Etan Patz Trial Starts, 35 Years After Boy Disappeared on SoHo Street

“The murder trial against a man accused of killing Etan Patz got underway on Friday, with opening statements made in a proceeding that prosecutors hope will finally lay to rest a question that for decades has tormented the Patz family and, in a sense, all of New York City: What really happened to the 6-year-old boy?”

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Restricted Group Speaks Up, Saying Sex Crime Measures Go Too Far

“As local and state governments have imposed tough penalties for sex crimes in recent years, including restrictions on where sex offenders can live or even set foot, members of this highly stigmatized group have begun to fight back.”

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Jury Clears Pataki for Post-Prison Detention of Sex Offenders

“A federal jury in Manhattan found on Wednesday that former Gov. George E. Pataki was not liable for violating the rights of six men who claimed that they were wrongly confined in state psychiatric hospitals after completing prison sentences for sexually violent crimes.”

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Life Sentence for Possession of Child Pornography Spurs Debate Over Severity

“Does downloading child pornography from the Internet deserve the same criminal punishment as first-degree murder?”

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Court Rejects Restitution for Victim in Porn Case

“A victim of child pornography seeking restitution should not receive court-ordered payments from those who possessed the images but had no hand in creating them, a federal appeals panel ruled Thursday.”

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Sex Offenders: The Last Pariahs

Opinion piece by Roger N. Lancaster, professor of anthropology and director of the cultural studies program at George Mason University, Virginia.

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Defiant Judge Takes On Child Pornography Law

“There is little public sympathy for collectors of child pornography. Yet across the country, an increasing number of federal judges have come to their defense, criticizing changes to sentencing laws that have effectively quadrupled their average prison term over the last decade.”

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