Child pornography laws are a result of the development of the public’s need to defend the inherent innocence of childhood. Child pornography is plain evil. Child pornography is not a form of unlawful sexual images but it glorifies the abuse of children. The people do not believe that any form of child pornography should be legal because children are often severely damaged psychologically with the constant reminder of their abuse.
The publication of child abuse images constitutes a threat to the sanctity of childhood and is a form of moral corruption that needed to be criminalized. It is, however, the lawful right of adults to view, produce, promote, or sell pornography that depicts adults. Therefore, the law makes a clear distinction on what is and is not child pornography. The distinction is mainly based on the age of the models depicted at the time of production of the pornographic images. The minimum age at which a person may legally be depicted in a sexually explicit manner is 18.
Anyone younger than this age that is visually depicted in an erotic or sexually suggestive manner is an unlawful act. Child pornography is a form of child abuse because the victims of child pornography are the minors who are being exploited sexually.
The sexual exploitation of minors is illegal because they don’t not have the mental capacity to understand the nature of the images for which they are posing. In addition, the horrible sex acts portrayed in child pornography can damage the psyche of the child participants of the production of the filthy material. Child pornography is a problem that effects the entire community due to the gravity of the crime committed. It has too many damaging consequences to the community, especially the victims. Besides, nothing positive could ever result from this egregious act.
The people found it important to make sure that law targets everyone involved in the perpetration of the crime. The consumers of child pornography perpetuate the cycles of abuse involved in the crime by creating a market for the unlawful images. The producers inflict the abuse upon the children. The promoters glorify the immoral and unlawful actions, and the sellers profit off this antisocial vice. The children who are forced to participate in child pornography are more likely to be abused in the future as a result of the irreparable harm done to them.
Therefore, lawmakers and the public adopted child pornography laws to protect and prevent this horrible cycle of abuse from happening. Child pornography laws also serve victims and the public in the case that these unfortunate events do occur, the proper penalties should be prescribe to the guilty and shall suffer the consequences of their terrible actions.