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"Disproportionate Sentencing for Possession of Child Pornography: Witchcraft Trials of the Modern Age?"

By Douglas A. Berman

The title of this post is the title of this notable student note by Jesse Basbaum that I just noticed on SSRN.  Here is the abstract: This Note identifies several infirmities of United States Sentencing Guideline section 2G2.2, the sentencing scheme for possession of child pornography.  The production and web-based dissemination of child pornography images has increased substantially over the past decade. The Department of Justice has aggressively prosecuted these crimes under the rationale that (1) possession of child pornography leads to contact offenses, (2) demand drives supply, and (3) the mere availability of an image or video constitutes continued and indirect abuse of the child depicted. In light of these and other concerns, Congress has enacted dramatic increases in the potential sentences for possessors of child pornography...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on September 13, 2009 (boomark / email).