From servicemember to sex offender: Military battling child porn scourge

[saigon68]

Monday, June 27, 2005


From servicemember to sex offender: Military battling child porn scourge
Internet said to contribute to increase in troops viewing material

By Ron Jensen, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Monday, June 27, 2005

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=30011


RAF MILDENHALL, ENGLAND — Two things link an airman at RAF Mildenhall, an Army officer at Würzburg, Germany, and a petty officer in Japan.

They were all deemed outstanding members of their services. And they were all convicted of viewing child pornography on the Internet. Those two things, it seems, are not mutually exclusive.

“I’ve seen everywhere from 18-year-old airmen up to O-6s,” said Air Force Maj. Don Christensen, lead trial counsel for the Air Force in Europe, who has prosecuted several courts-martial involving the charge. “Some people have been of the year, of the year.”

David Court, who has for many years defended military members in Europe from his office in Frankfurt, Germany, said his clients in child porn cases are not drooling fiends. Most of them, he said, were exemplary members of the military, well-respected and recipients of laudatory evaluations, “not anyone you would consider in any way perverted.”


AN O-6 IS A FULL BIRD COLONEL.

They are PERVERTS

And the excuse the INTERNET IS AVAILABLE--- doesn't CUT IT.

Nice recruiting Job--- none of these people are tested for Psychiatric perversion

[SouthernDem2004]

1. The military is no different then the general population.

There are criminals and sickos in every profession and every where else.

[saigon68]

2. The average person doesn't walk around with a gun killing people.

I forgot looking at naked little boys penises is only a Frat Prank

And not symptomatic of a deeper sicker perversion.

[SouthernDem2004]

12. The average member of the military does not either.

The percentage of military personnel that are actually combat mos is relatively low. The number of combat personnel that actually see combat is also small. Most military personnel are support. It takes alot of people to support just one lone soldier in the field.

I fail to see the point of the text in your message. No one is excusing any behavior. I am merely pointing out that it is a problem with the human population in general and it has nothing to do with profession.

[Mizmoon]

3. Now we will see if the radical feminists were right

will this cause an increase in the sexual abuse of children?

I think the question is: are there a lot of pedaphiles around who don't know they are pedaphiles because it's taboo, but who will now have an "awakening" because of the availablility of child porn? Or is it really a rare desire? Or is it more akin to rape in that the crime has little to do with sexual gratification and everything to do with power and control? Can the desire to harm someone in this way be developed or is it innate?

[mike_c]

4. child porn is utterly baffling....

Maybe I just don't get it-- when people speak of "child porn" do they actually mean prepubescent children or do they mean like, late teenagers? It's hard to imaging finding the latter arousing-- I mean, I'm hetero, and girls that age have all the requisite parts and hormones, but they're so freaking young-- but the notion that anyone might find children sexy is imcomprehensible. What are the cues?

The existence of a child porn industry suggests that a substantial number of folks-- presumably mostly men-- find children arousing. That boogles my mind, but it also calls into question the notion of "perversion." If it's pervasive, is it a perversion? Is it really pervasive? As I said, maybe I just don't get it....

[JHB]

8. That's something I'd like to know too...

This is a subject where there has been a lot of blurring of the terminology since under the law teens and prepubescent childern are in the same category: minors.

How much of this involves true pedophilia (sexual attraction to prepubescents) vs those who might meet the age of consent in many states (which still makes photos illegal because as minors they still can't legally consent and engage in a contract, but psychologically is a whole different kettle of fish).

[mongo]

9. Sorry, but if you are getting your rocks off looking at 15yos

you are still a pedophile. At some point it becomes more a matter of using sex as a means of power and control rather than just normal urges and enjoyment.

That being said, I sell plenty of copies of lollypops and barley 18 to 50yo men. Youth is beauty in our culture, and that is OK.

18 is the accepted line of "adulthood". Perhaps it is arbitrary. It could just as easily be 16 OR 21. But there has to be a line, somewhere were we can say that this person consented of their own free will, without coercion, and that a sexual interest in these individuals is healthy and not deviant.

[JHB]

10. Read my post again, Mongo. I said that.

I'm sure you are better practiced at making the point since you have to fight these fights more often, but I did point out that even if pictures of teens shouldn't be conflated with clinical pedophilia, they were still illegal.

And I'll thank you not to cast apersions about my "rocks" while you're at it.

[mongo]

11. Sorry - I didn't mean you personally.

I was talking about anyone that gets off looking at 15yo's.

My bad. Poor choice of words.

I think I was more agreeing with you more than not. 18 is an arbitrary age, agreed upon by our society. So, there is some confliction here. Personally, if they raised the age to 21 and pics of 18yo's became illegal, I would have no problem with that - as long as they gave me time to update my inventory.

The other side of that coin is that youth is beauty. I enjoy 18yo hard nubile bodies as much as the next guy. For us middle age men, It's something we aren't likely to enjoy IRL anymore.


I sell "discount" porn, so I don't get to chose by titles. I get some really weird stuff in here, some of which I pull off of my shelves. One really bad 4hr comp entitled "extreme fetishes" comes to mind. First scene started with an 18yo actress in a little girl's outfit on an oversized rocking chair. Too much implication in my mind - even though the tape itself was not child porn in the eyes of the law.

Not sure if my point is coming accross here - I've worked 112 hours in the last 10 days, and my brain is mush. My good employee is just back from vacation today, and just walked in so I'll just throw what I've written out there.

Adios.

[wakeme2008]

5. this line always gets me

Military members have used credit cards to pay for access to child pornography Web sites.

[ekelly]

6. sick

David Court, who has for many years defended military members in Europe from his office in Frankfurt, Germany, said his clients in child porn cases are not drooling fiends. Most of them, he said, were exemplary members of the military, well-respected and recipients of laudatory evaluations, “not anyone you would consider in any way perverted.”

But, apparently they are.

[RaleighNCDUer]

7. I think the difference is, they may be reputable, respectable

persons who enjoy looking at the pictures but have never, and would never, compromise their rank and social standing by actually committing a pedophilic act.

Forgetting, of course, that what they are looking at could only be created by someone committing just such a violation. Bit of a disconnect, there.

More problematic, what if the images they were viewing were digital creation, and so 'no child was harmed'? What is the crime there? Is this about controlling the actions of adults or protecting children?

[leftchick]

13. perverts with weapons

isn't that nice? :puke:

[saigon68]

14. There are a lot of perverts in the military

Military prisons are full of them--most unfortunately are never brought to justice.