Nonprofit blasts Supreme Court nominee’s ‘appalling leniency’ in child porn cases

"At least 50% of those convicted are also hands-on abusers of children, so the more these predators are serving time, the safer these children can feel," Kelly Janssen of the Child Protection League told Alpha News.

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday on the second day of her confirmation hearings. (Senate Judiciary Committee/Twitter)

A Minnesota nonprofit that is dedicated to protecting children criticized President Joe Biden’s Supreme Court nominee for her “appalling leniency” in child porn cases.

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, the nominee in question, completed four days of hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week. She was grilled by GOP senators over her record of giving light sentences to child porn offenders, an issue Child Protection League Action (CPLA) of Minnesota fights against tirelessly.

CPLA said in a statement that “judges like Jackson are deliberately shifting sympathy from the child victim to the criminal.”

Minnesota legislators are working on passing legislation that would up the charges for child predators in the state, since as of now, Minnesota “has some of the weakest sentencing penalties in the nation” for child pornography offenses.

CPLA has focused its attention over the last year on raising public awareness of the “crisis” surrounding child sexual abuse imagery.

The Protect Minnesota Kids Act, authored by Rep. Matt Grossell, R-Clearbrook, and Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen, R-Alexandria, would require stronger penalties that replicate federal sentences for “production, distribution, receipt and possession of child sexual abuse imagery.”

CPLA wants the public to get in contact with their legislators, as well as House and Senate leadership, and urge them to pass the Protect Minnesota Kids Act.

“These children that are being exploited and abused need to get justice now,” said CPLA project manager Kelly Janssen in a statement to Alpha News.

She emphasized the “peace of mind” this bill would provide for survivors of sexual abuse.

“At least 50% of those convicted are also hands-on abusers of children, so the more these predators are serving time, the safer these children can feel,” Janssen continued.

CPLA released a documentary earlier this year that exposed the “child sexual abuse imagery crisis” in Minnesota. The documentary features Grossell, co-author of the PMKA, as well as testimonies from law enforcement officers and victims.

“Our nation must demand serious consequences for the destruction of children’s lives,” the group said.

 

Rose Williams

Rose Williams is an assistant editor for Alpha News.