R v (1) GRAHAM WESTGARTH SMITH (2) MIKE JAYSON (2002)

[Peter Gutmann]

Andrew Brown <alloneword@dial.pipex.com> writes:

>It's obviously ethically and legally impossible to set up a controlled trial
>in which potential paedophiles are or are not exposed to this kind of material
>and then measure how many of them go on to offend.

It's been done in Europe, on a very large scale, over a period of about 10
years, specifically during the time interval covering when porn (of any kind)
was made legal and when specific types of porn were made illegal.  When all
types of porn was legalised, child sex abuse dropped dramatically.  When child
porn was made illegal, child sex abuse increased again.

(There's a lot more to it than that, the child porn debate is the perpetuum
 mobile of alt.censorship, do a google search for details and more references
 than you can read in a lifetime).

Peter.