Dr. Frank Kardasz (Ed.D)

Kardasz: Misguided apologists for child pornographers marginalize innocent children by attempting to rationalize child pornography with the explanation; "it's only a picture." When a child's innocence is stolen by a preferential offender deriving gratification from memorializing a sexual assault, it is more than "just a picture." Those who trade and traffic such images tacitly encourage and facilitate such unlawful activity.

 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

March, 2003

An offender in Phoenix, Arizona was convicted of possessing 20 images of child pornography. The Arizona mandatory minimum sentence for his crimes was 200 years in prison. At sentencing his supporters argued that the sentence was too harsh for someone who only possessed and looked at pictures.

Why is child pornography a serious crime?

1. Beyond self-gratification, child pornographers use the unlawful images for other reasons including:
2. To reassure themselves that their pedophilic behavior is shared by others and therefore not abnormal.
3. To seduce children and lower the child's inhibitions as part of the grooming process intended to model deviant sexual behavior.
4. To blackmail children into keeping silent about the abuse.
5. To preserve a child's youthful image at the age preferred by the pedophile.
6. To establish trust and camaraderie with other pedophiles.
7. To gain access to other markets and children by exchanging material with other pedophiles.
8. To duplicate, produce and sell for profit.

see: Child pornography and pedophilia: report made by the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Governmental Affairs, United States Senate. Washington: U.S. G.P.O., 1986 iii, 54: 24 cm.

A study of persons imprisoned for possession of child pornography in North Carolina demonstrated the disturbing link between child pornography and hands-on molestation. The study showed that many of the participants in a study of imprisoned child pornography possessors admitted to having committed contact sexual crimes that were never detected by nor reported to the criminal justice system.

see: Andres E. Hernandez, Self-Reported Contact Sexual Offenses by Participants in the Federal Bureau of Prison's Sex Offender Treatment Program: Implications for Internet Sex Offenders. 3 (Nov. 2000) (paper presented at the 19th Annual Research and Treatment Conference of the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers, on file with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children) see: http://www.ncjrs.org/html/ojjdp/jjbul2001_12_5/page1.html#sidebar1

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Regarding the link between child pornography and contact offenders, Dr. Chris Hatcher, Professor of Psychology at the University of California was quoted as saying, "It begins with fantasy, moves to gratification through pornography, then voyeurism, and finally, to contact."

see: Hatcher, Chris, professor of psychology, University of California, personal communication, October 1997. Cited in: Armagh, Daniel, A safety net for the Internet: Protecting our children. Juvenile Justice Journal (on-line) Volume V, Number 1, May 1998.

Retrieved March 15, 2003 from http://ojjdp.ncjrs.org/jjjournal/jjjournal598/net.html

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In his book "Mindhunter", former FBI profiler John Douglas describes the relationship between pornographic images and offenders. Douglas says, "With most sexually based killers, it is a several-step escalation from the fantasy to the reality, often fueled by pornography, morbid experimentation on animals, and cruelty to peers."

see: Douglas, John and Olshaker, Mark, Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit, 1995, Pocket Books, New York. (p. 108).

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The effects of child pornography on the child victim are described by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in their research entitled; Child Pornography: The Criminal Justice System Response. According to their research, child sex abuse victims suffer a multitude of physical and psychological problems.

see: Klain, Eva J., Davies, Heather J., & Hicks, Molly A., Child Pornography: The Criminal Justice System Response, American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, March 2001. (p 10).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In 2002, former Arizona high school teacher Morton Berger was convicted on 20 counts of possession of child pornography and sentenced to 200 years prison. He appealed the sentence based on arguments of equal protection under the law and cruel and unusual punishment. In December 2004, the conviction was affirmed by two of the three judges of the Arizona Court of Appeals (Division One).

Judges Susan Ehrlich and Philip Hall dismissed Berger's appeal with well-reasoned and researched arguments including (citations omitted):

• It is evident beyond the need for elaboration that a State's interest in safeguarding the physical and psychological well-being of a minor is compelling.
• …the victimization of a child continues when that act is memorialized in an image. The materials produced are a permanent record of the children's participation and the harm to the child is exacerbated by their circulation. Unfortunately, the victimization of the children involved does not end when the pornographer's camera is put away.
• The legislative judgment…is that the use of children as subjects of pornographic materials is harmful to the physiological, emotional, and mental health of the child.
• …the possession of child pornography drives that industry and…the production of child pornography will decrease if those who possess the product are punished equally with those who produce it.
• …it (the law) will decrease the production of child pornography if it penalizes those who possess and view the product, thereby decreasing demand.
• …the possession of child pornography inflames the desires of child molesters, pedophiles and child pornographers. The State has more than a passing interest in forestalling the damage caused by child pornography: preventing harm to children is, without cavil, one of its most important interests.
• …we cannot fault the State for attempting to stamp out this vice at all levels in the distribution chain.
• Berger downloaded images from the Internet, and every time he visited a website, he demonstrated to the producers and sellers of child pornography that there was a demand for their product. Berger's demand served to drive the industry; there need not have been a direct monetary exchange.
• Berger maintains also that, because his possession of the pornographic images was passive and because he did not use threats or violence in the commission of his crimes, his sentence is grossly disproportionate. This logic is abstruse. As was described by this court in Hazlett, 205 Ariz. at 527 p 11, 73 P.3d at 1262, and as is evident from the violent pornographic images in this case, child pornography is a form of child abuse. The materials produced are a permanent record of the children's participation and the harm to the child is exacerbated by their circulation.

Read the Arizona Appelate Court's ruling at: http://www.cofad1.state.az.us/opinionfiles/cridx.htm

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kardasz: The innocent victims of child pornography sometimes suffer a lifetime of psychological anguish and torment wondering when, where and how their tortured images will surface. Those who traffic in, possess and derive gratification from child pornography perpetuate the anguish. The typical child pornographer possessor arrested by the Arizona ICAC Task Force has dozens of unlawful images. Many people argue that each image tacitly re-victimizes the child whenever it is viewed. Many victims of child pornography will never disclose their victimization to anyone. They suffer in silent, haunted purgatory. As adults, most do not wish to relive past abuse. It is difficult to determine the scope of the Internet child pornography problem except to say that it is increasing at a disturbing rate.