w/ regards to the drugs, I mispoke. Deciding to manufacture drugs, for example, is a crime even if you don't take any steps to accomplish that goal. Likewise you can be convicted of conspiracy by a simple agreement among the parties to make LSD, i.e. No overt act neccesary, like was required at common law, only intent.
As for the scienter argument, I was saying that their should need to be intent to posses child pornography before it is a crime. Strict liability crimes are pretty repugnant. I think someone who innocently buys pornography, or innocently opens this page to get a thumbnail in his cache which is illegal should not have violated the law. Course prosecutors like it cuz it gives them all the discretion: they don't have to prosecute those they don't care for, but they can prosecute those who they choose to screw. I think laws should be strictly enforced as written or struck down as unenforcable selective prosecutions when they're invoked.
W/ reagards to the child porn thought crime, its also a crime to sell simulated child porn or posses it with the expectation that it depicts child porn, irregardless of whether it is actually, i.e. adult actors (American Beauty for example) or computer images. It doesn't sound like you disagreed with this though, just clarifying what I meant.
Another thing w/ child porn laws I don't like is their is no age range like in statutory rape.
If I take a pic of myself, and I'm under 18, it shouldn't be child pornography production. Same if I take a pic of my underage gf and I'm also underage or legally able to have sex with her. Silliness.
The laws are ridiculous and seem to be passed with no regard to what they actually encompas, see the happyhippies example. Somehow someone made a policy based on the law, presumably, that sex organs in a picture couldn't be displayed if they were juveniles and adults or something. What nonsense. Not that this is the law, but illustrates the insanity. Is a picture of a post-delivery female's genitalia in-frame with a kid's genitals pornographic? I'm sure someone would be aroused, but I don't see how any rational person could conclude it to be porn. Same thing with the laws, they cover areas they shouldn't.
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The media recording of a criminal act should not be illegal. The act of violating another persons rights is what should be illegal, not the media recording of the event. The recording of the act is evidence, mere possession of such should not be criminal.
For example a rape is recorded on a public beach. The media is then sold on the market as an erotic "forced sex" video. The possession of such video should not be illegal. Laws that seek to ban such video are Orwellian in nature and are seeking to police "thoughtcrime". No victim is involved by merely possessing the video.
Just because most of society will be repelled that Mr. Jones likes repellent video is no reason to violate Mr. Jone s's right to possess such video. Only when Mr. Jones actually goes out and violates the rights of an innocent victim should the State actually consider that a crime.
If "thoughcrime" becomes a precedent then all media will come under the State's scrutiny. Next thing that will happen is movies will become illegal if certain objectionable content is involved. Once the principle of "thoughtcrime" is established justification can be made for every kind of censorship for the public good.
This is what happens when individual rights cease to be the cornerstone of what the law should be based on.
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