00-2961 U.S. v. Sherman

Listen to this article

“The possession, receipt and shipping of child pornography directly victimizes the children portrayed by violating their right to privacy, and in particular violating their individual interest in avoiding the disclosure of personal matters. See Ferber, 458 U.S. at 759 n.10 (citing Whalen v. Roe, 429 U.S. 589 (1977)). In Ferber, the Supreme Court upheld a New York statute that prohibited a person from knowingly promoting a sexual performance by a child under the age of 16 by distributing material which depicted such a performance. In setting out the state’s interest in criminalizing this activity, the Supreme Court delineated the harm that comes to the children depicted when pornography is possessed or distributed:

‘Because the child’s actions are reduced to a recording, the pornography may haunt him in future years, long after the original misdeed took place. A child who has posed for a camera must go through life knowing that the recording is circulating within the mass distribution system for child pornography.’

458 U.S. at 759 n.10 (quoting Shouvlin, Preventing the Sexual Exploitation of Children: a Model Act, 17 Wake Forest L. Rev. 535, 545 (1981)). Children also suffer profound emotional repercussions from a fear of exposure, and the tension of keeping the abuse secret. 458 U.S. at 759 n.10 (citing Schoettle, Child Exploitation: A Study of Child Pornography, 19 J. Am. Acad. Child Psychiatry 289, 296 (1980)). Indeed, one of the reasons for criminalizing the ‘mere’ possession of child pornography is to create an incentive for the possessor to destroy the material, and alleviate some of these harms to the children depicted.”

Affirmed.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Manning, J., Rovner, J.