Finding child pornography is traumatic and shocking. It is hard to believe that someone we know, or someone we love, could be hiding such a horrible secret from us. The pictures are awful, and the betrayal of trust and love is agonizing. Many people who make the discovery do not who to tell, what to do, or who to turn to. We want to deny that such a thing could even be possible of our loved one. We want to believe it was a mistake and somehow can be fixed.
There is no denying the evidence of child sexual abuse, though, and no excuse or justification that can make it go away. Those who view child pornography participate in the rape of children by the very act of viewing it and downloading it, causing demand for more supply. Those who use child pornography are also inflamed to act on their fantasies.
A government study shows that 85% of those caught with child pornography admit to having contact sex crime victims. In fact, those jailed for child pornography have 30.5 victims each, compared to “only” 9.5 victims each for those jailed for child molestation. Child pornography users have 3 times as many child sex crime victims as the “normal” child molester. Viewing child pornography is an extremely serious crime, and every image is a crime scene photo of a child that needs to be rescued. Reporting child pornography will help rescue those children suffering the abuse in those photos, and keep local children safe.
When you find child pornography, please:
- Do not confront the offender directly,
- Report what you found online at www.Cybertipline.com or call 1-800-843-5678, and call your local law enforcement agency immediately, and
- Make sure you and your children are in a safe and secure location.