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Is The Punishment For Child Porn Cruel and Unusual Punishment?

Is The Punishment For Child Porn Cruel and Unusual Punishment?

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pbrauer

pbrauer

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Indeed the punishment for producing it is mandatory 15 years in the Pen and the minimum for possession for just one picture is 5 years.

Any violation of federal child pornography law is a serious crime, and convicted offenders face severe statutory penalties. For example, a first time offender convicted of producing child pornography under 18 U.S.C. § 2251, face fines and a statutory minimum of 15 years to 30 years maximum in prison. A first time offender convicted of transporting child pornography in interstate or foreign commerce under 18 U.S.C. § 2252, faces fines and a statutory minimum of 5 years to 20 years maximum in prison. Convicted offenders may face harsher penalties if the offender has prior convictions or if the child pornography offense occurred in aggravated situations defined as (i) the images are violent, sadistic, or masochistic in nature, (ii) the minor was sexually abused, or (iii) the offender has prior convictions for child sexual exploitation. In these circumstances, a convicted offender may face up to life imprisonment.
It is important to note that an offender can be prosecuted under state child pornography laws in addition to, or instead of, federal law.

USDOJ: CRM: Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section
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Not in America. We're not better than that, in fact. I think we should start waterboarding, and perform rectal feedings on known pedophiles and sexual predators if it means they can give up information to other known sexual predators and arrest them. National Security amirite?
 
Yeah, I'd say so. We should probably focus more on the creation than the distribution. Obviously, distribution creates demand, so to an extent we'd have to discourage distribution, but generally I can't see distribution and possession being as high as it is. I'd at least like to see the mandatory minimums lowered, since not every case is some old 60 something guy looking at a 4 year old girl. Could be as simple as 20 looking at like 17, which, really, doesn't warrant a decade or more in jail. Or, worse, teenagers being busted for pics of other teenagers, which has happened. So there should be a little wiggle room for individual judgement IMO.

With that being said, however, if you find some old guy exploiting a little girl for cash, throw the whole damn book at him.
 
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pbrauer said:
Indeed the punishment for producing it is mandatory 15 years in the Pen and the minimum for possession for just one picture is 5 years.
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Don't be funny. That would be worse than enhanced interrogation.
 
"Other." We have a bigger issue to consider here on the handling of Child Pornography, Pedophilia, Abuse, etc. It is too simple to say that No, prison terms for these crimes do not constitute cruel and unusual punishment. Sure, they can be updated to reflect reality but at the end of the day we also have to protect kids.

Child exploitation, as defined by our laws, in any sense has an inherent public danger tag to it but something we need to consider is importance of handling these crimes in conjunction with handling other crimes that seem to get more attention. In that sense we would not need a "Sex Offender Registry" laws if we could hold those that violate these laws to much longer sentences. Our issue is prison capability, and since we overwhelmingly fill them up with often non-violent and also often victim-less crimes such as the War on Drugs produces we have less room for those that are willing to harm kids. That is a real problem. We could actually be tougher on those that harm kids if we were not so wrapped up in other aspects of social control.
 
pbrauer said:
Indeed the punishment for producing it is mandatory 15 years in the Pen and the minimum for possession for just one picture is 5 years.
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Isn't the legal age of consent 16 in Nevada?
 
pbrauer said:
Indeed the punishment for producing it is mandatory 15 years in the Pen and the minimum for possession for just one picture is 5 years.
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It is not equivalent to torture, but it is hefty for something that is not necessarily harmful to anyone and can save the life of the children.
 
Dunno...depends on the situation.
 
It is not to cruel, they deserve the time for what they didm chikd explotation and pornography is one of the sickest crimes possible in my mind.
 
Anything that involves children is absolute abhorrent and needs to be punished harshly. These vicious cycles of abuse start with what happens to kids as they are growing up, so any abuse can't be tolerated.

That being said, I think it's important for us to research the topic and find out how to treat these people.
 
TeleKat said:
Yeah, I'd say so. We should probably focus more on the creation than the distribution. Obviously, distribution creates demand, so to an extent we'd have to discourage distribution, but generally I can't see distribution and possession being as high as it is. I'd at least like to see the mandatory minimums lowered, since not every case is some old 60 something guy looking at a 4 year old girl. Could be as simple as 20 looking at like 17, which, really, doesn't warrant a decade or more in jail. Or, worse, teenagers being busted for pics of other teenagers, which has happened. So there should be a little wiggle room for individual judgement IMO.

With that being said, however, if you find some old guy exploiting a little girl for cash, throw the whole damn book at him.
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Unfortunately that becomes almost impossible with the internet. A producer can create material, post it for followers, have it distributed around the world, copied and sent again before the cops even know it's there.

The only way to find it is to track known offenders and nail them for possession.

It is one crime for which I would hold an exception on capital punishment, failing that castrate the bastards in prison for life in general population.
 
TeleKat said:
Yeah, I'd say so. We should probably focus more on the creation than the distribution. Obviously, distribution creates demand, so to an extent we'd have to discourage distribution, but generally I can't see distribution and possession being as high as it is. I'd at least like to see the mandatory minimums lowered, since not every case is some old 60 something guy looking at a 4 year old girl. Could be as simple as 20 looking at like 17, which, really, doesn't warrant a decade or more in jail. Or, worse, teenagers being busted for pics of other teenagers, which has happened. So there should be a little wiggle room for individual judgement IMO.

With that being said, however, if you find some old guy exploiting a little girl for cash, throw the whole damn book at him.
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You think "old" perverts just pop into existence? How much do you want to bet that old perverts started out as young perverts?
 
Child porn should be punished by a severe beating from a parent whos child had been subjected then a long jail stint followed by a bullet to the head.
 
One thing I don't like is that these laws can be blanketed to be able to punish people who didn't even know they were committing a crime(didn't know the person in the porn was below 18) or they are 16 themselves and are just sexually interacting with people of their own age. A 15 or year old taking nudes pictures of themselves and sending it to people should not be charged for distributing child porn and being a sex offender...that's too harsh. Same with boys of that age receiving those pictures.

it's a problem, but they are not adults and it's natural for people that age discovering their sexuality...
 
Fearandloathing said:
Unfortunately that becomes almost impossible with the internet. A producer can create material, post it for followers, have it distributed around the world, copied and sent again before the cops even know it's there.
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That's why you track IPs.

The only way to find it is to track known offenders and nail them for possession.
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I never said I was against the ban on child porn possession.

It is one crime for which I would hold an exception on capital punishment
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Killing them solves what exactly?
 
I agree that there are some fuzzy areas that should probably be addressed, I'd rather see a law whereby adults cannot look at children less than 5 years different from them in age. That lets an 18 year old look at his 17 year old girlfriend but it doesn't allow a 35 year old to do it at all. I think anyone looking at anyone under the age of 12 ought to just go to prison, period.
 
CRUE CAB said:
Child porn should be punished by a severe beating from a parent whos child had been subjected then a long jail stint followed by a bullet to the head.
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So much for the cruel and unusual punishment bit... but I get the sentiment.
 
pbrauer said:
Indeed the punishment for producing it is mandatory 15 years in the Pen and the minimum for possession for just one picture is 5 years.
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This quote says it's 5 years for transporting in interstate or foreign commerce. Not just for possession. Am I misunderstanding something? What's wrong with that?
 
kerussll said:
This quote says it's 5 years for transporting in interstate or foreign commerce. Not just for possession. Am I misunderstanding something? What's wrong with that?
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You need to read the link I provided.
 
CRUE CAB said:
Child porn should be punished by a severe beating from a parent whos child had been subjected then a long jail stint followed by a bullet to the head.
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What if the child is subjected to abuse by the parent/family member? Not all that rare. What then? Same thing?

Two parents charged with raping baby during supervised visit - 21 News Now, More Local News for Youngstown, Ohio -

Two parents are charged with raping their own baby, and authorities say it happened at what was supposed to be a supervised visit at Trumbull County Children's Services.

Twenty-one-year-old Felecia Beemer of Warren cried as she appeared in Warren Municipal Court accused of raping her 13-month-old little girl. A baby who was taken away from her immediately after she was born.
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http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/...13-years-in-jail/story-fnn8dlfs-1227151605404

The 39-year-old from Deception Bay, north of Brisbane, pleaded guilty in the Brisbane District Court to maintaining an unlawful sexual relationship with his biological daughter from shortly after her fourth birthday in October, 2011 until she turned six in January.

He also pleaded guilty to raping her twice in his bedroom on January 23 this year.

Judge Michael Burnett jailed the man for 13 years, adding the girl would suffer the emotional trauma of her father’s abuse for her whole life.
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http://www.mirror.co.uk/incoming/mother-let-gang-men-rape-3160815

Feb 19, 2014 08:24 By Cathal McMahon

The mother, who cannot be named, is alleged to have let different men sexually abuse her daughter when she was aged between four and nine

A mum has been arrested over claims she allowed her young daughter to be raped by a gang of men from the age of four.

The girl, who is now 10, told detectives that she was repeatedly sexually abused over a five-year period by different men, leading to the arrests of seven people.

Seven people were arrested last week over the alleged abuse of the 10-year-old, whose parents are Lithuanian.
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What then? Orphan the child? Let the state take care of them? Drop em off with relatives who don't want them? What other medieval solutions do you have in mind?
 
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pbrauer said:
Indeed the punishment for producing it is mandatory 15 years in the Pen and the minimum for possession for just one picture is 5 years.
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There is nothing to bad they can do to people who deal in child porn.
 
CMPancake said:
Not in America. We're not better than that, in fact. I think we should start waterboarding, and perform rectal feedings on known pedophiles and sexual predators if it means they can give up information to other known sexual predators and arrest them. National Security amirite?
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But if we did it to more than three pedophiles, we would be worse than the CIA.
 
I despise pedophiles and think they should be executed. However, that for actually harming the child.

An old fella here - in his 60s - was given 20 years for looking at kiddie porn online. That is bit of a different matter. Yes, those children are terrible victims. Candidly, we look at all manner of victims of many different kinds on the Internet. I'm not all that comfortable with basically books of illegal materials in their home (ie the Internet) being put in front of people and telling them if they open the book they go to prison for a decade or two.
 
Child porn is one of the most heinous crimes that exist, so I say no tolerance with those producing and distributing it.

However, it must be clear how child porn is defined. We had this debate recently in Germany, whether mere nude pics count -- that would suddenly make parents criminals who make family pictures of their kids, say, at a holiday at a beach, which obviously is absurd. I don't know which definition is applied in America, and neither am I expert enough to say where exactly the line should feasibly be drawn.

Also, there must be some leeway to individually judge the cruelty involved -- for example, I don't think that consensual sex between a 17 and an 18 year old constitute "child porn" when filmed. That's obviously a totally different matter than an adult raping a toddler.

And I also agree that prevention is important too *in addition* to prosecution of perpetrators. Means should be found to prevent not-yet-criminal pedophiles from crossing the line to criminal acts. Every crime that is prevented in the first place is better than the best punishment.

That said, when the case is obvious, 15 to 30 years for production sounds fine, when the perpetrator is an adult. So do 5 years for possession. And I don't see what's "cruel" or "unusual" about a regular prison sentence that reflects the gravity of the crime. IMO.
 
CMPancake said:
Not in America. We're not better than that, in fact. I think we should start waterboarding, and perform rectal feedings on known pedophiles and sexual predators if it means they can give up information to other known sexual predators and arrest them. National Security amirite?
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I oppose any torture or violence against people in prison. I favor executions for various crimes. I favor long sentences for others. But I oppose torture, violent or degradation against prisoners. American. Not American. Regardless of what they did. If it was so horrific it deserves torture and abuse, then it deserves execution. Execution is far more humane and civilized than is government sponsored (or allowed) torture of prisoners.
 
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