Be careful of shouta and loli

[dragonimp]

‘Obscene’ U.S. Manga Collector Jailed 6 Months

A U.S. comic book collector is being sentenced to six months in prison after pleading guilty to importing and possessing Japanese manga books depicting illustrations of child sex and bestiality.

Christopher Handley was sentenced in Iowa on Thursday, (.pdf) almost a year after pleading guilty to charges of possessing “obscene visual representations of the sexual abuse of children.”

The 40-year-old was charged under the 2003 Protect Act, which outlaws cartoons, drawings, sculptures or paintings depicting minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct, and which lack “serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.” Handley was the nation’s first to be convicted under that law for possessing cartoon art, without any evidence that he also collected or viewed genuine child pornography.

...

Comic fans were outraged, saying jailing someone over manga does not protect children from sexual abuse.

This seems more like an abuse of the legal system than an actual effort to protect children.

Comments

[dragonimp.livejournal.com]

I want to know who gets to decide whether things have "value," because it sure seems like a lot hinges on that arbitrary definition. (Although I don't get why drawings are even an issue, so long as there's no evidence that a child posed for them -_-)