The following was sent by FAC in response to an article published by the Palm Beach Post. We are looking for volunteers to assist our media committee in writing such responses.
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To: Pat Beall, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Re: A World with no Floor, published Jan. 8, 2017
Dear Ms. Beall, your article in the Accent Arts & Travel Section, “A WORLD WITH NO FLOOR” was very touching and it likely was read by many readers. However, there was one glaring inaccuracy that should not go unnoted: the statement “By one estimate, as many as 90 percent of people who download child porn act on their impulses.” Such an error regarding a most significant issue today, that of the abuse of children, needs to be corrected. Misinformation, even if unintentional, causes great harm and impedes the efforts to prevent child abuse by creating unnecessary fear among the public and causing resources to be misdirected on laws and public opinions that are not founded on empirical evidence.
Of importance is a growing body of research, some of which goes back as far as 2005, noting there were no ‘published data on the future offending of child pornography offenders.” Michael Seto and Angela Eke,” The Criminal Histories and Later Offending of Child Pornography Offenders.” Since that time of more than ten years, multiple studies have confirmed this finding. Two such studies that can serve to educate are:
- DISENTANGLING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY FROM CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE
By Carissa Byrne Hessick:
Associate Professor of Law, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, Arizona State
University. J.D., Yale Law School. B.A., Columbia University.
March 2010
WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1577961
- A Method for Careful Study: A Proposal for Reforming the Child Pornography Guidelines Author(s): Troy Stabenow Reviewed work(s):
Source: Federal Sentencing Reporter, Vol. 24, No. 2, Federal Child Pornography Sentencing (December 2011), pp. 108-136
Published by: University of California Press on behalf of the Vera Institute of Justice
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/fsr.2011.24.2.108 . Accessed: 27/01/2012 12:15
Troy Stabenow – “Deconstructing the Myth of Careful Study” http://www.fd.org/pdf_lib/child%20porn%20july%20revision.pdf
Another source for excellent resources and empirical research is: The Association for Treatment of Sexual Abusers https://www.atsa.com
Additionally, an increasing number of judges, both state and federal have begun to increase their knowledge of the research and sentence accordingly considering how the internet has complicated the traditional distinctions between
possession, receipt, and distribution upon which many statutory schemes are built. While one who commits a heinous crime against children could also have in their possession child pornography, the crime itself is the determinant of the likelihood of danger to society. The person who has no role in a hands-on offense or the production of same, no prior history of abuse, no charges of any attempts at sexually abusing anyone of any age, is of very low risk to society. Additionally, the use of risk assessments is invaluable to determine one’s propensity to commit a hands-on offense resulting in the savings of millions in unnecessary incarceration and registration costs.
According to the Justice Department, 93% of sexually abused children are molested by family members, close friends or acquaintances. http://constitutionaldefense.org/?p=2357
The goal of our organization is to end the cycle of abuse. To accomplish this, one action necessary is to educate the public and have laws that are based in empirical evidence. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children — provides a much lower rate of recidivism, 3-5 percent, for ALL categories that fall under the umbrella of sex offender labeling. This again serves as a reminder that misinformation reduces funding where it can really be effective—that of providing for families who are experiencing dysfunction with support services for prevention of abuse.
We appreciate your work and trust that you will find a way to correct your error. In the event additional information is needed, please contact me.
Respectfully,
Gail Colletta, President, Florida Action Committee
good work, Gail!
This is a highly reasoned call to correct an error in reporting by the Palm Beach Post. It is focused and substantive. It could have been helpful to include the insidious influence of job creation and profit in the criminal justice system and its entanglement with political exploitation of fear as factors in the enabling of misinformation. It will be interesting to see a correction by the PBP.
What an excellent, unbiased rebuttal! Thank you so much for catching this error and then correcting it so masterfully. There should be some way for your reply to become publicised more broadly.
Excellent response! Thank you