Judge Battles Child Pornography Mandatory Minimum Sentence He Considers Unjust

With momentum building for sentencing reform and federal judges among the most avid supporters of rolling back harsh mandatory minimum sentences, one judge is standing up for lower sentences for a particularly controversial category of defendant — those guilty of child pornography offenses. As with other offenses, lawmakers have ratcheted up the sentences for child pornography sentences — including for online possession. And some judges have insisted that, as reprehensible as the offense can be, long prison terms are not the answer. Full Article

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New Bill in Congress: HR-2083 which contains a very ODD provision affecting more than sex offenders

9-29-2013 Washington DC: Continuing in our effort to review bills in Congress we find something really odd in HR-2083 `Protecting Students from Sexual and Violent Predators Act’ whose alleged purpose is to screen potential employees of schools, and to re-screen actual employees of schools every five years. Before we get into our issue which revolves around ONE definition in this bill, here is the definition: (2) SEXUAL PREDATOR- The term `sexual predator’ means a person 18 years of age or older who has been convicted of, or pled guilty to, a…

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‘I Don’t Feel I Was a Victim’

On March 10, 1977, director Roman Polanski raped Samantha Geimer, who was 13 at the time, during a photo shoot in Los Angeles. The agonizing legal dispute that followed lasted a year and ended with the prominent director fleeing the United States. Thirty-two years later, Polanski was taken into custody in Switzerland and placed under house arrest. A Swiss court was supposed to rule on his extradition, which triggered yet another bitter controversy over the case. Geimer, now 50, has described her version of the events in a book to…

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