We are on a slippery slope

Dear President Obama: I am pleased that you are considering prison reform. In the past 20 years or so, we have gone crazy — whether it be legislators, judges or prosecutors, all trying to be “tough on crime.” An older lawyer recently commented at a conference that when he began practicing law the sentence for murder was seven years. How far have we come? I think way too far.

Life without hope. Sentences of “life without the possibility of parole” are creating monsters. If you take away any hope of ever getting out of prison, there is no reason to behave. Prison violence is at an all-time high. They have nothing to lose. Even Charles Manson has hope for parole. Not many crimes in this century have matched his for violence and depravity.

Drugs. We are losing the war on drugs — prison isn’t really the answer there. The dealers are replaced on the streets before the arrestee has even been booked. The users will be addicts before they get out, whether they serve one or 20 years. Education is the better tool in that fight. Do away with mandatory minimum sentences. Let the judges have more control — they are more aware of the circumstances of each case.

Crime of the Century. The crime of the century, if you will, has become child pornography. Production and sale of child pornography should be dealt with harshly. The underlying child molestation supports long sentences. Making money from that act is deplorable. I feel empathy, however, for the thousands who are convicted for mere possession. Possession has come to mean opening a link. The courts have decided that when someone opens an Internet link they somehow possess its contents. I go to my local car dealership and open a door on a new luxury car, I in no way possess it. We have gone crazy.

Until the last 20 years, child pornography was never really heard of. The Internet has opened all sorts of doors. The folks we are punishing, mostly single white males in their 20s and 30s, are viewing pornography in the privacy of their own homes. Their secret activity would not even be known if it wasn’t for the task forces that do nothing but watch Internet activity searching for child pornography. The right to privacy was thrown out by our jurists and lawmakers because of our abhorrence of any crime involving children. Will that waiver of the right to privacy extend to all crimes? We are on a slippery slope.

Catching the perp. Once the task force finds the suspect algorithms, they contact the Internet service provider to learn the identity of the individual owning that computer. Then they get a warrant, show up, seize the computer and arrest the owner. There is no defense. These are the men who are filling up our prisons. Thousands of them. For no other crime than watching a video. Firsttime offenders are getting 5, 10, even 20 years for mere possession, which was just a misdemeanor until a few years ago. Don’t let them learn from their mistakes — just lock them up for life. And this is the United States, not Nazi Germany.

This travesty is further exacerbated by the way the charges are determined. If it is a film, each image or clip is often considered a separate count. A Georgia university student was sentenced to 100 years for child pornography. He never touched a child, wasn’t making or selling child pornography. Actual perpetrators don’t get that much time.

I sat in on a case with an elderly man who had recently bought his first computer. Imagine his shock when the images first appeared, without him searching for them. Then the unbelief when the police came. Amazingly, a person can get thumbnails — small images — from legal sites that, if you click on them, will open child pornography. Curiosity kills the cat. The state court judge gave him 25 years, after checking the federal guidelines.

Studies have been done to show there is no connection between looking at child pornography and child abuse. See “Disentangling Child Pornography from Child Sex Abuse,” 88 Wash. U.L. Rev. 853, 875 (2011). We have enacted several laws in the heat of the moment — Megan’s Law, the Adam Walsh Act, SORNA — which throw anyone convicted of any crime even remotely connected to child abuse in the same pot. No studies, no hearings, no true rationale.

Sex offender registries. We have put offenders on federal and state sex offender registries which have destroyed and will continue to destroy their lives beyond any reason. Rather than law enforcement keeping track of serious predators, we have added crimes to the registries so even childish pranks can land someone on the list. I remember the streaking phase of the ’70s — if someone under 18 were present, those guys would still be on the registry. Don’t get drunk and urinate in public. If a child sees you, wham! At 19, don’t fall in love with someone 15. We have lost track of the real threat of predators while chasing others who are easy prey but pose no threat.

Then we made the registry public, and endangered the very lives of so many families. Homes have been burned, pets killed, shots fired, innocent children’s lives destroyed. The criminal justice system should not be encouraging vigilantes, but it is. Are sex offenders more dangerous than drug dealers or gangbangers? Why isn’t there a registry for all crimes? After all, we have done away with the right to privacy. Shouldn’t we all have the right to know who our neighbors are and, more importantly, what mistakes they have made in their lives? Oh, Hester Prynne, where is that Scarlet Letter?

Who’s watching the children. My main concern is for the children of the folks on the registries. They will have absent parents, even if their parents are not in jail. The registered citizens can’t go to ball games, the park, school functions and, in many states, not even to church. They can’t live or work within 1,000 feet of a school, church, park, daycare center. We have gone crazy with punishment because of our gut reaction, rather than giving individuals a chance to correct their behavior. Lie detector tests disguised as aids to counseling result in imprisonment for many citizens over minor infractions, rather than actually helping the offender with underlying problems. How can one be honest with a counselor whose sole purpose is to put you back in jail? Get rid of the lie detector tests. Talk about a violation of our constitutional rights.

Please urge the reduction of sentences for mere possession of child pornography. Our prisons are full of these offenders, who are targeted as if they were child molesters.

Let’s return some reason to our laws. Possession should be a misdemeanor for a first-time offense. Distribution without profit, such as file-sharing, should be the same.

Save the longer sentences for those who actually exploit and sexually molest children. Make the registry only for law enforcement, if we are to have it at all. And make it only for serious crimes.