by Marc Neff
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania Rules Accessing and Viewing Child Pornography over the Internet Constitutes Control under Sexual Abuse of Children Statute
Pennsylvania’s statute on Sexual Abuse of Children contains a provision which states: “it is illegal for an individual to knowingly possess or control any book, magazine, pamphlet, slide, photograph, film, videotape, computer depiction or other material depicting a child under the age of eighteen years engaging in a prohibited sexual act or in the simulation of such act.” In 2003, Anthony...
by Marc Neff
Third Circuit Holds Government Contracted Psychologist May Be Subpoenaed To Testify Favorably For Defendant at Sentencing
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals recently decided the case of United States v. Olhovsky, ruling that the sentence imposed by the District Court upon the Defendant was unreasonable. Nicolau Olhovsky was sentenced to six years imprisonment after pleading guilty to charges of possessing child pornography. In 2004, an undercover law enforcement officer was investigating an Internet Relay Chat...
by Marc Neff
Underage “Sexting” Now Punishable as a Sex Crime in a Growing Number of Jurisdictions
As cellular telephone technology advances at an extremely rapid pace, more and more teenagers are possessing phones with the capabilities to snap still photos or record short videos. Coupled with the fact that as a society, children are becoming acquainted with sex at younger ages, this technology has led to the practice of sexting; sending nude photos or other sexually explicit photos and/or...
by Marc Neff
Supreme Court of the United States Elects Not to Hear Arguments on the Constitutionality of the Child Online Protection Act
The Child Online Protection Act (“COPA”) was passed in 1998 in an attempt to regulate inappropriate web-based content which was too easily accessible by children. COPA was never allowed to take effect, however, as an injunction on the Act was immediately issued after its passage. The constitutionality of the Act was challenged in ACLU v. MuKasey, in which a United States District Court held...
by Marc Neff