Another Crime: The Internet and Child Pornography

I sat at the table crunching through my mini-wheat's this morning when a news report cut through my crunchy thoughts.

"A local 62 year old man received seventeen and a half years for possession of and transporting child pornography over the Internet."

I dropped my food, stunned. What? I wanted to ask the quiet room. What did she say? I left my breakfast on the table and rushed to get a pen and paper. I wrote down the information for this person and came back to the table.

My normally yummy cereal had lost its flavor and my stomach felt sick. Why is this happening? Don't these people realize the pain they are causing? Why don't they care?

I don't understand the thing... that dark and possessive thing that seems to crawl within these people's minds and gives them permission to hurt children, or their families. Are they even human? I'm beginning to wonder.

After I had time to contemplate this horrible turn of events I decided I would try to find this man's family. Maybe let them know that they aren't alone. There is not a group or support system in our area for victims of Internet Crimes. These are new crimes, resources haven't been created yet. So I keyed in his name and there was nothing. Oh, the details of his arrest and conviction were there, but nothing personal. Nothing what-so-ever.

I found myself digging deeper discovering that this type of crime is way up. Just in my area alone the perpetrators range in ages from their 20s to 60s. I was sure the number would be higher for the younger perpetrators and I thought they would all be men. The majority of offenders were older, mostly in their 50s and men, though there were a few women.

Surprisingly, many of these offenders are in positions of power, some examples are: an attorney, a judge, a few police officers, ministers, and teachers. I see reports every day that tell of the crimes teachers have perpetrated against their students. In fact, I personally know of a local coach who just lost his job for inappropriate behavior with two students, one of which is now pregnant.

My question for this man is, why? He knows these girls, even if they do look like woman, are children. They are incapable of understanding an adult relationship and now one of them must accept the adult role of a single parent.

What is it that draws these offenders to our younger generations? Do they believe they are not harming them or that these younger people truly love them? And why do these girls, especially the older ones, keep the secret? Do these girls think they love him or were there manipulation tactics used to coerce them into compliance? Why do these offenders think it is okay to plaster pictures of children all over the Internet never to be erased?

I discovered that there really are no resources for the victim's families or the offender's families. I do not understand why this is so. These people are victims of crime too. Their lives have been altered in ways they never expected. The remaining family members are torn apart by shame, anger, and pain.

I say that something needs to change. Someone needs to step up and offer these sideswiped families help. They are victims.

I never found the man's family.