Starting in 2012, some US customers of Azov Films have been arrested and charged with receipt and possession of child pornography: some of the nude visual material has been construed as illegal by US Law Enforcement Officers ("LEO's"), including agents of the United States Postal Inspection Service.
In a first for Florida, a Central Florida prosecutor is seeking the death penalty for a man charged with raping a child. The pursuit of capital punishment comes after lawmakers passed and Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law a measure allowing the death penalty for those convicted of sexually battering children under the age of 12. (Staff reporter, USA TODAY Network, December 15, 2023)
A new Florida bill allowing capital punishment for those committing sexual battery on children under 12 cleared the state’s rules committee this week and is now heading to the full Senate. (Lorenz Duchamps, NTD, April 14, 2023)
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill Monday allowing Florida to impose the death penalty on those convicted of sexual battery against children younger than 12. (Yacob Reyes, MSN, May 1, 2023)
Twenty years ago, the justices deemed registration nonpunitive, accepting unsubstantiated assumptions about its benefits and blithely dismissing its costs. ( Jacob Sullum, Reason.com, March 1, 2023)
Newly released records show two police officers were suspended without pay after berating a 5-year-old boy who had walked away from his elementary school, calling him a 'shepherd of the devil' and threatening him with a beating. (Joseph Michalitsianos, Daily Mail, September 4, 2022 )
Two Pennsylvania judges who orchestrated a scheme to send children to for-profit jails in exchange for kickbacks were ordered to pay more than $200 million to hundreds of children who fell victim to their crimes. (CBS News, August 17, 2022 )
Nex Benedict — a nonbinary, Native American, 16-year-old sophomore — was reportedly beaten to death on February 7 by three older female students in the bathroom of Owasso High School in Oklahoma. The school refused to call an ambulance for the injured teen and didn’t inform police of the attack until Benedict was later admitted into the hospital — they died from their injuries the next day. (Jorge Martinez , LGBTQ Nation, July 10, 2023)
A unicorn costume, a hammer and a belief that pedophiles are using public schools to destroy democracy: The trial of David DePape for attacking Paul Pelosi was strange and disturbing. (Anita Chabria, Los Angeles Times, November 24, 2023)
Lee confronted two teenagers Friday night – a 17- and 18-year-old – at a restaurant in Pontiac. He accused one of being a pedophile and punched him, according to the police news release. (Jessica Xing and Zoe Sottile, CNN, October 1, 2023)
A young black boy has made an impassioned speech about racism at an Oregon city council meeting after he experienced discrimination at school. Gavin Alston, 10, bravely spoke up in the room full of adults and told council members how unfair it was that kids called him a 'monkey' and the N-word in his fourth grade class. (Claudia Aoraha, Daily Mail, June 16, 2023)
Five Proud Boys, armed with a semi-automatic rifle and a handgun, intimidated children and parents attending a monthly all-ages drag event inside a wine and tea shop in Salt Lake City, Utah on January 20. The event’s organizers have temporarily paused all future performances to plan a response and ways to ensure attendees’ safety. ( Daniel Villarreal, LGBTQ Nation, Febuary 1, 2023)
Long before QAnon and Pizzagate reared their heads, another element supposedly dedicated to protecting children has been doing more harm than good. Namely, vigilante outfits that take the law into their own hands to track down suspected pedophiles. More often than not, their tactics cross the line into cyberbullying or worse. In the process, these vigilantes make prosecuting their targets difficult, if not impossible—even when there is clear evidence of wrongdoing. (Darrell Lucus, 2022 ,Daily Kos, July 6, 2022 )
