Renowned American author John Grisham recently shared his bizarre views concerning those convicted of child porn possession when he spoke with “The Telegraph” in the UK, he said:
“We have prisons now filled with guys my age. Sixty-year-old white men in prison who've never harmed anybody, would never touch a child. But they got online one night and started surfing around, probably had too much to drink or whatever, and pushed the wrong buttons, went too far and got into child porn. His drinking was out of control, and he went to a website. It was labeled 'sixteen year old wannabee hookers or something like that'. And it said '16-year-old girls'. So he went there. Downloaded some stuff - it was 16 year old girls who looked 30. He shouldn't ’a done it. It was stupid, but it wasn't 10-year-old boys. He didn't touch anything. And God, a week later there was a knock on the door: ‘FBI!’ and it was sting set up by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to catch people - sex offenders - and he went to prison for three years. There's so many of them now. There's so many 'sex offenders' - that's what they're called - that they put them in the same prison. Like they're a bunch of perverts, or something; thousands of ’em. We've gone nuts with this incarceration.”
With regards to the relationship between child pornography and child molestation, the opinions of Mr. Grisham are extremely naive, or highly deluded. According to several studies, there is a very distinct link between those who view child porn and child sexual abuse:
“Child pornography offenses are a valid diagnostic indicator of pedophilia.”
Seto, Michael C.; Cantor, James M.; Blanchard, Ray
Journal of Abnormal Psychology, Vol 115(3), Aug 2006, 610-615.
“This study investigated whether being charged with a child pornography offense is a valid diagnostic indicator of pedophilia, as represented by an index of phallometrically assessed sexual arousal to children. The sample of 685 male patients was referred between 1995 and 2004 for a sexological assessment of their sexual interests and behavior. As a group, child pornography offenders showed greater sexual arousal to children than to adults and differed from groups of sex offenders against children, sex offenders against adults, and general sexology patients. The results suggest child pornography offending is a stronger diagnostic indicator of pedophilia than is sexually offending against child victims.”
“From Fantasy to Reality: The Link Between Viewing Child Pornography and Molesting Children.”
Kim, Candice
Child Sexual Exploitation Update - Volume 1, Number 3, 2004.
“...studies demonstrate that those who collect and disseminate child pornography are likely to molest an actual child. According to the United States Postal Inspection Service, at least 80% of purchasers of child pornography are active abusers and nearly 40% of the child pornographers investigated over the past several years have sexually molested children in the past. In a 2000 study issued by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, 76% of offenders convicted of internet-related crimes against children admitted to contact sex crimes with children previously undetected by law enforcement and had an average of 30.5 child sex victims each.”
“A Profile of Pedophilia: Definition, Characteristics of Offenders, Recidivism, Treatment Outcomes, and Forensic Issues.”
Hall, Ryan MD, and Hall, Richard MD; Mayo Clinic.
“…76% of individuals who were arrested for Internet child pornography had molested a child.”