A group from the Buffalo, NY area, CautionClick (www.cautionclick.com), has sent this proposed letter to be passed on to those who represent anyone reading this. Please pass it on to others and print copies to mail to those addresses posted, as well as to your individual representatives.

Thank you,
Tony

We are attaching a copy of a letter we would like to encourage you all to send out to your individual federal representatives as well as to both

Honorable Bob Goodlatte,
Chairman Committee of Judiciary
US House of Representatives
2309 Rabyburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515
202 225 5431
Fax 202 225 9681

Honorable Patrick J. Leahy,
Chairman, US Senate Committee on the Judiciary
224 Dirkson Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510
202 224 7703
Fax 202 224 9516

We would encourage you to send a copy of this letter to your family members to send out their own copies of the letter to their representatives as well. We would like to get the message out that we support the distinctions that the USSC is making with sentencing and encourage any type of reform of the current system. Every letter helps send a message that there are many people out there that support this thinking..

Make sure you include your return address. It is necessary on all correspondence with elected officials.

Thank you.
CautionClick

THE LETTER

Dear (YOUR LOCAL CONGRESSMEN),

In December of 2012 the United States Sentencing Commission released a report entitled “Federal Child Pornography Offenses” (available in full at ussc.gov). The report is the result of a multi year process in which the USSC examined cases of offenders sentenced under the federal sentencing guidelines and corresponding penal statues concerning child pornography offenses.

The conclusion of this report states “The Commissions report is intended to provide Congress and the various stake holders in the federal criminal justice system with relevant and thorough information about child pornography offenses and offenders. As illustrated by the report, child pornography offenses result in substantial and indelible harm to children who are victimized by both production and non-production offenses. However, there is a growing belief among many interested parties that the existing sentencing scheme in non-production offenses no longer distinguishes adequately among offenders based on their degrees of culpability and dangerousness. Numerous stakeholders-including the Department of Justice, the federal defender community, and the Criminal Law Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States Courts-have urged the Commission and Congress to revise the non-production sentencing scheme to better reflect the growing body of knowledge about offense and offender characteristics and to better account for offenders varying degrees of culpability and dangerousness.”

“The Commission believes that the current non-production guideline warrants revision in view of its outdated and disproportionate enhancements related to offenders collecting behavior as well as its failure to account fully for some offender s involvement in child pornography communities and sexually dangerous behavior. The current guideline produces overly severe sentencing ranges for some offenders, unduly lenient ranges for other offenders, and wide spread inconsistent application. A revised guideline that more fully accounts for all three factors-the full range of an offender s collecting behavior, the degree of his involvement in a child pornography community, and any history of sexually dangerous behavior-would better promote proportionate sentences and reflect the statutory purposes of sentencing. Such a revised guideline, together with a statutory structure that aligns the penalties for receipt and possession, would reduce the unwarranted sentencing disparities that currently exist. The Commission also suggests that Congress may wish to revise the penalty structure governing distribution offenses in order to differentiate among the wide array of newer and older technologies used by offenders to distribute child pornography. Finally, the Commission also recommends to Congress that it consider amending the notice and restitution statutes for victims of child pornography offenses. The Commission stands ready to work with Congress, the Federal Judiciary, the Executive Branch, and others in the federal criminal justice community to improve the sentencing scheme for these extremely serious offenses.”

I support the findings of this report and ask you to give consideration toward amending the sentencing guidelines concerning child pornography offenses.

Thank you for your time and consideration,

Sincerely,

NAME
CONTACT INFORMATION