Supreme Court to Evaluate Liability for Viewers of Child Porn; SNAP Responds

By Barbara Dorris
SNAP
December 2, 2013

http://www.snapnetwork.org/usa_supreme_court_to_evaluate_liability_for_viewers_of_child_porn_snap_responds

[New York Times]

The US Supreme Court will soon hear an unusual child pornography case. We disagree with the Justice Department when they say $3.4 million is too much to award to a victim of this heinous crime. Given how widespread and devastating child sex crimes are, and how tough it is to catch and convict predators, we as a society must do more to deter these crimes in the first place.

It’s important to remember that sexual violence is often used in the making of these images. Kids are often raped and sodomized – sometimes violently and always hurtfully- to make these photos.

Those who download and view these degrading photos of kids being sexually exploited should pay.

The financial awards should both help victims deal with the horrific damage they suffer and deter future crimes. We must make people think twice before they create, search for or download child porn. We must do what we can to dry up the market for child porn, however daunting that goal may seem. If adults can’t make money from it maybe fewer kids will be hurt.

Victims of child porn must find it very hard to achieve any kind of closure, knowing that there may be thousands of people looking at these disgusting photos for years and years. We ache for them and applaud those who are using the courts to seek justice, expose predators and discourage crimes.

It’s disingenuous for criminals to try to shift the blame for the pain their victims’ experience, claiming that perhaps other factors contribute to their suffering. Perpetrators have made money producing and selling the images. So it’s self-serving for them to try to prevent victims from attaining some measure of healing and prevention.