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The Virginia General Assembly is considering two bills, SB 1278 and HB 2039, that would revise the sentencing guidelines to double the criminal penalties judges are to impose on defendants convicted of possessing child pornography. These bills should be defeated. One of the main arguments for punishing these offenders harshly is that possession of child pornography leads to child abuse. Actually, the evidence suggests the opposite. A 2010 study by Milton Diamond from the University of Hawaii found that when child pornography was legalized in the Czech Republic, rates of child sexual abuse fell. Similar results were found in Japan and Denmark. A study by Jones and Finkelhor found that "rates of child sexual abuse have declined substantially since the mid-1990s, a time period that corresponds to the spread of CP [child pornography] online." Federal judges are refusing to apply the harsh child pornography sentencing guidelines Congress imposed. In more than 40 percent of federal child pornography cases, judges have granted leniency, sentencing defendants to below-guideline prison terms or even giving probation, according to the U.S. Sentencing Commission. We can expect that, likewise, if Virginia legislators tamper with the sentencing guidelines, many judges will exercise their discretion and refuse to apply the new guidelines. This is with good reason, since sentencing guidelines are supposed to tell judges what sentences other judges actually are imposing on defendants with similar records who committed similar crimes, rather than what sentences legislators think they should impose. |