What is the most effective way to eradicate the sale and possession of child porn?
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my2sense
BAN child abuse images and prosecute with jail time. The US Constitution couldnt even stop this one. * Child pornography is the consequence of the exploitation or sexual abuse perpetrated against a child. It can be defined as any means of depicting or promoting sexual abuse of a child, including print and/or audio, centered on sex acts or the genital organs of children*
Owning it or possessing it doesnt fly man. A pedophile is a pedophile. Nuff said.... Ban and punish.
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my2sense
and I would call under 18 a child... at least in civilized societies.
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chotto
Do you know what this term actually means?
Most successful way to eradicate it? Ban it. Make it illegal to posses it. Close the shops selling. Shut down the sites hosting it.
Of course it will still exist, but it can be made a darn site harder to obtain.
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my2sense
pe·do·phile [pee-duh-fahyl]
–noun, Psychiatry. -an adult who is sexually attracted to young children. : pe·do·phile
Pronunciation: \ˈpe-də-ˌfī(-ə)l, ˈpē-\ Function: noun Date: 1951 : one affected with pedophilia
does that help?
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jea711
know it's roots....NO to Morning Musume, NO to AKB48, NO to Micro-mini skirts as high school uniforms for girls...all of those are the simple roots of child pornography in this country. In other countries, as far as I know...poverty is the main root of the problem...and that's not easy to resolve.
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chotto
I know what it means, but I wasn't sure if you did.
Pedophillia does not refer to all 'children'. It refers to the sexual attraction to pre-pubescents. Vis-a-vis, people who yell "pedo" for someone attracted to a 16 y.o are referring to something else.
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combinibento
First, make possession of it a crime. Sale should of course also be a crime but with more severe criminal sanctions. Then, have law enforcement use the internet. In the US where mere possession is illegal, many child porn criminals get busted when they open up their harddrives via peer-to-peer filesharing networks. Investigators can see the files (many of which whose names are obvious giveaways), get the IP address, subpoena the ISP and ouala! Another child porn collector gets thrown in the pokey. Granted it takes time to do this but it works in the US.
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Disillusioned
It's really simple. Just expose it. Every website, their operators and the perves harboring this stuff all go on to a publicly accessible database a list offenders like they do with kiddy fiddlers in other parts of the world and stick it to em! Shut down all the websites and lock up the perves for a year or ten. Done! I'd like to go as far as to suggest tattoos on their foreheads, but........
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ratpack
castration should do the job quickly enough
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Speed
Simple. Make creating, possession and distributing/sharing of child porn a heavily penalized crime.
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gaijinfo
1) clear definitions
2) clear punishments
3) administer the punishments swiftly, spare no one.
Of course, all three of those are in effect in Malaysia and other countries as far as drug trafficking, but it hasn't stopped it one bit.
There may be no way to end child porn.
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womanforwomen
Yes, to Speed's recommendation. And educate the parents and children of this problem and make them aware of how it is done, the damage it causes and who are probable victims.
gaijinfo, malaysian society, values and problems are different to that of Japan's IMO.
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Zenny11
I am with gaijinfo.
For how many millenia have we tried to getg rid of Murder, Adultery, Rape, etc. Different law-systems, punishments, etc have been tried.
Some of those do carry very harsh punishments and that don't seem to make a difference. Same I think will happen to Child Pornography.
All we can do is make it tougher to obtain said material. Said but true.
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niibu_yaa
Public executions of people that posses or manufacture child porn would be a nice start. It wouldn't end it, but it would permanently take some of those behind it out of the "picture".
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timorborder
Excuse the pun, but the response to child pornography, etc., should be hardcore. A first step would be to stop the publication of questionable material, making it an offense for any business/individual related to such matters. This would mean an end to the legal sale of sexually graphic magazines, etc. whose themes are very much orientated to the depiction of underage persons. A second step would be to modify the law so that the possession of child pornography (as well as the distribution of it) was illegal. A third step would be a beefing up of the penalties. Instead of just leveling fines against the people who possess/peddle this filth, being found guilty of child pornography related offenses (including the exploitation of children) should result in some real jail time. What about 15 years for starters. Also, there should be sex offender register established that follows people around like a stench. If they move addresses, their past should move with them, with their new neighbors being informed of their past. Such a register could also include the electronic monitoring of such sex offenders (simply possessing child pornography or being related to it in any way should result in automatic registration to such a register). Finally, the shame factor should be leveraged. If found guilty of such offenses, people should have their pictures and full personal details printed in every major newspaper in Japan. Moreover, based on the traditional Japanese practice of group responsibility, in addition to the state being able to seize all of the possessions of those found guilty, the details of the next of kin of any such offenders should also be widely publicized. Also, aggravated cases of child exploitation should warrant a mandatory death penalty, such sentences being carried out in the presence of any inmates who are serving time for lesser child pornography offenses.
Anyway, if such an approach failed to achieve results, the government should just turn offenders over to the law of the mob.
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lovejapan21
i wonder if child porn is viewed/shared by only men??
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my2sense
No worries chotto... I was just being a wise***. Cheers.
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Hoolie
Possession, sale, distribution or production of child pornography should all carry the same sentence - life imprisonment without parole. Simply remove the offenders from society permanently.
There should also be a criminalisation of the sexualisation of pre-pubescents or pubescent children. This goes for the marketing geniuses that try to sell thong underwear for 6 year olds, bikini videos of 12 year olds, or create groups like Morning Musume. Lighter penalties for these groups though... shall we say an hour of bastinado for each child involved, followed by a year in prison?
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iron_brooklyn
You cant eradicate the industry. Japan is porn capital, and when you have men high up secretly supporting these unlawful acts , then there isnt much you can do.
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kawaiitenshi
I think it needs to start with education. People here are taught what is acceptable and what's not and unfortunately most of it is backwards. I found myself seeing red when the first thing my MIL said when she saw my 2 year old daughter wearing a new skirt and shirt the other day was "sexy!" kids should not be sexualised in any way.I do fear though if child porn is eradicated, pedos will be more desperate to act instead of watch... it makes me very nervous.
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Betting
Education of the averge person in this country. It's quite okay for anyone to pull out a porn magazine with extremely young girls in it on a train here, and I've seen guys right next to me do it. I'm a guy, and don't think there is anyone wrong with (adult) porn in the right place and time (your house, privately), not in a public place, mixed company, right in front of strangers, children etc. Some of the stuff I've seen advertised legally here, with young children in it is just bizarre.
The average person in this country needs to speak up and say it is not all right to have this stuff in the public arena.
Anyway, I think it is an uphill battle for the Japanese as this kind of stuff is just so entrenched here. AKB and Morning Musume type of groups just open the doors to child porn a little more and more and the average person here doesn't bat an eyelid. AKB and MM aren't pornographic, but they do challenge societal standards (actually lower them I think) as they have gained acceptance here. Seeing the fans (who look to be much older than the group members) drool over them makes me feel rather ill and I wonder what these guys do in their free time.
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smartacus
What horrifies me is how widespread the child porn industry is. Every time I read a story about some international child porn ring being smashed, there are always figures indicating thousands of people are into child porn all around the world, maybe hundreds of thousands. Who knows?
I wish some psychiatrist could explain to me where the love of child porn has its origins because it is an epidemic and I can't see any way to eradicate it.
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lovejapan21
Child porn could be a way for a man to live his childhood years that he missed because of shyness,gayness,etc. Many men, especially in Japan, do not have girlfriends until 18, and this is mainly because japanese women/girls tend to date older guys that have money/more mature/etc. I think these men feel like they missed out on their sexual teens and as they grow up and earn money, they can afford to experience what they could not when they were younger...
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acubed
The first thing is to get your definitions right. Most child protection agencies in the West prefer the term "child abuse images" to "child pornography" because the term "child pornography" legitimises the content in a way that "child abuse images" do not. However, just as we disallow murder, theft, arson, rape, torture but allow literary, film, animation and other visual depictions of those crimes, we should be careful not to create thought crimes by outlawing virtual imagery of any kind. The current discussions on banning anime and manga featuring sex with apparently under-age people (apparently is the key here because if the character is created there is not real age, nor a real child being abused) is ignoring the real explitation and abuse of children from the AKB/MM crowd to the imouto.tv and Garo Aido material. That kind of material is already illegal in many other jurusdictions and rightly so since real young people are being exploited and individually sexualised to produce the material. Free speech demands a high standard that we allow anything that does no harm in its production. Just as with all other fiction about illegal acts there is no serious evidence that viewing it leads to acting it out (and while there are psychological theories that suggest social learning takes place to normalise the viewed scenes, there are also psychological theories about the use of fiction to relieve desire to commit illegal acts). There are also horrendous boundary problems that are raised by suggestions of banning something imaginary. Do we ban exactly the same material that we would ban if it were real? Do we ban everything from Nabokov's Lolita to Takahashi's Ranma 1/2 (skirt-lifting scenes in both the manga and the anime involving HS girl characters)? By all means ban the possession of actual abuse images of children (which includes sexual exploitation photography). but don't divert the focus from the protection of real children from the abuse (filmed, photographed or not) and onto such thought crimes.
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nedinjapan
Stop the media including TV stations from depicting young adolescents as sexy idols! What comes next is some may want younger and may want to do more than just watch them in bikini!
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tkoind2
The people who are motivated to do this stuff are driven by either desires for this particular kind of fetish or by money. Both are difficult drivers to overcome even with harsh punishment. We know from history that punishment does not prevent crime by those motivated to carry it out.
So what is the answer? I don't mean to sound negative, but I seriously doubt this will ever truly go away.
So what can we do? Fight it with everything we can muster so that we make it very difficult for people to make and consume this kind of material. And yes we keep up the harsh penalties as they do deter some people.
In the end, we just have to work very hard to protect children from this.
I suggest we start by stopping these Akihabara places from exploting young girls. Yes it is soft, but it is the sexualization of children none the less. The standards must be wide and inclusive.
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maxtheitpro
I agree with gaijinfo's suggestion. Also, serious education by parents towards their kids on sexuality, and basic common sense morals starting with the definition of an ADULT and a CHILD (or adolescent. I've said it before but parents really have let children down in most places around the world. Here in Kenya, I get disturbed whenever I hear of a court case or see a newspaper blurb about some adult defiling a girl child. And it's usually a bloody relative. WTF????? I won't bother to share my method of cutting-edge punishment.
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Midnightpromise
Make it illegal
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Zenny11
Child Pornography is already illegal in Japan, what is not illegal yet is Manga, anime depicting "vitrual" child pornography.
Going after the peopole that possess it won't make a difference, IMHO.
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NuckinFutz
Making it illegal is only a start (yes, possession is STILL legal in Japan!). Laws need to be enforced by a functioning police force. This is where Japan runs into problems, too many of the cops are on the take from the yaks and turn a blind eye (or don't even bother to look in the right direction in the first place). Then you have to educate society that child exploitation is wrong. Many will see this as another form of Japan-bashing and resist with the usual "you can't tell us what to do" mentality. While a great many people want to make the problem go away, the ugly reality is it will be very hard thing to accomplish.
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PenelopePitstop
tough prison sentences! and also making japanese society understand that lusting after schoolgirls in uniform is pedophilia, not kawaii.
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Zenny11
First we need to shutdown the biggest sources/distributors of Child Porn.
USA and Germany.
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Spider
>know it's roots....NO to Morning Musume, NO to AKB48, NO to Micro-mini skirts as high school uniforms for girls...all of those are the simple roots of child pornography in this country. In other countries, as far as I know...poverty is the main root of the problem...and that's not easy to resolve.
Um, so M.musume/AKB et al are to blame for child porn in Japan and for the rest of the world it's poverty?
If only people would get over the misconception that these girl bands are in someway turning otherwise normal males into raving sexual deviants. I enjoy looking at the AKB girls - must I now seek psychiatric/sexual counselling?
There is no way to eradicate child porn. It was always there and always will be. Sad but painfully true.
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roughneck
Good point! I agree. Let kids be kids.
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seaforte03
Mossad can eradicate child porn, pornographers and the entire logistics chain - piece by piece. I'm ashamed to say this - but I believe the CIA would actually participate in the business (as per their participation in drug trading, arms trading - and who knows about slave trading)...so CIA no...Mossad - yeah!
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neverknow2
Make it illegal.
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DeepAir65
very, very tough to eradicate anything completely.
But how about tough prison sentences where they have to wear something different - same garb but different colour. And put them in gen pop...
Probably won't be that many repeat offenders...
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jforce
Teach understanding and feeling to this repressed society. And by feeling I don't mean some weirdo anime monster raping a school girl with a tentacle.
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URO
Only treatment at the source can truly resolve the problem of child porn, by removing the offending files on servers and arresting individuals who produce or distribute such content. Filtering devices should be experimented without delay. Networks and servers have to be cleaned up from all sources of piracy, using an ultra-intelligent software that can do the job quickly.
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YuriOtani
First their is a need to define "child porn". Americans are very prudish that comes from their Puritan history. While the vast majority of people agree that anything with children is porn and that anything of a sexual nature is wrong. What is a sexual nature? What about innocent pictures of naked children? Then some posters are calling pictures of children in swimsuits porn. There are some more that want to make artificial pictures illegal. So we bust some person and send them to jail for drawing pictures or writing stores? So people who might harm children need to be sought out because they might? America is holding sex offenders in jail because they might do it again. There needs to be some standard set but who is going to do this? Japan is not going to accept an American Prude standard.
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morphoyle
Tough punishments will do little to stop this issue. Banning manga with pictures of girls that seem underage will do little as well. The people that desire this material have mental issues that cause them to be attracted to young people. There are places that will execute people for being homosexual (not that there is anything wrong with being homosexual) and it does little to stop people from performing homosexual acts. I'm not claiming homosexuality is an illness like the desire to look at/be with underage persons, but it does show that people will go to any lengths to satisfy sexual desire no matter the potential punishment. The best option is probably treatment of some kind, unless we are prepared to lock up offenders for the rest of their lives (which I am fine with)
0
gonemad
acubed, good post.
Don't expect too much from any technical solutions. They will work occasionally, but if it is really true that the distribution of child porn is a multi-billion dollar business, then they will be able to hire technical experts which allow them to stay ahead in the cat and mouse game with law enforcement agencies. Look at the sophisticated methods of the spammers if you want to get an impression.
I'm not sure that making possession illegal really contributes to solving the problem. My concerns are that scarce qualified resources of law enforcement agencies will be diverted to fight the symptoms instead of the root and that it will effectively outlaw own research into the distribution networks by child protection organizations.
Let's not forget the primary target, that we want to protect children from abuse. Everything else is secondary or even irrelevant. According to police statistics, in the vast majority of cases, child abuse is done by persons close to the children. When we all, be it as parents, teachers, relatives, friends or whatever carefully watch the children around us and act when we find signs that (may) indicate abuse, we will probably gain most. I'm convinced that only when we succeed in building a society which cares, and does not look away we will have a real chance to fight child abuse and consequently child porn.
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CaptDingleheimer
Yes, specifically men with mustaches who drive vans.
Hey, let's not get too carried away here now...
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Dubya
Maybe if we were not forced to worship perversion, then we could make a start.
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wontond
Public stonings of people found guilty of possessing/distributing child porn.
It also wouldn't hurt if people stopped trying to make kids look "sexy" or sexy women as "little girls".
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cactusJack
step one: find and destroy all child porn step two: find & destroy all children (so no one can make more child porn)
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Zenny11
I think the main problem is that the definition of "Child Pornography" is often by a persons morals and views rather than the legal definitions.
In a country where the age of conset is 18 it will be different from a country where the age is 14(like mine, japan is actually 16-18 depending on location).
Everybody agrees on prepubescent child-pornography but it gets tougher when you get to ages 13 and above.
Good article in JT: http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20090331i1.html
Excerpts:
> But then there is the basic question of what constitutes child pornography — legally, or by one's own definition. Kiosks and bookstores prominently display "manga" comic books with photos of prepubescent girls in bikinis on the cover, smiling and waving, and, of course, sexually explicit manga and "anime" featuring drawings of schoolgirls are readily available.
Is that child pornography? Legally, no. Yet the answer becomes more controversial among people whose personal morals differ from the legal definition or from those who don't see what the fuss is about.
A good indicator on how well a countries actions and legislations against Child pornography and Pedophiles can be found in the media.
Shows like "To catch a Predator", etc can be eye-openers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ToCatcha_Predator
Also mags like "Barely Legal", "Just turned 18" are aimed at the pedophile market ...
And I agree that too many things are sexualised this days. Just turn on MTV, etc and watch some of those dance-moves. Also this applies to looks of performers, etc and even can extend in to the business world.
HTH.
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Mittsu
I don't think you will ever eradicate it.
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ronaldk
Shut down the Internet.
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KyokoSmile
What's the big deal, YuriOtani? We're both living in Japan, right? Child porn is a very old japanese tradition...shou ga nai, na!
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moonbeams
Great points so far.
First, get to the root of the problem as previously said. Attacking and punishing the distribution and sales will not eradicate this disease. Research needs to be done to discover why some men develop a sexual interest in children. Also, research needs to be done to learn why these people think it's okay to ruin other's lives for their own ill pleasure.
Next, Japan needs to take a tough stand against the sexualization of children. I remember a magazine called bubuka had photo of an eleven year old girl with big breasts wearing a bikini on the cover and was sold in the adult section in convenience stores and on display on the street in front of a bunkyodou bookstore. Another offender is weekly playboy and their ads in JR. Shame on JR. There was an advertisement for an issue last year that featured girls from 13 to 16 and promised these children as "center graviere." And why are there images of akb48 girls on all of these weekly playboy ads? Out of all the things to advertise in Japan, why dies JR choose these? And they complain about their chikan problem. Talk about fueling the fire!
Teachers need to stop oogling their students. This brings the problem to education and social roles. Girls are taught to be sexual objects from these factors such as train advertisements and oogling teachers. Boys are taught that it is okay to sexually objectify girls. The industry capitalizes on it.
To eradicate child pornography we need to change the way children are used in society.
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Zenny11
moonbeams.
Some good points but it is NOT just Japan that needs to do those things. It is happening everywhere, also very common in the states and europe.
Just focusing on Japan ignores the MAJOR distributors out there. Japan is having a bad rep that is played up by some groups but they are not the biggest culprit.
Even if all distribution/possession in Japan is shut down, there is still the internet, P2P, chatrooms, etc from across the globe where the stuff can be had.
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combinibento
YuriOtani, I suggest you read some actual US judicial opinions affirming the convictions of possessors of child porn. In the factual discussions in these opinions, there are some extremely graphic descriptions of what is happening to the kids (including infants) in these photos that are found on the harddrives of the offenders. And I think this will put to rest your apparent concerns with the (according to you) "vague" definition of child porn. Granted, while several above posters discuss pre-teens in bathing suits, that is not the thing offenders are being prosecuted for. Rather, those photos and ads may be creating a social attitude here in Japan where it is acceptable under certain circumstances to view a minor in a sexual context. That isn't porn, but it certainly doesn't seem appropriate for a developed nation.
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KyokoSmile
**there are some extremely graphic descriptions of what is happening to the kids (including infants) in these photos that are found on the harddrives of the offenders. **
Thoughts like this makes me wanna kill myself quick..How horrifying!! Kudos to Combini btw.
0
fishy
Yuri-
This doesn't have anything to do with what you call "American standard". It is a fact that child porn is becoming a big issue in this country = Japan, and it needs to be addressed and changed.
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Osakadaz
At Kobe Matsuri last week there was the usual samba dancing parades, but one group effectively had little tiny girls wearing thong-style costumes.The parents definitely ought to rethink that one...especially given the multitudes of Japanese men of various ages with video cameras and zoom lenses honed on the kids, filming them for longer than what could be considered a happy snap.Come on..they can't all be dads.
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cmeandu09
Death penalty if your caught with it or sending it out. No quesitons asked no deals.
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YuriOtani
combinibento, there is real child porn out there. Children getting used in a sexual fashion or in better terms getting raped. Enforcement needs to be focused on this group of criminals. What I see in this thread is more Japanese bashing as usual. While a lot of things are on the line, where does the government place it? I say it has to be clearly children engaged in a sex act.
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TuxedoMichael
Better to let the Democratic and Social Democratic Parties handle it.
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momoninja
YuriOtani - Where exactly do you get off?? "American Prude Standard"? LoL When exactly did this become an issue of America vs. YuriOtani, huh? I can be away from this forum for months at a time, come back one day, read one of your posts, and realize you still haven't ventured very far from your comfy little kotatsu into the real world - i.e. your mental capacity just doesn't progress. You can go to the UN (particularly UNICEF) for facts on Japan's record regarding child trafficking. Or any of the dozens of NPOs & NGOs that deal with sex trafficking. Most any American (or Brit, or Aussie, or you-name-it) is perfectly capable of 'looking in the mirror' of our own national identities and pointing out the faults, that's how we forge our various countries into better & better societies over time. But oooohhh no, not YuriOtani. Do you actually know anything at all regarding the facts on global sexual exploitation? Or Japan's worldwide reputation as a haven for child porn? But then, you probably could care less anyway, you're so hung up on this "American Prude" thing. Find a mirror Yuri, and take a look: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/7723418/Japanese-government-blocks-a-ban-on-child-pornography.html
I'm sure this post will be pulled, most of mine usually are. LoL
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momoninja
Oh and my dearest YuriOtani (did you think I'd let you off that easily), if there's one thing that folks here can agree on, it's the fact that you are notable for your lack of self-reflection and lack of ability to self-criticize. As JT is a Japanese, and Japanese-centered, publication, it's logical that discussions will be focused on Japan, including discussions critical of Japan, Japanese society, etc. But here's where you just can't handle it - where some may simply voice criticism (sometimes passionately), YuriOtani cries foul, and screams "Japan bashing!!". Do you honestly think that wins you any points for your arguments or points of view? Do you honestly believe that the majority of us on these forums are ignorant gaijin, with no Japanese networks of family & friends, and that YuriOtani is the end-all and be-all Japanese voice of reason? Hate to break the news to you Yuri, but it's only you you're fooling.
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krisallenation
Put those pedophiles in real jail! In my country they
d suffer so much becoming their partners ¨girlfriends¨ theyd never create or even touch material envolving child pornography again!! And for some of you who questioned what If 18 is or not classified underaged in these cases, imagine your own daughter being exposed in pornography for those disgusting pedophiles then you`ll have the right answer.0
WilliB
The question is misleading. You can not ever "eradicate" any crime. All you can do is fight it continuously.
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HonestDictator
But its a start. Child abuse period is the root cause. One can not manufacture child pornography unless they are sexually abusing a child. So the answer is simple but the execution may not be. Find the people that are sexually abusing children, arrest them, punish them. It doesn't seem people have tried hard enough. They can't sell what they don't have. People can't own what isn't sold.
Make sexual abuse of children(actual living children, not fictional) a crime and pro-actively enforce the law. Then make distribution/sales of those materials originating from such crimes illegal and pro-actively enforce the law. Then make ownership of materials originating from such crimes illegal and pro-actively enforce the law.
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Nagoyalove
Life in prison, with "child abuser" tattooed on his forehead
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