We have previously discussed child pornography prosecutions, particularly in terms of restitution and sentencing issues. The case of Francis Calar, 53, shows however the addictive or compulsive character of these crimes. Calar was arrested after on a Colorado Army base masturbating in his car while watching child pornography on his laptop. He is a military contractor “technical trainer” and married with two boys at home.
According to court papers, an officer approached Calar’s parked car and witnessed the act before Calar saw the officer and closed his laptop. He is then quoted as giving a series of incriminating statements like “Yes I know you [saw] what I was doing and what I was looking at.” Police say that later Calar “advised that he has an active interest in child pornography,” and used an unsecured Internet connection at Fort Carlson. He is further quoted as insisting that “his sexual interest in children is purely ‘fantasy.’” He told investigators that he works extensively with children from coaching girls volleyball and boys baseball to teaching Sunday school. He is still listed as the coach at the local high school volleyball team. Those activities will now most certainly end.
He will now face one of the heaviest sentencing systems on the books with a minimum of five years in prison and a maximum of ten years. He could also, as we have previously discussed, be looking at huge restitution costs. He have already seen how the length of these sentences and the stigma is so high that suicide is an ever present concern in these cases.
Do you feel that a five year mandatory term is justified or excessive in such a case?
Gus, I don’t know what’s up with you but your comment about the bloggers on this website is entirely unwarranted. Nobody stops you from ending your posts on here and finding or starting another blog.
200 years in Arizona, no one killed.
Arizona Supreme Court: http://www.supreme.state.az.us
The case is State vs. Berger, CR-05-0101-PR.
“(Judge) Berch said Arizona’s sentencing law was the toughest of any state. In most states, Berger would have been eligible for just a few years in prison and have the possibility of probation or early release, she said.
Justice Andrew D. Hurwitz agreed with Berch that Berger’s sentence seemed “unnecessarily harsh” but that it was constitutional under the U.S. Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Eighth Amendment.
gus s. calabrese : FOR NOTHING ??? the public are simply putting out their concern for this problem and how to fix it – we do not want to deal with at all really, but it is something that perverts make us think about – my life is free of such sick stuff thank goodness, but I DO care that others have these issues and I would like to help – but HOW is the problem !! – If you really don’t care about other people and think this doesn’t matter then bully for you – aren’t you a
lovely person – or just a sneering, haughty, uncaring snob !!!!
Bye !!
Commenters …. Your interest in pedophilia is scary….. A large portion of the American population is so twisted when it comes to sex. They seem to love punishing people. For nothing. Get a real life. Really.
Veronica, Believe me, if there was a drug it would be used. Compulsion and impulsiveness have no magic drug. SSRI’s, opiate inhibitors and recently and antioxidant, NAC, have been shown to offer some help w/ compulsive gambling, kleptomania, etc.
So if ‘power’ is what they are actually craving, maybe there is some alternative ‘power’ that they could be given – make them responsible for something, while they are held in a jail anyway, since they are dangerous.
I think there has to be SOME drug or other that could neutralize these feelings.
If they were sufficiently doped they MIGHT be able to be TRAINED? to think of other things than the kids they want to touch. I also think they must be prevented from having children of their own if this is an inherited affliction !!
Surely with all the ‘programming’ we are capable of with the masses we can come up with something !! I think the issue when they have been ‘taught’ this stuff as child victims themselves, is that by the time they grow up they have become totally obsessed with the whole thing, especially if no-one was there to listen to their own story as children. Maybe we have to START with the kids – make sure all kids understand that if they are being victimized it is not their fault AND teach them how to report it ? . I know there are horror stories of social workers taking kids away who they have ‘persuaded’ are being abused when they actually were not, but we have to get smarter on this stuff !!
My wife served this country as a Federal PO. She had to watch these videos as part of here presentence investigations. It changes you. That’s why accusing her, of allowing sexual abuse of her own child, on her Amazon book reviews, was demonic. When my wife came home after viewing these videos I could tell, w/o her saying anything. I would hold her, and then go out and buy powdered, sugar donuts, her ultimate comfort food. This 5 year mandatory minimum is the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. Those guidelines are flawed. But, not in this area. And for chrissake, this guy is a pedophile, they lie!!
Yikes. What a disgusting story. I am not sure that locking him up for 5-10 years will help, but as Chuck suggested this may not be an affliction that can be cured.
Chuck,
I agree with Annie that your 1 year in the trenches must have been educational, but emotionally draining.
I hope the military contractor is prosecuted under military law…. He was using an unsecured wifi from the base? I think the code of military conduct should give him a hefty punishment….. They take care of there own…
I would suppose that fantasy life of a porn watcher might be “training” should the opportunity present itself. There are those, I suppose, who present no danger even if opportunity arose. I would guess these to be few, regrettably.
What is watched trains the unconscious.
Most child sexual abuse is within families. My daughter, along with many in-law’s children, was just such a victim.
Isolation from polite society? Yes. They are usually victims themselves. My daughter’s abuser was himself abused by an uncle.
If I were writing the law:
A country-club “prison” exclusively for child abusers with no access to living children. If, in this case, he has not acted yet (improbable, time will tell) perhaps a no-contact-with-children order after a year in the above “prison.” Any violation and then five years followed by permanent probation — sex offender’s registry — and five more years in “prison” if there is contact with children.
Genetic predisposition, brain wiring, brain chemicals, how to get to the root of sexual identification and what we don’t know about the brain, huge. I wonder at what stage of sexual development that this attraction to children manifests? Or do they as pre pubescents already express sexual interest in their peers? I know kids have curiosity, play doctor, etc. I wonder if pedophiles get stuck in this stage of development. Charlton, it must’ve taken emotional stamina and fortitude to work so closely and study these guys.
Annie,
There is a chicken/egg problem with the allegations regarding being victims themselves. This theory started to gel in my head back in 1997 when I became project director of an inmate residential treatment program for sex offenders at the prison.
I have been doing forensic evaluations on sex offenders since the early 1970s, but for the entire year of 1997, I spent all day every day with offenders. At the same time, I was wading through all the research literature I could get my hands on. I began to wonder if the phenomenon has other origins. Not because they were victims themselves, but began to suspect it is an inherited trait. In other words, like parent, like child. Bad seed theory.
Dr. Stanley:
For the life of me, I can’t understand what the fascination is that adults have with children, throughout history. Could you please give me a few of the root causes of the disease. Thanks.
What is to be done with these pedophiles? If desexualization doesn’t work, then what? It seems that to protect children they need to be locked away forever. How sad that it appears that so many of them have been victims of child sexual abuse themselves. When does fantasy life of a child porn watcher cross over and become reality?
Veronica,
Your suggestion has been tried. It does not work. In fact, may make the offender bitter and more potentially violent. It is not always about sex, it is about power and control.
He is a threat to everyone’s children – imagine he has been around the groups of kids he was ‘supporting’ all this time and no-one realized – what a horror story – how many of these fools are there ?? they have to be put away – they will not stop this nonsense –
I have to think that some kind of de-sexualization would be a good thing – once known to be a repeat offender – Frankenstein-like I know, but what else is there – they wouldn’t have the “itch” then so maybe they would concentrate on positive pursuits – maybe they could be given the choice – “fix” you or you go to jail forever !
Defective wiring.
His life just took a very sharp turn for the worse.
His family, especially his kids, need therapy or consultation to help them cope and adapt to these life altering events.
“Do you feel that a five year mandatory term is justified or excessive in such a case?”
~+~
If proven my opinion is the minimum five years sentence is justified. I look at child porn prosecutions as necessary to attack the problems of further abuse of children, preventing a preditory market for child porn, and creating a strong disincentive to violate the law. I agree with Chuck in that most of these defendants will re-offend upon release.
I have read the probable cause affidavit from the investigating FBI agent. The image this defendant was alleged to have been watching on his laptop is very indicative of a serious pedophilia interest.
There are either many individuals desperately needing mental health services or many individuals needing Jesus.
Are you really that ‘far off the reservation’ (mentally) that you get your kicks out of child porn?
His case (and many more like this) needs to be tried in the Mental Health Courts.
I don’t have any strongly held opinion regarding a five year sentence, other than it may not be long enough. The bad news is that he will still have a prurient interest in children when he gets out. When I was working the Protective Custody (PC) unit, doing cell checks on inmates, it was not unusual to catch a man his age…or older….laying on his bunk watching children’s programming on Nickelodeon or Sesame Street. Masturbating.
Prepubescent kids are their primary sexual interest–even if fully clothed and engaged in normal non-sexual behavior.
One of our inmates on PC was in his 60s, and he had been arrested so many times for child porn and pedophilia he was finally declared an habitual offender and sentenced to life. He still had powerful sexual fantasies about children and was one of those I regularly caught masturbating in front of the TV, getting off on kids programming.