In an article written by John Downes in last Sunday's Tribune it was claimed that judges in Irish courts are getting tougher in their sentencing for child porn offences (see Judges get tough with child pornography sentences).
Two-thirds of individuals convicted of possessing child pornography over the last year received jail sentences, according to a Sunday Tribune analysis.
An examination of 12 major cases reported in the media since June 2007 has revealed that in eight instances, custodial sentences ranging from one month to three years were handed down by the courts.
An examination of 12 'major' cases is compared to an analysis of sentencing carried out as part of a study of study of child pornography by Ian O'Donnell and Claire Milner both then of UCD's Institute of Criminology
(see: Child Pornography – Crime, computers and society )
However a study of 12 'major' cases reported in the media is likely to be biased towards more serious cases in comparion to the more comprehensive study carried out by O'Donnell and Milner covering cases sentenced between 2000 and 2004. The bias in the survey alone is likely to account for some of the difference in the severity of the sentencing.
Indeed Downes gives some details in his article of 6 of the 12 cases he examined as part of his analysis and in 2 of them the possession of child pornography was ancillary to the committing of more serious offences. In other words the prison sentence was not primarily for possessing child pornography but for other offences the accused had committed.
In the case of Paul Collins the accused was found guilty of having unlawful carnal knowledge with a 16 year old girl as well as possessing sexually explicit images of her - that is he was sentenced for having sex with an underage girl and of taking photos of her constituting the manufacture (not just possession) of child pornography.
Anthony Nagle has sex with a 15 year old girl after feeding her 24 bottles of alcopops and videotaped the act. He was found guilty of possessing child pornography but also of producing it and of the sexual exploitation of a child.
In reading an articles about convictions for child pornography where those found guilty are also found guilty of other more serious offences (at least more serious as the law judges them in terms of the severity of the sentences available to judges) I see there is a tendency to headline the conviction for possession of child pornography. I see this not only in Ireland but in cases reported in the UK and USA as well and even where very serious offences of rape and sexual assault are also involved. I am not sure why this is.
2 comments:
i think its bad ok re porn but why blame those who watch it they are not doing any harm to the child it like heroin its always the users who get caught not the pushers . in most case these where abused themselves . its easy to chase the people who download it catch he makers . its help these people need . prison serves no good . is trying to help them
Well Anonymous, I doubt anyone who has been sexually abused feels ok about having photos of their abuse circulating for other peoples gratification. Child porn multiplies the abuse the victim suffers.
You are right though that it is easy to catch people downloading child porn and to secure convictions. I am always surprised more are not caught as it is a relatively easy way for the police to notch up convictions for sexual offences.
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