Making New York's law on child porn clearer

Child pornography is high on everyone’s list of the most wicked crimes. So, when New York’s Court of Appeals reversed part of a former college professor’s conviction for having child porn on a computer, it should come as no surprise that senior Albany lawmakers acted at warp speed.

The case involved James D. Kent, who taught public administration at Marist College. His computer needed repair in 2007, and information technology workers found child pornography images on it. In 2009, he was convicted of having child pornography on his computer, and the court sentenced him to one to three years in prison.

But on May 8 the Court of Appeals threw out two of the more than 130 counts. It was a complex ruling involving exactly what constitutes possession or promotion of child porn. The decision held that “merely viewing Web images of child pornography does not, absent other proof, constitute either possession or procurement within the meaning of our Penal Law.” But the decision also pointed out that federal law on pornography says that any person who “knowingly possess, or knowingly accesses with intent to view” the child porn is subject to fine and imprisonment.

So legislators in both houses in Albany quickly drafted same-as bills that add the “knowingly accesses with intent to view” language to the state’s penal code provisions on child porn. The Senate has already passed the bill, and the Assembly is expected to do the same. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is likely to sign it, as he should.

This legislation is not about Peters, whose time in prison is almost up anyway, but about making the law clearer for future prosecutions. The abuse of children by making them objects in pornography must not be tolerated, and our laws on that issue must not be vague or imprecise.