Child Pornography Debate

I am seriously in shock and awe over this issue. Never did I ever think that there could be a side whowould want to lessen the amount of years that people who possess or distribute childpornography are sentenced to. But of course, since we are in America and every dumbass out their can have a say on things, people are trying to lessen the jail time for pedophiles. Their reason? These days, people convicted of child pornography can serve more jail time than those who actually sexually abuse the child. Instead of doing what is logical, which would be to lengthen the time sexually abusive adults can serve in jail, they decided that the smart decision would be to just shorten the sexual abuse convict’s jail time.

            I almost threw up when I read that logic. It seems so backwards, I could hardly believe that someone would ever consider this a good idea, let alone convince others to believe the same thing. Child pornography is one of the most horrid things that is around; I would agree with Jerom Elam and put it on the samelevel as terrorism. He says it most perfectly: “[child pornography is a] war these ‘terrorists’ wage against a child’s innocence.” Pornographers are satisfying themselves by the fear and pain a child feels while their purity is being desecrated. Personally, I feel like anyone who has such a power complex as to feel joy at this should go to Hell. They do not deserve to be alive on this Earth anymore. However, in America, we tend to avoid corporal punishment and in most states the death penalty is no longer allowed. The supporters of shortening the jail time of child pornographers say we must do so much more though to help these god-forsaken, horrible human beings. That a lot of the time they are just mentally sick and would never actually hurt a child, so we as a society should not alienate them by making them serve 10 years. They believe that if the social institutions in their life stay present and they are watched, that the problem will go away.

 However, this just does not seem to be the case.

            Most people who distribute or possess child pornography are not just 30 year old men with a some extreme psychological problems, who merely need some counseling and support. They are actually child molesters; men and women who need to feel power and in control over something, and choose to exploit children. “According to Ryan C. W. Hall, MD, and Richard C. W. Hall, MD in their 2007 article “A Profile of Pedophilia:"’Studies and case reports indicate that 30% to 80% of individuals who viewed child pornography and 76% of individuals who were arrested for Internet child pornography had molested a child.’” (Elam, par. 27/28­).

Horrible Human Being

That isn’t just one or two porn watchers. That is a majority of porn watchers. Putting them out in the real world is just asking for trouble. New stories fill the headlines about awful things happening to the children of the world. Hell, in the FBI’s Top Wanted list there is a child pornographer. His name is Eric Justin Toth; he abused is accessibility to children as a teacher and camp counselor. These pornographers are no longer just creepy old peeping toms through the window or weird ol’ Sal down the street. They are men and women with easy access to children and a disgusting appetite to fill.

As law enforcement, it is hard to catch everyone involved in this messed up market. There are so many people, and anyone who helps allow this to continue is to blame. With the few people we have caught, though, we should set an example for others. And lessening the punishment is not the correct way to do so. This problem is expanding so far and wide, with the cases nearly doubling in the past 6 years, and that is only the ones we know of. In order to crack down, we need to keep the current laws on child pornography sentencing and raise the ones on rape and child molestation. Every child has a right to their innocence, and since they are too young to know how to secure that right, we as a society must.

Sincerely Sydney