CA - Officer Brett Hensley for child pornography, San Diego, 2005

[mysteriew]

A former San Diego police officer whose home computer contained child pornography and explicit e-mails to a girl was sentenced Friday to five years' probation, and ordered to register as a sex offender.

Brett Kenneth Hensley, 36, pleaded guilty July 6 to a felony charge of using a minor to manufacture child pornography, and three misdemeanor counts of possessing child porn.

One victim, who lived out of state, told agents that Hensley solicited phone sex with her over the Internet, and requested that she mail him sexually explicit photos of herself.

The girl laid herself across a scanner to take the photo, Deputy District Attorney Geoff Allard said.

Defense Attorney Gerald Blank told the judge that Hensley started therapy in February 2004 as soon as he realized he had a problem.

"He started out with adult pornography," Blank said. The attorney said Hensley started a Web site to help parents and others stop the exploitation of children. Rogers told him the Web site had merit, but told the defendant to divest himself from the project.
http://www.10news.com/news/5076014/detail.html

 

[tennessee]

Probation. Why isn't there a mandatory sentence to be served in jail?

:furious:

 

[BillyGoatGruff]

Probation. Why isn't there a mandatory sentence to be served in jail?

:furious:

Probably because it's a first offense.
Some states are passing harsher sentencing for first time sex offenses, especially those involving the internet. It's still a rather gray area in most jurisdictions re sentencing.

 

[mysteriew]

Also, many judges don't seem to realize that using a chld for pornograpy is as serious as it is. They seem to react as though- well he took some bad pictures. Probation. Send me a real sex offender.
Somehow the court system doesn't seem to realize the effect of using a child in porn will have on the child.

 

[BillyGoatGruff]

Also, many judges don't seem to realize that using a chld for pornograpy is as serious as it is. They seem to react as though- well he took some bad pictures. Probation. Send me a real sex offender.
Somehow the court system doesn't seem to realize the effect of using a child in porn will have on the child.

It's not the judges so much as the laws they have to go by.
Unless violence or some aggravated form of coercion is involved, they have to treat it as a non-violent crime, simialr to wire fraud and the like.
The states differ re sentencing guidelines and penalties. I think the Feds have mandatory jail sentences for child porn of a year/2 years for each charge, but the individual states are far less uniform in their sentencing.

 

[meggilyweggily]

I honestly don't think this is that bad. I mean, it's a big deal, especially seeing how he is a cop, but when you read about people like Joseph Duncan it seems pretty minor. The article doesn't say how old the victims were -- they could have been in their mid- to late-teens. In fact, I'm guessing they probably were. And considering that the cop admitted he had a problem and voluntarily went into therapy, I don't really have a problem with the probation. Provided he doesn't violate it of course.

 

[BillyGoatGruff]

I honestly don't think this is that bad. I mean, it's a big deal, especially seeing how he is a cop, but when you read about people like Joseph Duncan it seems pretty minor. The article doesn't say how old the victims were -- they could have been in their mid- to late-teens. In fact, I'm guessing they probably were. And considering that the cop admitted he had a problem and voluntarily went into therapy, I don't really have a problem with the probation. Provided he doesn't violate it of course.

For it to be considered child pornography the person involved has to be under the age of 18.

 

[meggilyweggily]

I know. The victims could have been 16 or 17. Somehow this does not seem as bad to me as if they were, say, five.

 

[tennessee]

As the parent of a 15 year old, I think it is disgusting.



JMHO

 

[mysteriew]

What gets me is that as an officer of the law, I guess I hold them as an example of a law abiding citizen- someone you are supposed to be able to trust. And someone who knew very well that what he was doing was illegal and the possible penalties for it.
Under that basis, I believe that he should have been given the maximum, made an example of what is not tolerable. He let the public down, he let his dept down, and not to mention what he did to the kid.

 

[BillyGoatGruff]

I know. The victims could have been 16 or 17. Somehow this does not seem as bad to me as if they were, say, five.

Most 16 or 17 year olds I meet nowadays might be more physically mature than ever before, but the emotional maturity of today's teens seems to be backsliding, which is saying something, since my generation (now in its mid 40s) were utter morons at that age.

 

[meggilyweggily]

I do not think teens nowadays are any more or less mature than they ever were, though admittedly my scope is quite limited. My life situation was somewhat different from most sixteen-year-olds', but from my experience I think adolescents are a lot smarter and wiser than they are given credit for. I believe a lot of their perceived irresponsibility is because they aren't given any responsibilities, and are constantly told that they are immature etc.

This is somewhat off-topic, but it really bothers me that this country won't let you drive until you're sixteen, smoke, enlist or marry without permission until you're eighteen, and drink until you're twenty-one, but they will try you as an adult at eleven.

 

[BillyGoatGruff]

I do not think teens nowadays are any more or less mature than they ever were, though admittedly my scope is quite limited. My life situation was somewhat different from most sixteen-year-olds', but from my experience I think adolescents are a lot smarter and wiser than they are given credit for. I believe a lot of their perceived irresponsibility is because they aren't given any responsibilities, and are constantly told that they are immature etc.

This is somewhat off-topic, but it really bothers me that this country won't let you drive until you're sixteen, smoke, enlist or marry without permission until you're eighteen, and drink until you're twenty-one, but they will try you as an adult at eleven.

Kids today might seem smarter, to some extent, at least in regard to technology,but maturity has nothing to do with IQ. I've know my share of geniuses with high IQs who had the emotional maturity of 12 year olds.
We're pushing our kids to be phsyical adults so quickly now (at least as a culture) we seem to be forgetting that there's more to growing up than getting taller, growing hair and having sex.
BTW I've noticed a rather odd trend lately--kids as old as 12 and 13 still publically sucking their thumbs.

 

[meggilyweggily]

A confession: when I was sixteen, I had a relationship with an adult man. Not an eighteen- or nineteen-year-old, not a twenty-one year-old, but much closer to thirty. He had a few gray strands in his hair. We didn't have sex, but it was a physical as well as a romantic relationship. We met in college (I began taking college classes at fourteen, and he was going back for another degree).

Some would say I was taken advantage of, yada yada, but I don't see it that way at all. I liked the guy, I aggressively pursued him, he fell for me. If anything it was other way around -- he had just finished with a bad relationship and was very depressed and vulnerable, and there I was, flirting with him and all come-hither. Anyway, when my parents found out, they did not accuse the guy of taking advantage of me. (Some other members of my family did, but not to my face or his.) My parents told me we were both equally to blame for our behavior, and I appreciated that respect.

I am now twenty and still seeing that guy. We plan to marry after I graduate from college. Hence my skepticism when I hear about men supposedly taking advantage of teenage girls. I know it happens. I know that perhaps my own relationship was an anomaly. But my boyfriend loves me and that's all I have ever experienced.