the-mill child pornography charge
spending far more time in prison than someone who had committed murder
or actually sexually abused a child
First, I think this author should go over to boychat because that is where I found the article. The pedophiles there are very happy with this article. They are talking about how having child sexual abuse images aren't bad. Hypothetically, they only harbor the media and did not actually do the crime. They also don't think the "crime" itself is bad. Their deluded beliefs are that children can consent to sexual relationships with adults. And I'd like to know what "run-of-the-mill" child pornography charge is. Can the author tell me? He mentions that having 600 pictures of child sexual abuse media isn't as large as one would think. Second, people who harbor child sexual abuse images are pedophiles. They are deviants in our society and children need to be protected from them.
This type of "support" toward pedophiles helps to further their movement to normalize pedophilia. If harboring child sexual abuse images isn't bad then society may change the way that this crime is viewed. It will soften the blow to how horrific having sexual abuse media of children really is. I'm not saying that guidelines shouldn't be changed. I am saying that when we are fighting something as horrific as the normalization of pedophilia we have to watch our language. Gaining sympathies for pedophiles is a slippery slope. This is part of their tactics to normalize their lifestyle. They claim that pedophilia is a sexual orientation and not a mental illness. This is the same language used to normalize homosexuality. I'm not against gays or lesbians that is not my point. My point is that they are using the same playbook that was used to normalize homosexuality to normalize pedophilia. I encourage you to do research into this. Don't just believe what I am saying. Rosie
The disparity in sentencing relative to the severity
of child pornography possession has sparked some defense attorneys,
judges and the United States Sentencing Commission to publicly call for
sentencing reform.
February 25, 2012 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Sex crimes involving children
-- both "active" crimes like pedophilia and "passive" ones like viewing
lewd pictures of children -- are among the most reviled and stigmatized
in the criminal justice system. They are also among the most severely
punished; federal sentencing guidelines and enhancements often result in
a defendant convicted of a run-of-the-mill child pornography charge
spending far more time in prison than someone who had committed murder
or actually sexually abused a child.
The disparity in sentencing relative to the severity of the crime
involved has sparked some defense attorneys, judges around the country
and the United States Sentencing Commission (an agency of the United
States Department of Justice) to publicly call for sentencing reform or
widespread deviation from federal sentencing guideline recommendations
for child pornography cases.
Most commonly mentioned in arguments to
change the sentencing provisions is Federal Sentencing Guideline ?
2G2.2, which allows for the lion's share of enhancements for child sex
offenses.
Why Should Child Pornography Laws Be Reformed?
At several points over the years, the sentencing for child pornography
charges have been raised, most recently by the
Prosecutorial Remedies
and Tools Against Exploitation of Children Today (PROTECT) Act of 2003.
That law gave prosecutors more leeway when seeking enhanced punishments
and judges more opportunities for upward deviations from the minimum
federal sentencing guidelines for crimes involving the sexual
exploitation of children.
That law provided for enhancements to be issued to using a computer or
other technology to view, possess or exchange images of children nude or
involved in lewd acts as well as for being caught with more than 600
images of material classified as
child pornography.
The problem with both of those areas of punishment enhancement is that
nearly all child pornography cases prosecuted in this digital age
involve the transmission or receipt of images via email, website sharing
or portable media storage devices, thus guaranteeing that almost every
offender will qualify for a sentence range at or above the statutory
maximum. Having every defendant face the maximum statutory penalty flies
in the face of the purpose of having enhancements; enhancements are
designed to punish the most egregious of offenders, not
simply guarantee
that every single possession offense results in the defendant facing
more severe consequences than the average murderer, rapist or bank
robber.
How Should the Federal Child Pornography Law Be Modified?
Needless to say, criminal defense attorneys are rightfully upset about
the fact that enhancements fly in the face of the spirit of the
sentencing guidelines for child pornography possession charges. The use
of a computer can add two levels of enhancement to a criminal conviction
for a child pornography-related charge; even for a first-time offender,
this can result in a sentencing recommendation that far exceeds the
statutory maximum.
Advocates for change argue that the law as it stands now is archaic at
best, unconstitutional at worst, since it can easily lead to disparate
punishments for otherwise equal levels of culpability. The current
enhancement structure could also result in a far lesser punishment for
someone who actually creates the improper material instead of one who
merely receives it. The law assigns an enhancement based solely on the
number of illicit images possessed -- if a defendant is alleged to have
possessed 600 or more pieces of child pornography, he or she is subject
to a five-level increase.
An article written by Marcia Shein for the National Association of
Criminal Defense Lawyers' "The Champion" illustrates the point that 600
images may sound like a huge number, but in reality, that number could
be found in a single email with eight video clips since the 2004 PROTECT
Act determined that one pornographic video is equal to a minimum of 75
separate images.
The Future of Federal Sentencing Guidelines
It is likely that trends will dictate changes to the child pornography
statutes, and particularly to the federal sentence structure that
governs them, but change will likely be slow. Regardless of the
punishment involved, child pornography or exploitation charges come not
only with legal ramifications but also with a possible battle in the
court of public opinion.
Oftentimes people accused of these crimes are both tried and convicted
in the media before they step foot in the courtroom, possibly tainting
any jury pool long before a trial. For that and many other reasons,
anyone facing child sex-related charges must fight aggressively; a
skilled criminal defense attorney can be a huge advantage for both the
legal and public battles a defendant will endure.
Article provided by Roberts Law Group, PLLC
Visit us at
www.robertslawteam.com
---
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http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/599044
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