OneNewsNow
By Charlie Butts
April 25, 2014
In the aftermath of a U.S. Supreme Court decision, users and providers of child pornography may wish to change their course.
Pat Trueman of Morality in Media was concerned that the court would strike down a federal law that allows victims of child pornography to collect restitution from people who victimized them, possess the material, or sell it. But the court ruled in favor of damages.
Not only can those possessing child pornography be sent to jails and pay large fines, “but now they can be caused to provide restitution to the victims who are depicted in that child pornography that they possess,” Trueman says of the Supreme Court decision.
A story by Reuters reported the high court was divided over the case, which involved a man convicted of child pornogaphy. He had two Internet photos of a girl who had been sexually abused by another man, her uncle.
She is seeking $3.4 million from people who possessed the photos, the article stated.
Trueman adds the court’s ruling should send a loud message to people involved in the business – and the consumers of it.
He explains: “I think this is going to lead to a lot of child pornographers giving up their collections of child pornography because they don’t want to get hit such with a massive monetary award that you could get hit with under this law upheld by the Supreme Court.”
Trueman says his wish is that the federal government would act in a more serious manner toward adult pornography – not only because so-called actors are harmed, but because most of it is illegal, too.
