Re: Is hentai legal?

I thought the purpose of child pornography convictions is to prevent children being harm during the production. I don't understand where animation qualifies in the same aspect?

The vast, vast majority of child pornography convictions involve people who had absolutely nothing to do with the actual production of the material and who are otherwise law abiding and decent people. People convicted of possession of child pornography now get more time than child molesters, it makes no sense. There have been documented cases where men were charged with child porn possession when the images they had were actually adult women who then testified on their behalf and got them off. But if they hadn't testified they would have been convicted, and I'm sure there are poor guys right now who are rotting in prison for doing something that is perfectly legal.

This is why I believe that no person should ever go to prison just for possessing pictures or words that the government deems he does not have the right to have. It's wrong and it's unconstitutional and it's un-American. If someone's actually abusing a child, then by all means they should find them and put them behind bars. But laws that say that looking at a picture of something is the same, or even worse, as doing it are perverse.

http://www.telegram.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061228/NEWS/612280745/1101

http://www.examiner.com/article/porn-star-lupe-fuentes-appears-puerto-rico-court-vindicates-man-accused-of-child-porn-possession

The penalties for distributing or receiving pornography have become harsher. Receiving one illegal photo carries a mandatory minimum penalty of five years. The number of images a defendant downloads increases the punishment, as does his use of a computer. Now that large volumes of data stream with a click, the average recommended prison term for possession has jumped to 10 years, even if a defendant has no criminal record and there is no evidence that he produced or distributed porn. Because some child sexual abuse cases still end in relatively low penalties in state court, theres a paradox: defendants who look at sexual pictures of children can spend more years in prison than people who abuse children but dont have pornography of them.

The United States Sentencing Commission held hearings last February to discuss whether the punishment for child-pornography offenders has become both disproportionate and unfair with people who committed similar crimes receiving vastly different penalties, based on the subjective decisions of judges.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/27/magazine/how-much-can-restitution-help-victims-of-child-pornography.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0