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Is deterrence of child porn offenses sought by federal harshness undermined by state leniency?

By Douglas A. Berman

Regular readers know about the many federal child porn downloading cases in which the federal sentencing guidelines call for many years or even decades of imprisonment.  Federal prosecutors frequently defend these harsh sentencing terms by contending they are needed in order to send a message and deter others from getting involved in accessing child porn.  But this message and the goal of general deterrence must surely be undermined by this kind of local story noting a prominent child porn offender getting sentenced only to probation: Thomas Adams, the former Green Oaks mayor and Lake County Republican chairman, was sentenced to probation Monday in his child pornography case.  Judge Patricia Golden, who was brought in from Kane County to hear the case, went along with a recommendation from a pre-sentencing investigation and prosecutor Patricia Fix's suggestion that Adams is suitable for probation...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on June 30, 2009 (boomark / email).