I second that one. It should be case by case. I’m not sure what laws are in the US but Canada is stupid...every SO is put in the same box..I’m sorry but if you molest a 5 year old, the penalty should be way more then that of a picture you looked at or a conversation you had. I get that these are victims too but in a much different way.

Exactly! I just don't understand how it got to be this way and I don't think there is anything that can be done about it.

I have two commentaries I want to post. The first one is below and I will follow it with another one recently written.

Friends, the draconian sentences for CP crimes are the result of fear. The general public has been led to believe that all CP offenders have in the past or will in the future snatch up and rape their child. The public believes that all CP defendants are child molesters.

Child pornography offenses are one of the most over prosecuted crimes within the criminal justice system. Petty drug crimes are the only offenses that can compare with CP crimes in this regard.

Prosecutors abuse the system when they prosecute each and every CP offense---regardless of the circumstances--- to the fullest extent of the law. I have seen federal prosecutions in which a defendant received 120 month---10 years---for simple possession of a few images. Such prosecutions are not only crazy, they are a terrible waste of resources.

Nobody—nobody—should ever be sent to prison for only looking at some naughty pictures of underage people. Nobody should ever have a felony conviction for viewing CP either. If a guy has thousands of images and is trading them or is sending images to an underage female, then a prosecution is warranted. But sending people to prison for looking at a couple of images---any kind of image---borders on punishing people for thought crimes and not what they have actually done.

I am not advocating CP or saying it is healthy, but too many guys are being locked up and their lives ruined for being in possession of a few illicit images.

Production of CP and then trading the images? Send them to prison. Production involves a contact crime such as child rape or molestation and is a product of an evil mind. Simple possession of a few images of CP is not the product of a deranged individual.

But it continues. The general public has been made to believe---through the media---that every viewer of CP is a child molester—or a future child molester--- and a threat to snatch up and rape their child. They somehow believe that viewing such images is a gateway to contact crimes against a child. This false belief fuels these CP prosecutions.

We have had this happen before so history is repeating itself. The ill-fated and disastrous War on Drugs was approved by the general public, as the media and the politicians were able to persuade gullible people that marijuana was a gateway to harder drugs----heroin or cocaine. That is not true. While it is true that most heroin addicts did indeed start with marijuana, many folks have used marijuana for years without graduating to harder drugs.

Too many people in this country are ignorant, uninformed, uneducated, or stupid---pick the word you want to use---about any subject other than what is found on their favorite TV program. Many people never read a book or magazine article as it is just easier to allow TV to educate them and their children. As a result, we have people advocating for laws that have no scientific or even a common sense basis.

Many CP prosecutions are the result of an emotional response to a problem that does not exist. CP is not a “supply and demand” product, as CP is freely traded among viewers; money does not change hand as it does in the supply and demand module.

If we want to foolishly believe that viewing CP creates a demand for more to be produced, we would have to believe the following----If for some reason, nobody wanted to view CP or illicit images anymore, there would no longer be a demand for them. In the supply and demand principle, if there is no demand, there is no supply. If nobody wanted to view CP anymore, does anyone in their right mind believe that the producers would stop producing CP? Does anyone think that a CP producer would wake up some morning and think to himself, “I think I will stop raping and molesting little Suzy since nobody wants to view my images anymore?” No, the impetus of CP production is not to create a supply, but to satisfy the lusts of these monsters that rape children and film it.

I cannot believe anyone actually thinks the law of supply and demand applies to CP.

We are filling up our federal and state prisons at an alarming rate with young men who have done nothing but view some illicit images. It is absolutely insane, but as long as politicians----and don’t forget, DAs ARE politicians---can continue to keep being re-elected by being tough on crime---especially sex crimes---this madness will never end.

We have politicized he criminal justice system to the extent that there is no justice.

rewdiazepam

PS I am equally disturbed at some of these prosecutions of young men who have solicited young teens for sex on the internet. These teen girls know exactly what they are doing; it is not as if they are eight or nine years old. Yet, the young men have to take the full responsibility and pay the price. The younger female teen waltzes away to find another victim.

Here is an editorial criticizing the harsh punishments we hand out for some crimes, sex crimes included.

tinyurl.com/y7vy6tef

“It’s one thing to punish an offender for committing a crime. It’s another thing to destroy a human being.”

This sentiment should also apply to sex offenses when the punishment does not fit the crime.

“Excessive punishments are not unique to hate crimes. Prosecutors and judges are aware that their chances of being elected or re-elected depend on their established records of being “tough on crime.” That translates usually to harsh sentencing practices. The longer the sentence, the more we, the citizens, cheer them on. Yet, we are paying the cost.

“When defendants are sentenced, they enter prison life only to be instantly forgotten. What we fail to recognize is the other end of that tunnel, when inmates are ultimately released and become a burden upon society. Many lack marketable skills or aren't eligible for mainstream employment. Many more have no family or support systems in wait. During my 30 years as a Miami-Dade County cop, I learned how prisons are human warehouses where the longer someone is sentenced the less likely they can survive on the outside.

I’ve personally known criminals who spent most of their adult life in jails and prisons and later were unable to function in freedom. They ultimately committed another crime and left identity evidence behind so they could be caught. They just wanted to go “home.”

A few sad examples:

• A Jacksonville woman was being taunted and harassed by an ex-husband. She fired a warning shot over his head. She was sentenced to 20 years and was later released in three.

• A 48 year-old man with no criminal history was caught in possession of child porn on his computer. He never had any actual contact with kids other than looking at pictures. Six years in prison, plus a lifetime registering as a sex offender. Another St. Johns County man was sentenced to 100 years in prison for the same crime.

HAVE WE GONE NUTS?

There are 2.2 million inmates in America’s jails and prisons, many of whom are aging with health problems. If we saved taxpayer costs by cutting sentences in half, and used those funds to truly rehabilitate and provide schooling to prisoners, we’d accomplish so much more than warehousing human beings, only to be released into a world in which they cannot survive.

CAN’T ANYONE IN GOVERNMENT THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX?

rewdiazepam

Thank you for your response rewdiazepam. I'm just so angry at the laws surrounding CP. Along with CA being a state where counselors have to report anyone that sees them and says that they have viewed CP. How can they possibly seek help if they know it's an issue? I understand people being scared or not understanding why people look at CP, I don't understand it either and I freaked out when I found out about my bf looking at it. But I think he needs some counseling and help (maybe put on probation with counseling on his expense and going through a program), rather than wasting tax payers money and being thrown in a high security (violent) prison for looking at a few pictures. I'm upset and confused and don't know if there is anything that can be done about it.

Designating health professionals as mandated reporters is counterproductive to reducing the problem with CP in this country.

Many CP offenders are not child molesters and can be treated with therapy and counseling, but therapy is not possible if therapists are mandated reporters. A guy has nowhere to go for help if he has a CP problem.

Unfortunately, this country is not in the rehabilitation mode with offenders, especially sex offenders. For some stupid reason, we just place people in prison with no help for their problems, as prison programs are woefully inadequate to address the needs of many offenders. Then when we release them, they reoffend---AND WE WONDER WHY. It is just crazy.

But currently we are in a punishment mode, so rehabilitation is a toxic subject. If all CP offenders were hands-on offenders, then I could understand prison sentences, but not all CP defendants have or would ever touch a child.

In fact, the recidivism rate for sex offenders is approximately 5%, which is the lowest re-offense rate of any crime except murder.

Mixing politics with our criminal justice system is just not working.

rewdiazepam

I think we need to be clear on what a mandated reporter is. Mandated reporters aren't obligated to report every single crime their client's engage in, even looking at inappropriate images of children.

Mandated reporters are required to report situations where children are being actively harmed, someone is using children to create pornography or someone is selling or distributing pornography to others. Please note that simply viewing pornography is a crime but not listed as something that requires reporting.

Unless an offender is currently offending with a child, he should have no fear of seeking counseling. This leads me to believe that the person either isn't motivated to get help. Or there is a misunderstanding about what mandated reporters are required to report. Or worst case scenario, his support person is aware of sexual abuse and not stopping or reporting it our of concern for the abuser.





Events that need reporting:

Physical abuse (PC 11165.6) is defined as physical injury inflicted by other than accidental means on a child, or intentionally injuring a child.

Child sexual abuse (PC 11165.1) includes sexual assault or sexual exploitation of anyone under the age of 18. Sexual assault includes sex acts with children, intentional masturbation in the presence of children, and child molestation. Sexual exploitation includes preparing, selling, or distributing pornographic materials involving children; performances involving obscene sexual conduct; and child prostitution.

Willful cruelty or unjustified punishment (PC 11165.3) includes inflicting or permitting unjustifiable physical pain or mental suffering, or the endangerment of the child’s person or health. “Mental suffering” in and of
itself is not required to be reported; however, it may be reported. Penal Code11166.05 states: “Any mandated reporter who has knowledge of or who reasonably suspects that mental suffering has been inflicted upon a child or that his or her emotional well-being is endangered in any other way may report the known or suspected instance of child abuse or neglect to an agency specified in Section11165.9”. (The specified agencies include any police department, sheriff’s department, county probation department, if designated by the county to receive mandated reports, or the county welfare department.)

Unlawful corporal punishment or injury (PC 11165.4), willfully inflicted, resulting in a traumatic condition.

Neglect (PC11165.2) of a child, whether “severe” or “general,” must also be reported if the perpetrator is a person responsible for the child’s welfare. It includes both acts and omissions that harm or threaten to harm
the child’s health or welfare. General neglect means the failure of a caregiver of a child to provide adequate food, clothing, shelter, medical care, or supervision, where no physical injury to the child has occurred.

Severe neglect means the intentional failure of a caregiver to provide adequate food, clothing, shelter, or medical care where injury has occurred or is likely to occur. Severe neglect also includes those situations of
neglect where any person having the care or custody of a child willfully causes or permits the person or health of the child to be placed in a situation such that his or her person or health is endangered. Any of the above types of abuse or neglect occurring in out-of-home care must also be reported (PC 11165.5).

https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/ss/ap/childabusereportingguide.asp

http://mandatedreporterca.com/images/Pub132.pdf