re: Charges Dropped against Minnesota State HC on child porn

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Lawsuits are not the answer. The laws need to be changed. This is what happens when we pass laws to "get tough" in response to some terrible incident. Probably some high profile case somewhere about child porn and we rush to pass tougher laws without considering the unintended consequences like some guy with picks of his kids in a bath or teenagers being charged with child porn.

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Interestingly enough, toughening of laws may end up helping future criminals of that crime.

For example, a city has a major narcotics distribution problem that has the public and the media up in arms. Therefore, laws are put in place to enforce mandatory sentencing of the harshest possible penalty that is within the legislature's range for a fair and proportional punishment.

In turn, the mandatory sentencing forces hundreds of new cases to go to court and backs up the docket. Since the prosecution and judges cannot handle the load, DA's may choose to prosecute the criminals on a lesser crime, such as possession, instead of distribution, so they can plea bargain away the case. Of course, the DA has to start on lower ground in the plea bargaining because possession does not carry the same penalty.

Ironically, the "get tough on crime" laws can backfire. Rushing to judgment and irrational decision-making is never the answer.