The Crusade Against Child Pornography Marches On

Some stories make me wonder what is happening to America. Some stories remind me that our government is out of control. This is one such story. This story makes me sick, and I hope you feel the same way. Let’s delve right in, because you’re not going to believe this.

A 15 year old girl sent her 17 year old boyfriend some sex pics of herself from her iPhone and iPad. The boyfriend reacted in the same way that any 17 year old boy would react–he sent her back a sexy video, involving his aroused penis. I know, this is shocking behavior. This is an outrage! How dare these kids play “spin the bottle” with their iPhones, using technology to produce and exchange such smut. By the way, doesn’t it seem that new technology is rarely used to make the world a better place? Take the internet. What was (is) the internet used for initially? A faster, cheaper way to view porn. What are the new smart phones being used for? A faster, cheaper way to produce said porn.

How did the police get involved? As is often the case, the girl’s mother cracked the weak pass-code on her daughter’s iPhone, and called the police to accuse her boyfriend for the production and distribution of child porn; ignoring, of course, her own daughter’s actions which started this whole thing. And, if I had a dollar for every mom who blames the other kid for her own child behaving badly, I’d be a rich man . And no, the prosecutors did not arrest, and did not charge, the 15 year old girlfriend for initiating this exchange. However, legally speaking, this sounds a like a decent case of entrapment and temporary insanity, as no 17 year old boy could resist his girlfriend’s invitation to exchange such behavior. There are plenty of studies out there on adolescent brains, and I’m pretty sure these studies would support me on this. Let’s face it, no young skull full of mush can resist such an invitation. I’m pretty sure that the old “spin the bottle” game that would get me grounded back in the 80’s has now become a felony sex crime, especially if the kids video tape the event. Naughty behavior among consenting juveniles has extremely serious consequences. Welcome to the new age, to the new age….

Here comes the shocker. After being arrested for possession of child pornography and manufacturing of child pornography–the police forced the 17 year old juvenile boy to expose his penis to them so that they could take pictures of it, in the hopes that these pictures could be used as evidence to prove that said penis matched the penis found on the 15 year old girlfriend’s iPhone video. Yep, our government created child pornography to prove a child pornography case! The irony. I can’t make this stuff up. And, it gets worse.

The child pornographic pictures taken by the government didn’t provide enough comparative proof, because these pictures were not taken while the boy was aroused. So, the government is now seeking to conduct a second child porn photo session–only this time, they want this 17 year boy to be aroused. I can’t believe what I am typing here. Now, how would our government accomplish this? The prosecutor intended to take this boy down to the hospital and give him an injection which would make his penis hard for the photo shoot. Yes, this is America. Isn’t there someone in the judicial system who would have put a stop to this? Can’t a judge intervene?

We have a Constitution, and it contains a prohibition against “unreasonable searches and seizures”. If the first photo shoot of this 17 year old’s penis (against his will) wasn’t unreasonable enough, surely the second request to forcibly cause a child’s penis to be erect for the second photo shoot is completely unreasonable, right? Well, believe it or not, we’re not just dealing with an overzealous detective and prosecutor. The request for a second photo shoot was sanctioned by a magistrate (who, apparently, hasn’t read the Constitution). Yes, that’s right. A magistrate signed the second warrant permitting pictures of this boy’s erect penis. Seriously. This is child abuse. This is unconstitutional and illegal on so many levels, it doesn’t deserve a legal analysis.

If this juvenile boy is convicted of manufacturing child pornography and possession of child pornography, he faces jail time and a lifetime of registration requirements as a sex offender. And, for what? Responding to his girlfriend’s pics?

Detective David Abbott of the Manassas City Police department is the lead investigator on this case. And the good news is, the police department in charge of executing the warrant for the erect child penis pics is refusing to proceed with the warrant. Was it all the press that cancelled this photo shoot? We’ll never know, but the right result was reached. I’m slightly comforted by this fact. However, even with that tiny victory, just forcing a juvenile to expose himself to a bunch of strangers for the first round of nude pics is unforgivable, and I’m a Christian (well, I guess I have to forgive them, but it’s going to take a while). What is this world coming to?