Public Outrage Boosts Sentencing in Child Porn Cases
Federal judges around the country are speaking out against what they view as harsh mandatory and recommended sentences for child pornography crimes, spurred in recent years by Congress and public outrage at such offenses, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The average federal prison sentence for individuals who possess, receive or share child pornography jumped to roughly seven years in fiscal 2006 from about three years in 1994, according to Justice Department data, the newspaper reports.
The sentencing guidelines for child pornography crimes “do not appear to be based on any sort of [science] and the Court has been able to locate any particular rationale for them beyond the general revulsion that is associated with child exploitation-related offenses,” wrote Robert W. Pratt, a U.S. district judge in Des Moines, Iowa, in a case earlier this year, according to the newspaper.
In Arizona, where the minimum mandatory sentence for one count of possessing child pornography is 10 years, a former teacher with no prior criminal record was convicted on 20 counts of possession and sentenced to 200 years in prison, the newspaper notes.
Television shows like To Catch a Predator, which followed authorities as they captured people attempting to have sex with undercover agents posing as minors, whom they met online, only fuels disproportionate sentencing for certain offensive crimes, critics argue, according to the Wall Street Journal.
While some judges balk at the minimum sentencing guidelines in these cases, Ernie Allen, head of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, said the sentences are simply “catching up to reality,” reports the newspaper. Allen said hundreds of thousands of Americans currently possess illegal images of children—creating a heightened acceptance of the offense—which, according to the Department of Justice, is leading to “an escalation in the severity of the abuse depicted” and has made child pornography prosecutions a priority, the newspaper reports.
