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In an interview with U.K.s The Telegraph, Grisham said that "America's judges had "gone crazy" over the past 30 years, locking up far too many people, from white collar criminals like the businesswoman Martha Stewart, to black teenagers on minor drugs charges and - he added - those who had viewed child porn online."
He went on to cite the case of a "good buddy from law school" who was caught up in a Canadian child porn sting operation a decade ago as an example of excessive sentencing.
"His drinking was out of control, and he went to a website. It was labelled 'sixteen year old wannabee hookers or something like that'. And it said '16-year-old girls'. So he went there. Downloaded some stuff - it was 16 year old girls who looked 30.
"He shouldn't ’a done it. It was stupid, but it wasn't 10-year-old boys. He didn't touch anything. And God, a week later there was a knock on the door: ‘FBI!’ and it was sting set up by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to catch people - sex offenders - and he went to prison for three years."
I suppose if we were to rank the vileness of crimes, looking at child porn wouldn't be as bad as actually molesting a child, and perhaps that is the point that Grisham was trying to make. I don't know if 3 years in prison for his friend is "excessive," because I don't even know how that compares to the sentences for actual molesters, rapists, etc. I like Grisham's writing, and will probably continue reading his books, but he didn't endear himself to his fans with his comments.
The only person who committed a crime is the person who took the original photos.
Heres the thing, if your behavior causes more of the original behavior you are aiding and abetting it.
Anyone taking the pictures of course deserves a vastly larger punishment, but those who encourage the behavior by viewing them deserve a share of it as well.
It's probably one of the few "crimes" that get long sentences solely for looking at something.
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