I’ve heard a lot of people make claims that looking at child porn is no big deal. After all, people who LOOK at this stuff are just looking and not touching, right? Many people feel bad for those who are sentenced to a few years in prison for having child porn images on their computers. Then we hear others make the argument that not all porn is equal: Images of little kids is totally wrong and immoral but images of teenage (15, 16, 17) girls is fair game. In this day one cannot tell HOW old a girl is…it doesn’t matter that she is obviously very young. We have pedophiles who maintain blogs where they share tens of thousands of pictures of young kids of both sexes and offerings of advice on how to snatch a potential “partner” (yes, the partner would be a 10 or 11 yr old child…)
Very recently a study was done on how often men who look at child porn cross the line and turn into sex offenders. This is the first study of it’s kind and it’s sent shock waves through out the political, law enforcement and psychological communities. The ramifications of this study could alter the playground (don’t pardon that pun yet) of child safety and porn.
Experts have often wondered what proportion of men who download explicit sexual images of children also molest them. A new government study of convicted Internet offenders suggests that the number may be startlingly high: 85 percent of the offenders said they had committed acts of sexual abuse against minors, from inappropriate touching to rape.
EIGHTY FIVE PERCENT? That’s awfully high. But it doesn’t surprise me. How are the numbers broken down here? What percentage touched or raped or otherwise abused a child? How many of these kids were girls or boys? We could find out if the study were made public.
BUT, many people are fighting to have the study NOT made public. They have something to fear apparently.
The study, which has not yet been published, is stirring a vehement debate among psychologists, law enforcement officers and prison officials, who cannot agree on how the findings should be presented or interpreted.
People are not stupid. Especially when it comes to matters like this. I offer the advice: Just publish the numbers. No commentary needed. Simple numbers will say just about all we need to know.
The research, carried out by psychologists at the Federal Bureau of Prisons, is the first in-depth survey of such online offenders’ sexual behavior done by prison therapists who were actively performing treatment. Its findings have circulated privately among experts, who say they could have enormous implications for public safety and law enforcement.
In other words, the child porn industry stands to lose a lot here; and men who flock to this shit stand to be caught and monitored more closely. Also this could mean computer surveillance would become a priority- and this scares those who worry about civil rights and liberties. In the US, it’s illegal to have child porn on a computer. We already know millions of computers have billions of images. But now, going by this study, it’s no longer just looking. The correlation of looking turning to touching is closing in.
Traffic in online child pornography has exploded in recent years, and the new study, some experts say, should be made public as soon as possible, to identify men who claim to be “just looking at pictures” but could, in fact, be predators.
Ahh…no. THIS study tells us that 85% of men who look are not satisfied; they move on to touching and other much more harmful actions. I can say this from personal experience: Those who harm children and sexually exploit them have a habit of taking pictures AND of video taping the acts. A lot of money is to be made with this shit. Even back in the 1970’s video tapes were made of young girls being raped and hurt in many ways- these videos were sold all over the world via ads in men’s magazines. Now in the Internet age, it’s very easy to get billions of images and millions of movies in a matter of seconds. Child porn, on demand.
Yet others say that the results, while significant, risk tarring some men unfairly. The findings, based on offenders serving prison time who volunteered for the study, do not necessarily apply to the large and diverse group of adults who have at some point downloaded child pornography, and whose behavior is far too variable to be captured by a single survey.
Variable behavior? Such as? Child porn is already illegal, folks. There is a reason for this. The child in the picture is being abused and exploited first and foremost; secondly, men don’t look at this stuff for no reason. They’re attracted to it. They look for it; search for it; pay for it. When the men decide looking isn’t enough, they will go out and look to play. Kids are vulnerable; they’re impressionable and they want to please grown ups. This includes the 16 yr old girls gone wild, just as much as it includes the 5 yr old boy who needs a father figure in his life…
Ernie Allen, who leads the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which is mandated to coordinate the nation’s efforts to combat child pornography, said he was surprised that the full study had not been released. “This is the kind of research the public needs to know about,” Mr. Allen said. Others agreed that the report should be published but were more cautious about the findings. “The results could have tremendous implications for community safety and for individual liberties,” said Dr. Fred Berlin, founder of the Johns Hopkins Sexual Disorders Clinic. “If people we thought were not dangerous are more so, then we need to know that and we should treat them that way. But if we’re wrong, then their liberties aren’t going to be fairly addressed.”
It never ceases to amaze me: When it comes to true child safety, “It’s For The Children(TM)” fame, people tend to ditch any effort that might actually have an impact on children. When it come to the porn/sexual needs of perverted men, children’s rights and liberties mean little to nothing.
Previous studies, based on surveys of criminal records, estimated that 30 percent to 40 percent of those arrested for possessing child pornography also had molested children.
…And this isn’t ENOUGH evidence already that there is a connection between porn and actual perverted activity?
The psychologists compared these confessions with the men’s criminal sexual histories at the time of sentencing. More than 85 percent admitted to abusing at least one child, they found, compared with 26 percent who were known to have committed any “hands on” offenses at sentencing. The researchers also counted many more total victims: 1,777, a more than 20-fold increase from the 75 identified when the men were sentenced.
75 men committed crimes against 1777 victims?
Dr. Hernandez and Dr. Bourke concluded in the paper that “many Internet child pornography offenders may be undetected child molesters.” But they also cautioned that offenders who volunteer for treatment may differ in their behavior from those who do not seek treatment.
They submitted the paper to The Journal of Family Violence, a widely read peer-reviewed publication in the field, and it was accepted.
But in a letter obtained by The Times, dated April 3, Judi Garrett, an official of the Bureau of Prisons, requested that the editors of the journal withdraw the study, because it did not meet “agency approval.”
The study is being squashed. It’s not being made public because these higher uppers fear the reactions of people like me. And others who are not stupid (average Americans). The study will be cleansed and sanitized and made politically correct before we see it. Biased interpretations will be edited into it. The rights of perverts will receive more attention than the potential harm to children.
In a recent interview, one convicted pedophile serving a 14-year sentence in a Canadian federal prison said that looking at images online certainly gave him no release from his desires — exactly the opposite.
“Because there is no way I can look at a picture of a child on a video screen and not get turned on by that and want to do something about it,” he said. “I knew that in my mind. I knew that in my heart. I didn’t want it to happen, but it was going to happen.”
What’s to debate? Not much. But we have many people who are looking out for the best interests of anyone but the children here. And to me, it’s a crime to do this. It just shows me, as another example, of where kids stand in society. Our culture is full of sludge and cess- and sexual exploitation is politically incorrect yet politically protected in many ways, under the guises of individual freedom. When are we going to stand up to this stuff?
