Child pornography

Experts have often wondered what proportion of men who download explicit sexual images of children also molest them. A new government study of convicted Internet offenders suggests that the number may be startlingly high: 85 percent of the offenders said they had committed acts of sexual abuse against minors, from inappropriate touching to rape. link
Everyone agrees that researchers need to learn more about online consumers of illegal child images. The volume of material seized from computers appears to be doubling each year — the National Center collected more than eight million images of explicit child pornography in the last five years — and Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales made child protection a national priority in 2006.
Those who are arrested on charges of possession or distribution of child pornography generally receive lighter sentences and shorter parole periods than sexual abusers. They do not fit any criminal stereotype; recent arrests have included politicians, police officers, teachers and businessmen.
Previous studies, based on surveys of criminal records, estimated that 30 percent to 40 percent of those arrested for possessing child pornography also had molested children.
It is not at all clear when, or in whom, the viewing spurs action or activates a latent, unconscious desire; or whether such images have little or no effect on the offender’s subsequent behavior. But the relationship probably varies widely.

NYTimes 19.07.07

Child pornography
Displaying child pornography or "kiddie porn" on the Internet is illegal in the United States. Producing, possessing or distributing images of minors (anyone under the age of 18) engaged in sexual conduct is illegal. Unlike pornographic images of adults, the First Amendment does not protect the possession or distribution of child pornography. Content that depicts children engaged in sexual conduct is "a category of material outside the protection of the First Amendment. The First Amendment does protect some material that could be considered child pornography, for example images in a medical textbook that show a child's genitalia. Although the possession or distribution of such images might be protected by the First Amendment when used in a pediatric context, the same images would probably not be protected if they were displayed on an adult website.