Alex Constantine - December 29, 2013
What is going on at U.S. military bases? According to a report on the political news site Talking Points Memo, one would be forgiven for concluding that an epidemic of perversion is sweeping our armed forces. Approximately two of every three cases on appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces involve child pornography, TPM reports.
The statistic appears shocking on is face, but TPM cautions that differing procedures between the military and civilian justice systems could account for at least some of the heavy kiddie porn case load.
The blog also points out that the dominant demographic in the U.S. military is males of age 18 to 45, which is the same demographic into which the majority of child pornography consumers fall.
On the other hand, because in the military decisions on who to prosecute and for what are made by officers up the chain of command, not by independent prosecutors, that makes it less likely that the child porn statistics would be skewed by, say, teenagers sending “sext” messages to each other.
Under current laws in many states, a teenager who sends or views a nude picture of a girlfriend or boyfriend by text message or e-mail could face felony child pornography charges.
Under military law, however, no actual child victim needs to be identified before child porn charges can be leveled. In civilian law, authorities must show that children were actually harmed for child porn images to be illegal.
Because military service members usually live in close quarters with fellow members, it is more difficult for someone viewing child porn to keep his habit private. Many cases on the military appeals docket involve service members who were reported or turned in by friends or even family members.
In civilian life, studies have shown that child porn consumers tend to live alone, affording them a high level of privacy and time to indulge their perversion.
SOURCES: Talking Points Memo, Federal Sentencing Reporter, WTVR TV