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Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Time to do more to catch child predators
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
William Carter Gorman of Lawrenceville, a pharmacist, was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in federal prison for collecting child pornography.
US District Judge Timothy Batten ordered him to be supervised the rest of his life after he is released from prison, and to have no more contact with persons younger than 18. He also must register as a sex offender. Additionally, he faces child molestation charges in Gwinnett County.
Apparently, the U.S. Postal Service was running a sting operation that advertised the sale of videotapes showing child pornography, and Gorman was one of many who answered the ad and purchased some videotapes.
Have you seen the TV show, “To Catch a Predator,” on Dateline NBC? Chris Hansen, the reporter, sets up stings in which people on the Internet think they are chatting with an underage girl. They arranged to meet, and Hanson is there, with cameras, to capture the whole humiliating incident, including their eventual arrest.
When I first saw the show, my first thought was, “Man, these people are stupid.” Then my thoughts quickly rolled into how sick these people are, and how easy it was for them to act upon the predatory instincts. Of the people that got caught, how many didn’t? How many got away?
Children are exploited in Third World countries, often sold into slavery — pornographic or otherwise — oftentimes because their sale means more money to their parents, money that they would not otherwise have access to.
It wasn’t so long ago here in the US — 100 years — when our children are put out in the street at ages 6, 7, 8. Their parents couldn’t take care of them, so it was time for them to earn their keep. They moved out into the street, worked in factories, sold newspapers, lacking education, lacking parental support.
This period in our history is one reason why public education was started. To get kids off the street and to help them develop opportunities previously unavailable to them.
How sad it is, then, to see how the level of predation has gone from manual labor to sexual gratification. It’s a multi-billion dollar industry. And it’s unnerving, to me, to see how easy it can be to exploit our children.
Friends and neighbors, keep an eye on what your children do on the Internet. It’s not because we don’t trust them.
It is because we know how exposed and vulnerable they can be to someone who lacks the morals and scruples requisite to caring for our most precious resource. Involve yourself in their lives, and their schools, in their libraries, and in the public venues that we all share and enjoy. We may not be able to eradicate this problem.
But we can sure as hell reduce the number of victims available to these predators.
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