A View From Riverside Drive
Commentary by Ed Hynes
September 2005
Snuff movies: Connect the dots from murder back to official neglect
In England, the Daily Record reported on August 31 that the prime suspect in the murder of an 11-year-old boy was found hanged at his home - apparently a suicide - and that police “uncovered a stash of child porn” in the man’s house, including “computer images, photos and snuff movies.” The boy “had been choked or smothered,” the paper reported.
“Snuff” movies depict children and adults being killed for sexual purposes. In most cases, the deaths are simulated, but the fact that there is a market for snuff movies should scare us all.
And so should these facts of everyday life:
First, no one buys snuff movies without having first become addicted to pornography, a process that begins with much milder prompts for solo orgasm, moves on to ever harsher, more brutal and violent pornography, and ends with acting out the behavior depicted in the pornography.
Second, addictive pornography is everywhere on the Internet, and porn-like sexual imagery and messages are inescapable in our pop culture.
It’s not hard to connect the dots and see that these facts make the case for an end to the non-enforcement of obscenity laws at the federal, state and local levels.
Snuff films are the end of a long line for pornography addicts and their victims.
Our own New York City has failed to do the job. To our knowledge, District Attorney Robert Morgenthau has not enforced these laws in over 20 years, and neither has the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. The Mayor and City Council cleaned up Times Square but have not pushed for obscenity law enforcement, and the Governor hasn’t either.
Since 2002, residents of New York City have filed more than 700 complaints with ObscenityCrimes.Org (www.obscenitycrimes.org), a project operated by Morality in Media to give people a way to report what they believe may be illegal hardcore pornography on the Internet. MIM collects and analyzes these reports and sends them to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section in Washington, and to U.S. Attorneys (Federal prosecutors) in the field across the country.
While we wait for officials to do their job, people will continue to be hurt.
U.S. Attorney in Miami attacked for something he hasn’t done. . . yet
The Daily Business Review in Florida reported online August 30 that the new United States Attorney in Miami “has angered federal and local law enforcement officials, as well as prosecutors in his own office” by telling them that “a top prosecutorial priority” will be, in the words of DBR’s reporter, Julie Kay, “obscenity. Not pornography involving children, but pornographic material featuring consenting adults.”
Ms. Kay reported, “[These officials] say there are far more important issues in a high-crime area like South Florida, which is an international hub at risk for terrorism, money laundering and other dangerous activities.”
From June, when he took the job, through September 1, Mr. Acosta sent the press 79 news releases on the work of his office. These report that 26 cases involved fraud, 18 narcotics, 6 illegal aliens, 6 firearms, 5 theft, 3 taxes, 3 terrorism, 3 obstruction of justice, 2 money laundering, 2 sex with minors, and 1 each assault, perjury, civil rights, witness tampering, official corruption, RICO violation, illegal structure in navigable waters, illegal sale of migratory birds, and a hazardous materials violation. There were no cases involving obscenity.
The releases are still available at www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls/latest_district_news.html
Did Ms. Kay not see them?
She did get strong statements supporting the leave-obscenity-alone thrust of her story, including this:
“Compared to terrorism, public corruption and narcotics, [pornography] is no worse than dropping gum on the sidewalk,” said Stephen Bronis, a partner at Zuckerman Spaeder in Miami and chair of the white-collar crime division of the American Bar Association.
Mr. Bronis’s standing to speak on the damage caused by the criminal traffic in obscenity, which is well known to experts in the field, was not explained.
What is it about obscenity that has the Daily Business Review so exercised?
British government proposes ‘outright ban’ on Internet obscenity
The British Home Office has proposed an outright ban on obscene pornography and sexually violent images on the Internet. That news was widely welcomed in England. Here is what Unionist Party spokesman Dr. Esmond Birnie said in a prepared statement:
Research has shown that pornography and its messages are involved in shaping attitudes and encouraging behaviour that can harm individual users and their families. Children growing up in our culture are being exposed to sexually explicit material in violent and pathological forms on a daily basis through cable and satellite television, movies, and the internet.
The widespread availability of pornography is affecting the behaviour of British young people. Academic studies in the United States and recent court cases in Britain have found that pornography can be highly addictive and directly related to sexual offending. There is an established criminological tendency for offenders to act out behaviours viewed in pornography.
Three indicted, fourth pleads guilty, in obscenity and CAN-SPAM case
The Department of Justice announced on August 25 that two men and a woman have been indicted by a grand jury in Phoenix on charges of violating the CAN-SPAM Act, along with federal obscenity, money laundering and conspiracy charges, and that a fourth man involved in the case has pleaded guilty to related charges, “marking the first conviction related to the transmission of obscene spam e-mails.”
The announcement was made by Acting Assistant Attorney General John C. Richter of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton of the District of Arizona.
Mr. Richter said, "Today's announcement should send the message loud and clear that the Department is committed to using the CAN-SPAM Act and the federal laws to stop those who invade the homes of American families with unwanted, obscene spam."
The CAN-SPAM Act is a federal law designed to crack down on the transmission of bulk, unsolicited commercial electronic mail messages.
Confined pedophile sends and receives child porn via cell phone
Adult Video News has been reporting that Internet-capable cell phones open a large new market for the obscene trash peddlers of the world, including publicly traded companies and others among the largest producers of the filth. Now we learn, from the Associated Press (September 5), that a convicted pedophile being held at a psychiatric clinic in Sweden has demonstrated how easily it can be done, even from a place of confinement. The man used a cell phone and a hidden computer hard drive in his room at the clinic to send and receive thousands of child pornography images, according to clinic authorities. No word on whether they were embarrassed.
Dr. Mary Anne Layden cautions Australians on Internet porn
Mary Anne Layden, Ph.D., Co-Director of the Sexual Trauma and Psychopathology Program, Center for Cognitive Therapy at the University of Pennsylvania, turned up in Australia in August to speak on sex trafficking, and was just in time to contribute to a story the Sun-Herald newspaper ran August 14 on the dangers of Internet pornography.
The paper offered the view that, “On sexual matters, Australians are pretty pragmatic… We don’t get our knickers in a twist over censorship, pornography and prostitution, and morals crusaders are usually benignly ignored.”
Past reports from the land down under suggest that’s putting it mildly.
“But as internet pornography becomes increasingly pervasive, making every home computer a potential red light district, Australian parents, in particular, are becoming alarmed,” the Sun-Herald said. “Enter American sex abuse expert Dr Mary Anne Layden. . . . Layden, a psychotherapist at the University of Pennsylvania, has testified before the US Senate on the dangers of online porn, gleaned from her experience treating sexual violence victims and perpetrators for 20 years. ‘I didn't have one case of sexual violence that didn't involve pornography,’ she said.”
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