It is nuts - I think many of these folks - especially the young guys think they are not "the big fish" the cops are looking for - in reality the are looking for "the little fishes"

My brother is in prison on CP charges, merely possession, and he received 21 years in those 3 charges. He also had a rape charge which he pleaded to in lieu of other charges being dropped and a lighter sentence. There was no proof. No evidence, and weak testimony.. But he pleaded, and he got 9 on that.

Mother gets only 7 years for child abuse which resulted in the child's skull and ribs being fractured-----------

http://tinyurl.com/ogwuyhu


Man receives three to five years for child abuse-----------

http://tinyurl.com/l8qgfze


Mother receives one year in prison on six counts of intentional child abuse----------

http://tinyurl.com/mhzv8xm

I could go on and on, but what is the point? These CP sentences are outrageous. In each of the above instances, the guilty party received a much more lenient sentence----by far more lenient----than a person just LOOKING or having in their possession a naughty picture.

This country has just gone berserk.

rewdiazepam

Plain old violence is almost acceptable.

In 2014 ONLY 32 children DIED from abuse or neglect in Los Angeles COUNTY (large county, admittedly, but in ONE county). This is encouraging as it is a huge decrease from 61 DEATHS the year before.

http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-child-death-drop-20150210-story.html

Compare that to Adam, Jacob, Megan, Jessica, Chelsea and Cherish (which were MURDERS / abductions, some without any proof of sexual elements).

Re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic comes to mind.

Anyone who actually looks at statistics and knows anything about psychology knows that most criminals do not sit down and do a cost analysis of committing a crime and the rewards versus chance of getting caught versus penalties after getting caught. This rhetoric from conservatives is just ludicrous. Look at the death penalty, it does not deter crime.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/04/30/theres-still-no-evidence-that-executions-deter-criminals/

Harsher penalties just put people away for longer periods of time or worse kill them, there is absolutely no evidence to support they deter crime.

I have said before that it makes no sense to send a message to victims that sex abuse (of any sort) is worse that any other kind of abuse - why do lawmakers continue to make harsher and harsher laws about sex abuse (in addition to those realty in place) and not for other types of abuse? i have a theory - it is because they accept that the other types of abuse are usually inflicted by a family member or someone known to the victim - gee that sounds vaguely familiar. But they ACCEPT it in those cases and that is the big difference - sex offenders are still associated with stranger danger (even though they know that is incorrect)

One of the main reasons the War on Drugs was not successful and the War on Child Pornography will not be a success either, is because of the nature of the problems with the perpetrators themselves.

The War on Drugs was the cause of thousands of low level users of controlled substances, marijuana, cocaine, or some other illicit substance being arrested and placed in prison.

Drug addiction is a medical problem much more than a criminal justice system problem. This country could never make much progress in the War on Drugs because we treated it as a legal problem rather than a medical one. Instead of getting these low level users the medical help they needed to break their drug habit and go on to live productive lives, we just arrested them and sent many to prison. That may have taken some of these people off the street, but it did not accomplish a thing.

I am referring to low level users, not dealers or big time distributors of drugs.

I am convinced that the War on Child Pornography is the result of offenders with a mental disability problem and simple possession should not be a legal problem. There is a reason that people are attracted to child pornography and to ever be successful in fighting this problem, we must address the cause, rather than only address the effect, which is to fill our federal prisons with young men and women who have only downloaded some naughty pictures.

Until we learn to address the problem of child pornography more on a mental health level and less on just sending a person to federal prison, we will never be successful dealing with the problem.

Again, I am referring to a young man or woman in possession of a few images with no distribution involved.

It is so much easier just to put someone in prison and get them off the street for a while than it is to treat them.

We cannot make any meaningful strides until we begin addressing the problem and not the cause.

But politics always gets in the way of any progress, and I don't see things changing for the better in the near future.

rewdiazepma