SPCS

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTION OF COMMUNITY STANDARDS INC.

Tougher laws on sexual exploitation of children

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Sexual exploitation of children will be punished more severely after a new law passed a final parliamentary hurdle.

Those found to have supplied, distributed or made an “objectionable material” face a maximum 14 years in prison, up from 10.

The penalty for possession, import and export also increases, from five years to 10.

And those convicted of a child exploitation material offence will almost certainly go to jail, under the Objectionable Publications and Indecency Legislation Bill.

The bill also targets paedophiles who attempt to “groom” under-16s online by establishing a new offence of “indecent communication with a young person”.

It will apply to texts, verbal and any other communications.

And it closes a legal loophole, ensuring that Kiwis who assist foreigners in sexual exploitation of children overseas can be prosecuted here. [Read more…]

Ant Timpson – NZ film-maker supports jailed US teacher for screening his unrated film

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ANTHONY TIMPSON – known as ANT TIMPSON, a New Zealand film-maker, is fighting to free a US teacher jailed for showing his unrated horror film  THE ABCs OF DEATH – containing explicit sex and featuring gory deaths – to US school students, some as young as 14..

Grandma and substitute teacher Sheila Kearns, 58, showed the Kiwi produced flick to a class she was teaching in Columbus, Ohio two years ago. The film remains unrated  in the USA

Anthony Timpson said his film is intended for adults. But Kearns showed it to students as young as 14 in five Spanish language classes.  Kearns was dismissed from the school and its board reported her to police.

She was arrested on five felony charges and in January this year was found guilty of disseminating matter harmful to juveniles [referred to as “objectionable material” under NZ censorship law].

She received a jail sentence of 90 days. Timpson thinks she was wrong to show his film to teens.

As a parent Ant Timpson claims he wouldn’t want his children watching it.

‘It tells a tale of mortality with each letter. It’s a really warped spin on the classic children’s alphabet book,” he said.

But he is now campaigning to free her.

“Initially I just thought you do something really stupid and you’ve got to pay for that mistake but after learning more about the case – she’s lost her job, she’s got no career, she’s been in limbo ever since the story caught worldwide media attention.”

He claims the punishment was too extreme for her crime.

” It’s absolutely absurd to send a 58-year-old grandmother to jail for showing a movie.” [Read more…]

Registered charity challenges Court of Appeal’s child porn ruling

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Stop Demand Foundation, a registered charity (CC 30599) with the Charities Commission, has attacked a Court of Appeal decision granting name suppression to a 50-year old Manawatu man found guilty of possessing images of child rape. The charity’s founder, Denise Ritchie, who was interviewed on TV One’s Breakfast programme about the matter this morning, says the Court’s decision is a blow to child rape victims in New Zealand and to lobby groups like hers around the world fighting sexual violence against children.

The Manawatu man, who admitted 21 charges of possessing objectionable material, was sentenced to six months home detention and fined $5250 at the end of last year.

In a decision only made public yesterday, the Court of Appeal ruled that his name should be kept completely secret to protect his family members.

Ms Ritchie, who has read and studied the decision, pointed out on TV One’s Breakfast programme that the convicted man has not lived with or had close association with any of the “family members” whose reputations and privacy the Court of Appeal Judges have sought to protect. She argues that granting name suppression to the offender merely to protect the reputation of these people sets a dangerous precedent. [Read more…]

Suspended Child Porn Doctor Should Be Named – says Family First

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Family First Media Release 2 September 2010

[Note Family First is a registered charity with the Charities Commission. See www.familyfirst.org.nz and www.charities.govt.nz ]

Family First NZ says that a doctor convicted of possessing and distributing child sex abuse images should be named.

“Patients and parents should be informed so that they can make an informed choice as to whether they continue having him as their family doctor, even after his nine month suspension,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of
Family First NZ.

“The doctor in question admitted 25 charges of possessing objectionable material and one charge of distributing an objectionable publication. He not only had 290,000 images of young girls in explicit sexual poses but as well as that, the doctor was found to be distributing objectionable material further. This is not a one-off slip.”

“The rights of the doctor to name suppression and privacy should not be greater than the right of patients and especially parents to know the character of their doctor. That is the price the doctor must pay to match the gravity of
the abuse of children. Many parents would rightly be concerned at a doctor with those convictions examining their young son or daughter.”

“Parents should be given the right to make an informed decision,” says Mr McCoskrie.

What’s behind Boobs on Bikes? By political activist John Minto

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Article from the Stuff News Archive (2009): Political activist John Minto wrote ……..

Boobs on Bikes

John Minto: 2014 Candidate -Mana Party

[Photo Source: http://yournz.org/tag/john-minto/]

Most people seem to think the Boobs on Bikes parade is tasteless and tacky but nothing to get steamed up about. Just harmless fun and a bit of titillation to warm up a cold winter perhaps.

Certainly we have plenty of people hung up about sex and nudity but the protest at the parade was not a bunch of prudes averting their eyes at the sight of silicon-implanted breasts. Instead it was a warning cry about the deep damage being done by the hard-core porn industry with Boobs on Bikes organiser Steve Crow at the heart of the problem.

[Note: The next Boobs on Bikes event has been announced as scheduled for 7 October 2015, – rescheduled says Crow – from August 2014, “To coincide with the shift in dates for the Erotica Lifestyles Expo“].

I’ve seen material pictured and quoted from some of Steve Crow’s publications which is quite depraved. For example men speaking about women in a way no reasonable people would speak about their neighbour’s dog.

Denise Ritchie of the [registered charity CC30599] group Stop Demand [Foundation] (the demand side of the sex-for-sale industry) points out that sex-related crimes against women and children do not take place in a vacuum but rather are underpinned by the hard-core porn industry. This is where for example videos of simulated rape, incest and all manner of sexual violation against women and children are produced and sold commercially.

I don’t have to buy his filth if I don’t want to but if Crow’s activities are making our community a less safe place for me and my family, and other women and children in particular then I have a right and a duty to object.

This is serious money. So is there a connection between Steve Crow’s promotion of hard-core porn and sexual violence against women? I have no doubt there is a strong, direct link. There can be no doubt that the abusive behaviour of some people is stimulated by this Crow-type pornography.

Denise Ritchie points out that two months ago a 60 year old Wanganui man was convicted for performing sexual acts on his severely handicapped wife after watching a pornographic video with two other men, one of whom he invited to “join in”. It would be only the deliberately naïve who refuse to see a connection in this case and more widely. I have no doubt that the glorification of rape on a pornographic video will reduce the seriousness of such behaviour in the minds of enough men so as to increase the risk to women generally.

To quote Ritchie once more, “our Chief Censor [Mr Bill Hastings at that time], our pornography investigators and global research are unanimous in reporting that hard core pornography, which makes up the bulk of Steve Crow’s commercial interests and profits, is increasingly cruel, misogynistic and degrading of women.” We should all be very concerned at the messages this material is sending to men.

Forget about the boobs on bikes. These are the entertaining sideshow to a porn industry which is making the country less safe for all of us.

Stephen Peter Crow promoting Erotica                             Lifestyles Expo

Steve Crow: ‘Long-standing identification’ with Boobs on Bikes parade. (Photo: Stuff News 27/04/11)

According to Stop Demand, a 2006 Treasury report estimated that sexual violence in 2003/2004 cost the New Zealand economy no less than $1.2 billion. $827 million of this is the loss of quality of life for victims, across an estimated 16,500 sex offences.

Source: What’s behind Boobs on Bikes by John Minto. Published 09/03/2009

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/blogs/frontline/1880536/What-s-behind-Boobs-on-Bikes

Note 1: Stop Demand Foundation is a registered charity (CC30599) that was registered with the Charities Commission on 30/06/2008. Its website is www.stopdemand.org  A message to men on its website states:

“Sexual violence, exploitation and denigration of women and children is overwhelmingly a men’s issue. We need men’s proactive support to stop it.”

To find out about the governance of Stop Demand go to: http://www.stopdemand.org/wawcs0153449/WHO-WE-ARE.html

Note 2: Stephen (Steve) Peter Crow has 33 criminal convictions for distributing objectionable material. Source: Sunday-Star Times 26 October 2003.

See: The People Vs. Steve Crow,” by John Landrigan, North & South (Issue 207, June, pages 82-90). “Besides the porn baby [controversy], collectively he, his ex-business partner Fiona Gibb and Vixen Direct [Ltd] faced 135 criminal charges last year. Crow pleaded guilty to 33 of the lesser charges – for the distribution of objectionable material … he still faces seven regulatory infringements to a law he does not agree with.”

Note: 3

Mr Crow had criminal convictions for distributing objectionable material and the inquiry was treated as an employment issue.

Police are told not to associate with people with a criminal history.

See full article: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10392287