Counter Pedophilia Investigate Unit

CARTOON: Move to criminalize anime, however, worries some free speech advocates.

By MEGAN HOLLAND
mholland@adn.com

A state prosecutor who handles child pornography cases wants sexually explicit drawings of children — even computer-generated cartoons — to be as illegal as photographs of actual abuse.

The idea is supported by the chair of the House Judiciary Committee and others in the State Legislature.

Laws criminalizing possession of sexually explicit photographs of children have long been an exception to the First Amendment, which protects Americans’ right to think and read whatever they want. Supporters of the existing laws successfully argued that children are hurt in order to produce the photographs.

That argument does not apply to drawings, particularly not to computer-generated cartoons, and the move to extend the law to include them threatens to pit free speech advocates against child protection advocates.

“The fight needs to happen,” said Aaron Sperbeck, the crimes-against-children prosecutor in the Anchorage District Attorney’s Office who is behind the idea. “(The images) are almost as graphic and disturbing as real children. We need to get the conversation going.”

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