In the letter he wrote on the day he hanged himself last month, Ryan Loskarn talked about the shame and guilt he felt after he was caught with child pornography. Loskarn, former chief of staff to Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), did not mention fear of prison, perhaps because he had already resolved to end his life. But for anyone in his position who planned to stay alive, the prospect of spending years behind bars would loom large.
The legal treatment of people caught with child pornography is so harsh that they can end up serving longer sentences than people who actually abuse children. In a 2009 analysis, federal public defender Troy Stabenow shows that a defendant with no prior criminal record and no history of abusing children would qualify for a sentence of 15 to 20 years based on a small collection of child pornography and one photo swap, while a 50-year-old man who encountered a 13-year-old girl online and lured her into a sexual relationship would get no more than four years. Full Article
my WP comment;
There are some that may not like what I am about to say, So I will start with this quote’
“Ah yes, truth. Funny how everyone is always asking for it but when they get it
they don’t believe it because it’s not the truth they want to hear.”: Helena
Cassadine
Empirical evidence proves beyond any doubt that the laws in place do nothing to protect anyone, nor do they stop anyone from committing the heinous crime of looking at a video/picture. Some of you may say “yea; but just look at the subject matter!” The current view is that every time anyone views this kind of subject matter they are victimizing the victim again, therefore the individual is deserving of a stiff sentence as though he was the original perpetrator. If this were true, then why do the police not go after everyone that posts a video of a crime on YouTube or LiveLeak? The fact of the matter is that these laws harm children and innocent family members, while doing nothing to protect anyone, let alone preventing victimization. The worst offender is the Adam Walsh Act. The public humiliation serves no useful purpos and should stop, that goes for public access to offender information.
http://www.opd.ohio.gov/AWA_Information/AW_levenson_family_impact_study.pdf
I’m sure if Adam Walsh knew what is being done in his name he would not approve. Likewise for every child these feel good/panic laws are named after.