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"You Can Have Sex With Them; Just Don't Photograph Them"

By Douglas A. Berman

The title of this post is the headline of this notable commentary by Radley Balko at Reason, which carried the sub-heading "A former cop's 15-year prison sentence illustrates the absurdity of federal child porn laws." Here is how it gets started: In the spring and summer of 2006, Eric Rinehart, at the time a 34-year-old police officer in the small town of Middletown, Indiana, began consensual sexual relationships with two young women, ages 16 and 17.  One of the women had contacted Rinehart through his MySpace page.  He had known the other one, the daughter of a man who was involved in training police officers, for most of her life.  Rinehart was going through a divorce at the time.  The relationships came to the attention of local authorities, and then federal authorities, when one of the girls mentioned it to a guidance counselor...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on March 01, 2011 (boomark / email).