More effective media coverage of child porn prosecution and sentencing

The AP has this new article, headlined "Child porn prosecutions soaring," includes these notable statistics:

The number of federal child porn cases has exploded during the last 15 years as Congress passed mandatory five-year minimum sentences and federal authorities have declared such investigations a priority.

The FBI has made more than 10,000 arrests since 1996 and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency reports a similar number of arrests since its creation in 2003.  The U.S. Department of Justice says prosecutions are up 40 percent since 2006 resulting in roughly 9,000 cases. In 2009, 2,315 suspects were indicted.

Local authorities across the country are also stepping up their child pornography investigations, which often require little more than a technically savvy agent, a high-speed Internet connection and so-called peer-to-peer software that millions of computer owners use to legally — and illegally — swap music, videos and other digital files.

The number of child pornography prosecutions is still dwarfed by drug and immigration cases that flood federal court dockets, but no other crime is growing at the 2,500 percent rate the FBI claims for child porn arrests.  The FBI predicts that the cases will only continue to grow as appeals courts approve their search and seizure methods.

In addition, the Bucks County Courier Times in Pennsylvania has this lengthy piece headlined "Sentences for child porn stir debate." Here are excerpts:

Nationwide, judges are sentencing child porn collectors below sentencing guidelines -- chopping a few years off what could be a decade-long stretch or more behind bars. Many judges are concerned that the guidelines are too harsh for someone not known to have actually touched a child, according to government data and a recent federal appeals court decision....

The sentences are stirring a debate about what punishment child porn possessors deserve. A defense attorney and a prominent psychiatrist said little proof exists that people who look at child porn molest children. They said therapy and supervised release -- not prison time reserved for violent criminals -- address the crime.

They said the federal guidelines should be closer to the guidelines on the state level, where it's not uncommon for a conviction on child porn to bring probation or a two-year jail sentence. For instance, Jason Piasecki, 32, of Upper Makefield, was sentenced in Bucks County Court to three years of probation last year for possessing 90 images of child pornography.

A local detective and a national victims advocate take a different stance. They said the federal cases are more serious and, therefore, deserve harsher sentences. And folks who view child pornography perpetuate the demand for it, leading to more abuse, they said....

Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, said people who look at child pornography fuel the demand for it. He cited the example of new exclusive clubs that require people who want to join to provide new images of child pornography....

In 1997, the mean federal sentence for someone possessing, receiving or distributing child pornography was 20.59 months (less than two years), according to a study by the Federal Defender Organization. In 2007, the mean sentence was 91.30 months (more than seven years), a 443 percent increase, the study said.

Sentences in Pennsylvania county courts, which follow separate guidelines from the U.S. courts, have remained much shorter. In 2009, for instance, 37 percent of first-time child porn offenders in Pennsylvania were sentenced to probation, according to the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing. More than 50 percent of those first-time offenders got jail time. The mean sentence ranged from 5.4 months to 30.7 months.

Some related prior federal child porn prosecution and sentencing posts:

• Outstanding local media coverage of the crime, prosecution and punishment of kiddle porn downloaders
• "More federal child porn prosecutions in Texas than bank robberies, mail fraud or wire fraud"
• Split Third Circuit affirms way below-guideline sentence in major(?) child porn ruling
• "The Efficacy of Severe Child Pornography Sentencing: Empirical Validity or Political Rhetoric?"
• Major reasonableness ruling from Second Circuit in child porn downloading case
• Fascinating data on recent trends and circuit specifics for federal child porn sentences
• Is DOJ eager for (and obliquely urging) reducing the severity of the federal sentencing guideline for child porn downloading?
• "Federal judges argue for reduced sentences for child-porn convicts"
• Thorough and thoughtful district court defense of federal child porn guidelines
• "Judge Weinstein Takes On Child Pornography Laws"
• Effective local reporting on realities and debates surrounding federal sentencing guidelines for child porn
• "Disentangling Child Pornography from Child Sex Abuse"
• Noting the latest data showing reduced (but disparate) federal sentences for child porn downloaders
• "Most federal judges not comfortable with tough guidelines"

UPDATE:  I just saw that the Cincinnati Enquirer also ran a piece this piece this past weekend on CP cases under the headline "Child porn caseload rising: Feds making use of tougher laws." Here is an excerpt:

[A] flood of child pornography suspects [are now] in the nation's federal courts, where the number of cases per year has climbed from about 940 to 2,250 in less than a decade. Child pornography charges now outnumber more traditional federal crimes, such as bank robbery, embezzlement, bribery and money laundering.

The length of prison sentences is growing too, with 65 percent of those convicted last year receiving at least five years.  Defense lawyers and some judges say such steep sentences for looking at child abuse -- rather than committing actual abuse -- raise questions of fairness.

"It's a strange situation," said Kelly Johnson, a Cincinnati lawyer and former federal public defender.  "People can get a higher sentence for possessing photographs of a child than they would if they had actual sexual contact with a child." That's because charges of sexual abuse, which usually are handled in state court, are harder to prove and often end with plea bargains and less jail time.

The Cincinnati Enquirer also had this companion piece headlined "Feds: Child porn victims younger; violence rising."