4-3-2011 Washington DC:
Every so often the Government Accountability Office publishes reports on various topics, this week it was on Combating Child Pornography.
The report is rather long but Appendix I caught my eye because it has statistics we can rely on. The Appendix shows each FEDERAL Agency (and there are a few of them) that has personnel dedicated to resolving child pornography cases, and numbers for 2006 through 2010 are shown.
Here is what caught my eye, the numbers for 2010 only:
Total Personnel: 7,847Remember, this is just on the FEDERAL level, 7,847 employees (no wonder the country is going broke), and there is no doubt there are many state employees also involved. Further, remember what the Adam Walsh Act says "Looking at the pics is highly restricted," I wonder how they even determine a pic is child porn. See 2007 article: "How the Adam Walsh Act Restricts Access to Evidence."
Total Cases: 35,251
Total Arrests: 6,500
From the article:Worth further mention is: No. of Cases -v- No. of Arrests. One of the following is truthful, either only 1 out of 6 cases results in an arrest, -OR- every arrest has multiple cases attached to it. I have not been able to find out how they tallied those numbers.
Congress needs to face things when [they] pass statutes, and the defendants, no matter what the charge is . . . have rights, and here we have a statute that Congress gave no apparent thought to when it passed the statute. . . . This little section was slipped in right at the last minute, according to the chronology, and there’s not a thing to indicate they paid any attention to it. This is serious.8
There may be other good stats in there but I haven't yet read the full report.
However, it is possible the hoopla about child pornography is being blown out of proportion, I just cannot tell for sure from this report.
For now have a great day and a better tomorrow.
eAdvocate
PS: Take note of the source of the complaints which seems to be the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) who appears to gather the complaints and -so to speak- somehow pre-qualifies them before passing them on to FEDERAL AGENCIES.
So, obviously the National Center, a PRIVATE and NON PROFIT org. has one or more employees LOOKING at these images which are stored on their computers as well I might add and, deciding what is and is not child pornography. What authorizes a private sector corp. to have child porn on their computers and who exactly, is allowed to look at these images and decide whether or not they fit the bill? I believe that is law enforcement's job and only law enforcement can LEGALLY be in possession of such images on their computers. The statutes are quite clear on this. The NCMEC as a private org., consisting of individuals who are NOT law enforcement, could and should be conceivably charged with the same internet crimes they claim to be attempting to thwart. WHY aren't they? NO LAW grants individuals and/or PRIVATE corporations (esp. non-profits) to legally do so. NOTHING in the AWA gives the NCMEC or the individuals working for them any legal right to possess such images. This organization is not only unnecessary and a waste of taxpayer money, it is also, according to Federal and State laws in violation of child pornography laws itself! Over the years, the NCMEC has consistently used inflated numbers and in MANY cases fraudulent testimony to congress to gain many tens of millions of dollars each year from the Feds (ie., taxpayer dollars). The entire organization gets its funding based upon lies, factoids, and sound bytes-unethical and illegal. I am glad to see their funding is getting slashed $11 mil. and maybe more. This corp. has done more harm than good throughout its existence. They have needlessly instilled unfounded fear in the country, openly lied to congress on numerous occasions- not in an effort to protect anyone (kids) but to protect their bottom line. All anyone need do is look at their website at these "missing kids", state by state and they will see the numbers of "missing" are extremely low and nearly ALL of them are runaways, throw aways and/or non-custodial parental abductions. Yet, the NCMEC NEVER gives any testimony to Congress regarding these issues. Why??? The majority of these missing kids and adults too, have been "missing" for many years-often decades. Instead of going after the parents and the pimps they portray the "missing" are all falling prey to sex offenders and predators. Their own figures disprove their claims. I am looking forward to the day when the NCMEC is exposed for what it truly is and dissolves into history-as it should be.
ReplyDelete7,847 personnel resulting in 6,500 arrests in one year -NOT prosecutions?!?
ReplyDeleteSo, um, what exactly, do the other 1,347 personnel do all year? Waste of taxpayer money? I'd say so. It would be interesting to see what kind of salaries these people draw.
They start with 35,251 potential cases
Make 6500 arrests
No prosecutions listed.......
Something sure doesn't smell right, does it?
When my husband went to therapy there were one or two guys there that got Suspended Sentences. Those don't count as prosecutions, right?
ReplyDeleteThose guys never have to deal with the registry but they have done the same or worse as anyone on the registry.
In order to be convicted of child porn possession three things MUST be proven.
ReplyDelete1) The individuals in the photos are under 18, AND are participating in something sexual, or devient.
2) The photos were on your computer, and you were the ONLY one that had access to them (difficult to prove in a government enviroment)