From the Bangor Daily News
Lewiston Police Chief Bill Welch, a leader of Maine’s Computer Crimes Task Force, said that "in the neighborhood of two dozen" youths have been charged statewide with similar crimes "in the last two years or so." Welch said he checked with two computer forensic labs hosted by the task force, located in Lewiston and Vassalboro, for information about the juveniles and said he discovered "a lot don’t get prosecuted" in connection with downloading sexually explicit materials. Lack of criminal intent is the reason, said Welch, who has chaired the Computer Crimes Task Force policy board since its launch in 1999. "It’s very different if a 15-year-old is viewing images of a 12-year-old [compared with] when an adult is looking at images of children," Welch said. In the latter "there is a criminal intent." He said lab operators report that the cases most likely to be prosecuted involve dissemination — "when someone is giving those pictures out." The task force is designed to assist police and prosecutors with investigating and prosecuting any crime in which a computer is used as an instrument in committing or assisting in a crime. In the case of the Bangor teen, evidence was sent to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children database in an attempt to identify the victim or victims. Based on that information, the teen was charged with a Class C crime, which is a felony, Reid said. While information about the Bangor case is restricted, the age of the victim typically determines the class of the crime. The younger a victim, the more serious the crime, Reid said. Many youngsters are unaware of laws that prohibit the downloading of child pornography, said David Finkelhor, director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center. The center is part of the Family Research Laboratory in the sociology department at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, where Finkelhor is a professor. "There [are] a lot of sexual offenses by juveniles using the Internet," he said. "A large number of teens have said they have downloaded child porn. Many do not realize it’s criminal. [To them] it’s sexual exploration. "We also know many kids are taking sexual photos of themselves and friends and sending them to people," Finkelhor said. "That is child pornography production and that’s criminal as well." It’s hard to determine the amount of criminal intent when children are involved, he said, adding that the phenomenon is growing as access by juveniles to computers increases. A significant increase in the number of computer-related crimes in recent years led the Bangor Police Department to create a three-computer station for its computer crimes unit at the new police station on Summer Street. Satellite computer crime labs are set up in Belfast, Rockland, Augusta and Portland, Welch said. The number of cybercrimes is expected to keep on rising, said U.S. Attorney Paula Silsby. "The whole issue of child pornography is a significant one," she said Wednesday. "Ever since computers became commonplace in every home, we have seen more and more Internet-based crimes, from possession of child pornography to distribution of child pornography," she said. "It’s a huge, huge issue because of the ease of access. You can sit in your living room and access child pornography." According to a Maine Computer Crimes Task Force 2004-05 report, the number of Internet crimes increased by 173 percent, compared with its 2002-03 report; requests for computer forensic examinations increased by 56 percent; and criminal investigations involving computers increased by 75 percent. The 2006-07 report is nearly complete and has similar numbers, Welch said. On average, police officers in Maine seize a computer every two days.
Comments