I found the story of his sentencing and he only got 4 years for all of those pictures. http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20120117/news/701179734 What I like about this article is that it goes into detail of how many registered sex offender pedophiles there are in the State of Illinois who harbored child sexual abuse media. The statistics are very low when the number of registered convicted pedophiles compared to those jailed, its around 5.5%. This leads me to believe that there needs to be harsher laws.
This man was a Navy veteran who worked at the pentagon in his career. He is only one of many pedophiles who didn't work directly with children. There is nothing said that he did any type of "volunteer" work with children. He definitely doesn't fit the mold in that area. His attorney argued for probation. That makes it seem or I should say, leads people to believe that having pictures of children who are being sexually abused is no big deal. I had a commenter on the blog this week who was mad at me for talking harshly toward his "friend." This person told me that I should be empathetic to pedophiles because they are sick and need help. This person acknowledges these children have "problems." There seemed to be more concern for the pedophile then for the children. One of the other things said is that, "He didn't take the pictures he just had them on his computer." This seems to say that just because he was looking at children who were being sexually abused doesn't mean he was really doing anything wrong. Of course this is wrong.
I do believe that trying to track down the originators of these child sexual abuse images is very important. I have no doubt that this is being addressed. With technology now it is easier for those who are taking part in creating and distributing child abuse media to stay hidden. There should be tougher sentences when these pedophiles get caught. There should be a lot of emphasis on trying to find these children so they can be saved. It is so sad that the need for this media is so great that there is a whole underworld around it. What I have been learning is that a lot of this is generated through "sex trafficking of children." It makes me so furious to hear people say that there isn't some wide conspiracy of pedophiles who are working together. There has to be something. How else would pedophiles be getting their media? I hope and pray that these children are found and receive the help that they need. Rosie
When police searched Michael Jachim's bedroom in March, they found a safe. Inside it was a cache of DVDs labeled “Twisted Sisters.” They were not music videos.
Judge John Kinsella can put him away for three to seven years, but Jachim's attorney says he will argue for probation.
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, whose office helped local law enforcement catch Jachim, said the 40-year-old Glendale Heights man is a perfect example of why authorities have pushed in recent years to strengthen sentencing parameters for the worst child pornography collectors.
“This isn't Playboy magazine. These are infants and toddlers being brutally raped,” she recently told the Daily Herald.
Police raided Jachim's Gladstone Drive apartment on March 15. They said child porn had been made available for download from his computer 238 times since late 2009.
Inside, they found piles of DVDs, CDs and videotapes. Jachim told police he'd been archiving pornography for 15 years, according to an arrest report.
He confessed he was sexually attracted to girls 15 and 16 years old, the report says. But there was evidence he also used Internet file-sharing services to download pornography involving even younger children, including toddlers, police and prosecutors said.
Jachim told detectives he backed up his child porn collection on DVDs marked “Twisted Sisters” and hid them away inside a small safe. When confronted about the name, Jachim said it was “simply something he came up with to signify child pornography,” according to the police report.
“A lot of these girls were 3 and 4 years old in bondage positions with their hands and feet tied,” DuPage County prosecutor Helen Kapas said in court. “It's one of the worst child pornography cases we've worked on with the attorney general's office in terms of the quantity and content.”
State's Attorney Robert Berlin called the collection “staggering” and said that by owning it, Jachim “victimized thousands of young children to satisfy his own sick desires.”
The case comes amid recent efforts in the state legislature to beef up penalties for the most severe child pornography offenders.
In 2009, a new criminal statute — aggravated child pornography — extended possible prison terms to seven years from five for defendants who — like Jachim — are caught with pictures and videos of children younger than 13.
And last summer, Gov. Pat Quinn signed a law making consecutive sentences mandatory for people convicted of multiple counts of the aggravated charge. That means anyone charged and found guilty after August can receive up to seven years for each count rather than serve concurrent terms, though probation is still an option.
Madigan, whose office initiated the changes, said they allow prosecutors to focus on a limited number of the most egregious pictures and videos without having to exhibit and prove scores of similar images at trial in order to get an appropriate sentence.
“The thought that viewing child pornography is a victimless crime is absolutely untrue,” Madigan said. “When you talk to the children and sometimes even the adults who have had these horrible crimes committed against them, they'll tell you that every time somebody looks at that image it's like the crime is taking place all over again. To me, probation doesn't do justice to the crimes that have been committed and the lives that have been ruined.”
Technology has undoubtedly played a role in the prevalence of child pornography today. Each month in Illinois, roughly 8,000 computers are identified trading it online, according to the attorney general.
In 1999, it became state law for child pornography convicts to register as sex offenders for life. As of Jan. 12, 1,393 sex offenders convicted of child pornography were living in Illinois, said Tracie Newton, supervisor of the Illinois State Police Sex Offender Registration Unit.
Meanwhile, less than 250 people have been imprisoned for child pornography since 2005, according to figures provided the Illinois Department of Corrections. Last year, just 39 such offenders were in state correctional facilities, the figures showed.
Jachim has been in the DuPage County jail since his arrest about 10 months ago, and would receive credit for that time toward any prison term he might receive.
His attorney, Stephen Brundage, said he sees Jachim's military background and lack of prior criminal history as factors that weigh heavily in his client's favor.
Jachim served in the U.S. Navy from 1990 to 1996 and received high marks, according to records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. During that time, he received a Good Conduct Medal, national defense service medal, a sea service deployment ribbon and a Navy commendation medal.
The records list him as a data processing technician, but do not elaborate on his purported time with the Pentagon. He also has worked for the Daily Herald as an independent contractor.
Brundage said there's no evidence suggesting Jachim ever behaved inappropriately with youngsters or viewed any child pornography on government time or equipment.
“How is child pornography viewed when the person collecting it is not accused of acting out on it?” Brundage said. “There's a big difference in my opinion. But these laws are becoming so severe that the child pornography becomes almost as if you are acting out on it.”
Jachim declined to be interviewed for this story, according to a jail official. He is being prosecuted by Kapas and Assistant Illinois Attorney General David Haslett, a former DuPage prosecutor.
No comments:
Post a Comment