By Sandy . . . A young man was sentenced to prison in Florida last week. The charge, following his arrest last year when he was 19, was 30 counts of possession of child pornography. The materials to which he entered an open plea are disturbing as the children involved were very young. Clearly intervention and appropriate punishment were called for.

However, a sentence that makes no allowance for his young age when the activity was occurring nor for the non-contact nature of the conviction seems inappropriate. Florida, since 1978, has had a youthful offender act. The young man who was sentenced, Anthony by name, seems to be a tailor-made candidate for this option. He appears to meet all the criteria. Whether or not it was considered for him is unknown to all but a very few, but if it was considered, he was denied that opportunity to be held accountable for his crimes; quite possibly serve some prison time; and, most importantly, be evaluated for underlying issues and receive treatment judged appropriate for them and for his offending behavior.

Young people, primarily males, seek out pornography for a variety of reasons. One of these reasons has been identified by the National Health Institute as underlying mental health issues. In a study involving college students, they found that depression as well as high levels of stress and anxiety were precursors to pornography use in these students.

In a study even more specific to Anthony’s case, the National Health Institute concluded that young males with a history of possessing child pornography would most benefit from specific treatment. They found, “. . . juvenile possessors of child pornography need a specific target intervention focusing on dysfunctional Internet use and sexually deviant arousal.” If Anthony had been managed in the youthful offender program, his screening and diagnostic implements may well have reached the same conclusion. It is unlikely he will receive this type of intervention sentenced and incarcerated in the adult system in Florida.

Another possible reason adolescents partake of child pornography is to help them understand sexual abuse of which they themselves were victims. Pornography addiction is one of the latter expressions of victimized children, according to the National Children’s Alliance. In agreement, another organization, in an unpublished study, identified coping with their own prior abuse as one of seven reasons why teens turn to pornography. As far as the public record goes, there is no indication of whether or not any of these issues apply to Anthony. Again, this type of diagnosis and subsequent related treatment would only have been available to him as part of the youthful offender program.

How long was Anthony sentenced for? The answer is shocking. His sentence is for 68 years in state prison, followed by lifetime sex offender probation. And of course, if he survives his prison time, of which 85% must be served, and gets out, he will have sex offender registration as well as sex offender probation.

To put that sentence a bit more in perspective, the U.S. Sentencing Commission shows that for Anthony’s conviction, the average sentence given is 95 months, which is a month shy of eight years.

Another perspective can be had with this. In hunting for the longest sentence given for a non-contact pornography conviction, the case of Stephen Chase, 58, also of Florida, stands out. Stephen, in 2014, created an illegal child pornography website on the dark web. Stephen himself is identified as “. . . creator and lead administrator of what was believed to be the world’s largest child pornography website—with more than 150,000 users around the world.” His conviction, in 2017, was for “. . . engaging in a child exploitation enterprise and multiple child pornography charges.” He was sentenced to 30 years.

Why was Anthony’s sentence so extreme? Any answer will be speculative. However, it is interesting that several of the media articles about his arrest and his conviction say that law enforcement “suspect” him of hands-on molestation of children and put a call out for anyone who had contact with him during the past five years—that would be when he was 14 to 19—to get in touch with law enforcement. The absence of any media or of any new charges indicate there was no one.

We all make choices. We do not know what demons drove Anthony, but he still chose to engage in illegal behavior. The county of Volusia and the state of Florida chose to prosecute Anthony in the adult legal system. As a youthful offender, there is a good chance his problems would have been identified and treated; he would still have served a sentence, but he would have been released with most of his life left. He would have been able to take advantage of rehabilitation and enter his society as a productive, tax-paying citizen.

Now, if he manages to stay alive through the six decades (85%) he will be in a Florida penitentiary, he will emerge, having cost the state at the current rate of $24, 265 per year close to a million and a half of its tax dollars, either a broken and ruined man, dependent on welfare and costing the state even more, or a hardened criminal.

Choices are important.

The post Florida, make better choices first appeared on NARSOL.