Web Letters: Through a Lens Starkly

One has to wonder if Pennsylvania district attorneys are also receiving bribes from private prisons (prisons operated by the companies Pennsylvania Child Care and a sister company, Western Pennsylvania Child Care), as the two Pennsylvania judges have admitted and pleaded guilty to.

kari Franzen

Portland, OR

One wonders just how long these law enforcement officials spent poring over the allegedly pornographic photographs. Does it take a minute, or maybe multiple viewings over the course of a few days, until they felt able to carefully discern whether they, the adults, felt titillated by the photos? That seems to be the standard being imposed.

Where is the line drawn beyond which these arbiters of decency become the consumers of the (alleged) child porn?

And were the laws involved really written so that children should be charged for viewing pictures of other children? I feel confident in stating that we are alone in this practice in the Western world.

I, for one, am disturbed by the increasing number of ways the US criminal justice system is finding to prosecute our children.

Chris Ostrom

Pacifica, CA

This is ridiculous! Nudity is not pornography, and pornography is largely in the eye of the beholder! Most teenagers from the beginning of time have indulged in sexual exploration. Your average person could probably be arrested for what they did as a teenager. Pornography laws were intended to protect underage children from predatory adults and abusive situations. Did they have a warrant when they looked through the pictures? Some legal action against the school and the DA might be in order!

Pervis James Casey

Riverside, CA