https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/25046790/not-enough-paedophiles-jailed-warns-national-crime-agency/https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/dec/13/eight-in-10-convicted-in-uk-over-child-abuse-images-avoid-prison-nca-saysConsidering that the countries prisons are full up, this was a surprising comment from Graham Biggar of the NCA. The College of Policing even says that custodial sentences increase re offending rates, because they expose people to criminal influences in prison and remove them from protective factors on the outside. But when you read into the story, its clear that he doesn't get what is actually going on. He's conflating the worst offenders on the dark web with the low hanging fruit, who make up most of the people arrested. A report by the Guardian showed that 50% of them are in fact children. Does he want those kids locked up too? https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/dec/04/thousands-young-people-caught-watching-online-child-abuse-images-scary-figures-show-england-walesAt the most extreme end of the spectrum, are the people running these dark net websites, and when they do get caught, they usually receive very long prison sentences. But the vast majority of offenders are not running websites, they are clicking on links to what they think is legal porn and getting referred to the police by social media firms. Something like 80% of all the referrals come from the NCMEC in the USA, which then passes them on to other countries Most of the people being arrested are porn addicts, not pedophiles and they need treatment for their addiction not prison. The House of Lords recently produced a report recommending better use of Community sentences and in particular mental health treatment and addiction services. But they missed a trick. They only considered drug and alcohol addiction, not porn addiction. This is a health and addiction issue, not a crime issue, so it should be dealt with by the NHS, but unfortunately they don't recognise porn or sex addiction, as a real addiction. Until that changes, we are going to see more ignorant comments from people like Graham Biggar, sadly.
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