I. Introduction
The huge profits, easy accessibility, convenient dissemination and low marginal costs have attracted an increasing number of people to trade child pornography. The ever expanding child pornography market is an affront to public decency, and the ubiquitous circulation of these images and videos brings endless and even permanent injuries to child victims engaged. One of the child pornography victims has described her feeling as “being abused over and over and over again” when she knows her images as a child being sexually abused are repeated watched. The “non-contact” defendants of child sexual abuses are offenders who possessed and circulated child pornography but did not create it . James Marsh, the first lawyer seeking restitution for child pornography victims from “non-contact” defendants maintained that “in many ways the actual propagation, distribution, receipt, trading and profiting off of child pornography is worse than the actual hands on crime” .
It is generally acknowledged that the “non-contact” defendant’s conduct causes both emotional and economical losses for the victim. However, opinions are polarized regarding to the question what causal relationship between the defendant’s conduct and the child victim’s losses the victim or the prosecutor should establish in order to recover the restitution; and whether the “non-contact” defendant should be ordered to make restitution to the victim, if so, in what amount.
II. Statute 18 U.S.C. § 2259
One
Of the many problems faced by children and adolescents, few provoke such moral outrage as childhood sexual abuse. Many times, as on the television show “To Catch a Predator”, such abuse can be inflicted by strangers who may gradually become familiar with the child online. Sadly, however, often times the perpetrator of sexual abuse on children is someone much more familiar to the child- someone the child may even love.
The Fells Acres Case was set against the backdrop of many other child sex abuse scandals that had caused mass hysteria across the nation. As a result of what was considered to be a newly found epidemic (child sexual abuse), members of the court were influenced by convictions in other cases, leading to influence on the Fells Acres Case before it even went to trial. Emotional appeal heavily influenced the verdicts within the Fells Acres Case as a result of personal bias influenced from the media. The moral reactions of the prosecution and other members of the court resulted in the preconceived notion of the verdict before the trial began: that the Amiraults were guilty on all counts. Those of the prosecution approached the case with their own perspective; their opinion reflected their own practices and beliefs, thus causing the outcome to validate what they were originally looking for: a guilty verdict. The criticism Rabinowitz portrays explains how the mindset of the prosecutors disregards all of the facts leading to a just verdict and instead promotes finality. As a result, in the Fells Acres Case Justice Elizabeth Dolan allowed the testifying children to face away from the accused in hopes to create a less intimidating environment. As a product of Dolan’s emotional agenda, the justice had violated The Massachusetts Declaration of Rights that requires the accuser to face the accused. Furthermore, resulting from moral reactions, prosecutors and judges ignore the plasticity of children and their memories as well as the impact such plasticity’s have on the
In regards to the Gerald A. Sandusky case, which began in June 11th 2012 and ended on October 9th 2012. We are presented with a case where an individual was given unlimited access to young boys of all ages, some from poor and underprivileged backgrounds. Of the 52 charges Mr. Sandusky received, 4 charges were initially dropped, leaving 48. On June 22, 2012, Sandusky was convicted of 45 counts of sexual abuse. Sandusky was sentenced on October 9, 2012, to a minimum of 30 years and a maximum of 60 years in prison (Klein, Tolson,
Many law makers do not fully grasp the inherent problems with these laws. Instead, they place the responsibility on the defense lawyers to present the case well enough in hopes that a battered woman will be found not guilty of child abuse by omission (Askins). Beyond the legislature, the court system must also be held accountable for its part in the process. The prosecution in the Lindley case could not recall an instance in which a father was tried under these laws. In such cases, prosecutors essentially blame the victims for the abuse wrought upon them and their children. They continually beg the question, “why did she not leave” but fail to remember the abuser maintains power by threatening to take the woman’s life or that of her children. In the unlikely case a father is tried, he is rarely held responsible. A court found a father whose wife murdered their child to not have responsibility to protect their child and also found the sympathy of the
Prior to the Child Protection Act of 1984, which made the purchase of child pornography illegal, Keith Jacobson of Nebraska, ordered child pornography from a bookstore. At the time of the transaction, the purchase was legal under both state and federal laws. Following the establishment of the Child Protection Act, Jacobson’s name was noted on a mailing list form the bookstore where he made the purchase. The discovery of his name led to Government agencies and “pen pals” mailing Jacobson as a way to explore if he would break the law. The efforts began in 1985 and persisted for two and a half years. The mailings consisted of various questionnaires, and literature on the legalization of child pornography. One of the letters supplied Jacobson with a list of “pen pals” that had similar responses to the questionnaires; however, Jacobson did not initiate any contact with them. Following his failure to contact any of the names provided, the Government began to commence communication. Jacobson began to receive letters from these fictitious pen pals but stopped responding after only a couple of them. Government agencies also supplied Jacobson with various brochures advertising pornography of young males. After repeated efforts, Jacobson made the decision to make a purchase. He was arrested upon its delivery.
There was no child-victim who testified and at the end of the case, Ecenbarger (2012) observed that two jurors were still not aware of the element of “kids for cash” in the scandal until they saw the coverage of the post-trial news. As described by one mother about the trial, “this is not only kids for cash scandal but also kids forgotten” (Ecenbarger, 2012, p.
The case involved respondent Darius Clark who in 2010 was charged with abusing his girlfriend’s two children aged three and eighteen months (Miller, 2010). The children had been in Clark’s care while their mother went to Washington, D.C. to engage in prostitution that was arranged by Clark (Miller, 2010). The oldest child, went to his daycare center and his teachers noticed marks on the child (Miller, 2010). When they questioned the child about his injuries he identified Clark as the person who harmed him (Miller, 2010). As mandatory reporters the teachers informed the authorities. When the case was heard by a jury in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, Clark was found guilty of four counts of felonious assault, two counts of domestic violence, and two counts of child endangerment for abuse of both children and sentenced to twenty-eight years in prison (Miller, 2010). In 2011 the 8th District Court of Appeals in Ohio reversed and remanded Clark for a new trial based on the Sixth Amendment Confrontation Clause (Ohio v. Clark, 2011). The Ohio Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, the basis for the appeal was that the testimony repeated by the teachers who questioned the child in court,
In the article written by Tom Jackman of the Washington Post and published in the Brockton Enterprise on May 14, 2016 titled College students being targeted for ‘sextortion’ the author explores the idea that organized exploitation of children is taking place. He states that sextortion is most often committed by organized groups who pay monthly incentives to “agents” to seduce victims into providing explicit material from victims. Investigations revel a sextortion offender can have thousands of digital folders containing documentation of their contact with minors, sometimes around the world.
Through working with children, who have made allegations of physical and sexual abuse and their families by way of observing forensic interviews, taking case notes, assessments, and intakes. I have first-hand knowledge of some of the resources that are lacking in this sector of the
Offenders in possession of child pornography stalk the Internet for sexually explicit visual accounts of prepubescent and pubescent children. Every image depicting minors in abusive situations signifies a child that has been defiled during a criminal act. Certain individuals believe possession of obscene photographs or videos containing children is a non-violent crime because the accused has no physical contact with the victim. However, the owner of these graphic images perpetuates the victims’ suffering: “. .
For many years there has been a lot of arguments about the ethical and morality of pornography. pornography is defined as the depiction of erotic behavior intended to cause sexual excitement. When it coms down to pornography, people have different opinions about it. Some people might find it moral because it gives them pleasure and it satisfies them physically. some individuals see it as a form of art that describes the figure of a human body in an artistic form. Others see it as immoral because it harms and degrades an individual. Personally I believe that it all depends how pornography is conducted and how we respond to it. It can be morally healthy that we like it because it makes us happy, such as it helps with your marriage relationship in intimacy, and it can be immoral when it is used in an unhealthy that we do not like it because hurts an innocent person.
The Internet is a global network of vast information. With a few clicks, an individual can have access to up to 200 million web-sites filled with educational and recreational information. The Internet is not regulated in anyway (Carnegie Library 1). It is accessible throughout the entire world from the North to the South, to the early morning sunrise and dark sunsets. Different ethnicity and backgrounds come together linked upon this network resembling a connection of one body in unity. Sadly, issues arise creating concern for users, focusing particularly on minors. Pornography is one of the inappropriate materials on the Internet for minors. This material is harmful to young impressionable minds. Pornography is tearing and
Humanity has struggled with determining the best option to solve their ethical dilemmas that they run into in their life. Analyzing and determining the best option to take can leave an individual lost in faith and building a relationship with God. Building a God foundation in your life will help you in every ethical dilemma that you face. The only way to solve an ethical dilemma with viewing pornography is to view the dilemma according to a Christian worldview and compare different options to solve the ethical dilemma.
Child pornography has been present in society for centuries, but has only recently become more accessible through the development of the printing press and subsequently, the technology of the Internet. Until the mid-1990s, "illegal child pornography [had only] involved depictions of actual children engaged in sexually explicit
This paper will mainly discuss sexual crimes. It will explain the differences about various sexual crimes. It will also go into detail about sexual crimes that revolve around men, women, and children. It will also talk about the history of sex crimes, along with some of the different types of sexual crimes committed. This paper will provide explanations as to what these sexual crimes are in their nature. Sexual offenses are serious crimes that occur more than that should. There are a wide range of victims from male and female children to male and female teens to young adults attending college to adults. Many people have to deal with the results of these sexual offenses. This paper will also discuss the transition of child sexual assault