Update on North Dakota child porn case
Those of you who followed the case I reported on in December 2007, involving the sexually violent predator evaluator who was addicted to child pornography, may be interested in the outcome:
Joseph Belanger, who ran North Dakota's Sexually Dangerous Individual (SDI) civil commitment program, has been sentenced to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to charges of receiving and possessing materials involving the sexual exploitation of minors.
The arrest of the state psychologist prompted a review of more than 100 cases in which he had opined that sex offenders were dangerous and should be civilly committed, and an appeal before the North Dakota Supreme Court.
An interesting but possible unanswerable question is whether Belanger's work in the field somehow triggered his interest in child pornography.
The Associated Press story is here.
Prior blog stories on this case:
- Ripple effects of psychologist's porn addiction: Sex offenders to get new trials (July 20, 2008)
- Another forensic psychology sex scandal (December 9, 2007)
The ones who make the most noise against sex offenders usually ARE sex offenders and want to appear "tough" on those evil perverts.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we should rethink all sex offender legislation and delve more carefully and fully into the backgrounds, lifestyles and interests of the most vocal proponents of tougher and tougher laws.