In her report, LaRue charges that neither President Bush nor Attorney General Alberto Gonzales have made good on their promises to make prosecuting crimes against children and obscenity major priorities for the Justice Department.
Earlier this month, Gonzales asked Congress for an additional $25 million in the 2008 fiscal budget to fight child pornography and obscenity — two crimes Justice has lumped together.
“The responses we received from various FBI field offices across the country and the Justice Department stats we've seen indicate to us that these agencies aren't taking seriously the directives of President Bush and Attorney General Gonzales to enforce federal obscenity laws,” LaRue said.
In the report, LaRue detailed a series of calls her staffer made to FBI field offices around the country.
“We expected to see considerable numbers of major pornographers cooling their heels in federal prison instead of laughing all the way to the bank after six years of this administration,” she said. “We think that saving kids from victimization and becoming victimizers is something any agent would be proud to have on their resume.”
The Justice Department has brought approximately 40 obscenity cases during the Bush administration’s term, but LaRue said that number is misleading because many of the cases have multiple defendants.
LaRue also said she was troubled by a link on the Justice Department’s website directing private citizens to send reports of online obscenity to the Morality In Media (MIM) website.
“We're thankful for, and supportive of, MIM's work in screening thousands of citizen complaints of online obscenity and forwarding complaints of hardcore pornography to CEOS [Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section] and the appropriate U.S. Attorney's office,” she said “But who thinks it's appropriate for the feds to bypass citizen complaints like this?”
To read LaRue’s full report, click here.
