Too often, the pages of this newspaper carry stories involving two words that should never be acceptable in the same sentence to any decent adult: child and pornography.
Abuse of children and sexual enslavement have sadly gone on for centuries, but since the Internet started to become a common experience nearly20 years ago, instances of shared images of youngsters in sexual situations have grown sharply. The scale of the child pornography
We see ample evidence of this in our communities. Rather routinely, law enforcement authorities somewhere in Northwest Arkansas book someone on charges involving sexually explicit images of children. Just in the last month, a 49-year-old man from Springdale pleaded guilty in federal court to downloading child porn and faces 15 to 40 years in prison without the possibility of parole; a 21-year-old Lowell man received a 20-year sentence on 10 counts of distributing, possession or viewing materials depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child; and other arrests that will be adjudicated later were made.
As much as the average resident dislikes hearing about such cases, it’s important decent people know such crimes are happening and stand together with law enforcement officers, judges and prosecutors to ensure significant penalties are meted out.
As for offenders, we’re perplexed by the apparent thought process that allows them to view and share images of children being harmed without accepting responsibility for that harm.
That process appears to treat child pornography as a victimless crime. After all, it’s just picture.
It’s not like they’re actually hurting local kids, right?
But every child around the globe deserves protection from these innocence-stealing predators, and every downloaded image represents a child whose life has been shattered by abuse. Every viewing repeats the violation.
Perhaps this is wasted breath, but here goes: If you’re engaged in this sort of activity, please seek help. Your actions are doing more damage than you realize, to yourself, those around you and those innocent kids who suffer in the production and distribution of child pornography.
One final note: Thank goodness for professional law enforcement officers who descend into the inhumane world of child porn to find these criminals and bring them to justice. As with so much involved in police work, they have to dwell at times in worlds nobody should have to visit.
We cannot thank them enough.
CASUALTIES OF WAR
To honor the men and women in our armed forces and remind our readers of their sacrifices, the Northwest Arkansas Times is publishing Department of Defense announcements identifying Americans killed in active military operations.
Three soldiers died May 14 in Sanjaray, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked their unit with an improvised explosive device. Those killed include Sgt. 1st Class Jeffrey C. Baker, 29, of Hesperia, Calif., assigned to 766th Ordnance Company, 63rd Ordnance Battalion, 52nd Ordnance Group, Fort Stewart, Ga.; as well as Spc. Mitchell K. Daehling, 24, of Dalton, Mass., and Spc. William J. Gilbert, 24, of Hacienda Heights, Calif., both assigned to 3rd Battalion, 41st Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Fort Bliss, Texas.
Opinion, Pages 5 on 05/30/2013