Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Child Pornography Apparently Now Includes All Videotaped Images of Minors

We're now moving into the theater of the absurd, but apparently the legal definition of what constitutes child pornography has now been expanded to include something that any parent of a high school cheerleader probably already has in their possession - a videotape of underage girls doing cheer and/or dance routines for their school. Round em all up!

Unbelievably, a man in Sacramento, CA, has been charged with felony possession of child pornography for videotaping clothed cheerleaders at a high school competition in February. The tape focused on the buttocks and other parts of the cheerleaders. He was also charged with misdemeanor invasion of privacy. He recently pleaded no contest to the charges in court, and the felony charge will be dropped against him if he completes probation on the misdemeanor.

Gilbert Chan, a veteran business reporter, was caught by University of California, Davis, police on Feb. 3 while surreptitiously videotaping a youth cheerleading competition on campus, Deputy District Rob Gorman told a judge in Yolo Superior Court. Chan was not on duty at the time of the incident, and remains on administrative leave from the paper. Under an agreement with prosecutors, Chan pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of invasion of privacy. Under a no-contest plea, a defendant does not admit guilt, but the effect is substantively the same. He also pleaded no contest to a felony charge of possession of child pornography. The tape focused on the buttocks and other parts of clothed cheerleaders. The cheerleaders were under 18.


As a society, have we lost our minds? How on earth is this child pornography???

Let's recap the facts here. The cheerleaders were fully clothed. They were performing at a public university in a public venue. Chan was undoubtedly videotaping the girls, but for what purpose? Perhaps he was making a documentary on the sexual exploitation of teens in the cheerleading industry. Perhaps he enjoys cheerleading as a hobby and simply wanted to memorialize some of the routines on tape. Charging him with child pornography in this situation completely borders upon the policing of thoughts. It's ok to sit in the stands and watch the routines but not to videotape them? How is this any different than looking at advertisements of juniors in swimsuits in a newspaper or a magazine? Is that child pornography too? Are cheerleading outfits by definition pornographic materials now?

According to the California statute, the felony charge (CA 311.11) requires possession of "obscene matter depicting sexual conduct of a person under 18." The question of what constitutes obscenity was fairly well established in Miller v. California, 413 US 15, where the Supreme Court gave the following guidelines:

The basic guidelines for the trier of fact must be: (a) whether "the average person, applying contemporary community standards" would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest, (b) whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law; and (c) whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.


Since when does an innocent cheerleading routine constitute sexual conduct?

We simply cannot believe this story, and frankly, we're even more confused that Chan didn't contest these charges with more gusto. Consider that as part of his probation he is not allowed to be anywhere that cheerleaders congregate, which means, let's hope that Chan isn't a sports fan or that he doesn't have athletes in his family who he might want to watch play sports, because he's not allowed to do that anymore.

More Coverage:

Associated Content - Should Gilbert Chan Have Pornographic Charges?
McClatchey Watch - Sacramento Bee Reporter Enters No Contest Plea to Possession of Child Pornography
Right Thinking From the Left Coast - Cheering for Sex Offenders

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