In June of 2013, authorities had
seized a laptop containing more than a dozen videos depicting graphic imagery
of several young victims from Wesley Hawkins’s home. Hawkins agreed to a plea
deal. Under federal guidelines, the
recent high school graduate faced 97 to 121 months in prison. Prosecutors,
however, sought a fraction of that — 24 months. Jackson sentenced the
19-year-old to three months, followed by 73 months of supervised release. She also recommended that Hawkins be placed
in a minimum-security prison because of his age, because of “this Court’s
finding that he is particularly vulnerable to abuse while incarcerated,” and to
keep him close to his family. Jackson
has said that her decisions was consistent with guidelines and with other judges’
sentences in such cases.
It is hard for me to understand why a judge would go so light on child pornography particularly when even the prosecutors recommended more.
Further, Federal law distinguishes among three types of child-pornography cases: production, possession, and distribution. During the hearing, Democrats repeatedly offered two different standards for evaluating Jackson’s sentences for these crimes. First, Democrats said we should compare Jackson’s sentences to those of U.S. District Court judges nationally.
The risk, of course, is that this might expose a broader failure of federal judges to grasp the unique devastation that child pornography wreaks on victims. But let’s do what Democrats said and compare both the length of Jackson’s sentences and their relation to the range recommended by the U.S. Sentencing Commission’s guidelines with the national average.
By either measure, based on the Commission’s most recent data, Jackson’s sentences were significantly more lenient than other federal judges for all three categories of child-pornography crimes. First, her sentences were 35 percent below the national average for production, 57 percent below for possession, and 47 percent below for distribution. Second, Jackson sentenced below what the guidelines recommended in every case in every category. She did so 48 percent more often than the national average for production, 51 percent for possession, and 36 percent for distribution.
Democrats suggested that Jackson’s sentencing record in child-pornography cases mirrored that of judges appointed by President Donald Trump. When the questioning of the nominee opened on March 22, however, Chairman Richard Durbin (D., Ill.) could come up with only a single case by a single Trump-appointed judge. He returned to the topic that afternoon, but used the same lone example of a Trump-appointed judge imposing a sentence for possession below the sentencing guidelines’ recommendation.
Including what Durbin left out paints quite a different picture. Many of Trump’s appointees to the U.S. Court of Appeals had, like Jackson, previously served on the U.S. District Court. In stark contrast to Jackson, 45 percent of their sentences for child-pornography crimes were within or above the range recommended by the guidelines. Oops.
So one thing that we know is that, using either standard demanded by Judiciary Committee Democrats, Jackson’s sentences in all three categories of child-pornography crimes were significantly more lenient than other federal judges. In fact, in more than half of her child-pornography-distribution cases, Jackson did not add a single day to the mandatory-minimum sentence already imposed by Congress.
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Judge Jackson’s Record on Possession and Distribution of Child Pornography Cases
SENTENCE IMPOSED FOR POSSESSION OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY
· National Average: 68.0 months Jackson Average: 29.3 months
· Difference: Jackson imposed sentences 57% less than national average.
SENTENCE IMPOSED FOR DISTRIBUTION OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY
· National Average: 135.0 months Jackson Average: 71.9 months
· Difference: Jackson imposed sentences 47% less than national average.
Judge Jackson’s Record in All Criminal Cases (2015-2019)
SENTENCE IMPOSED AT U.S. DISTRICT COURT FOR DIST. OF COLUMBIA
· District Average: 39.8 months Jackson Average: 29.9 months
· Difference: Jackson imposed sentences 24.9% less than D.C. Dist. average.
SENTENCE IMPOSED BY ALL U.S. DISTRICT COURTS (NATIONAL AVERAGE)
· National Average: 45.1 months Jackson Average: 29.9 months
· Difference: Jackson imposed sentence 33.8% less than national average.
In addition to the above data, Judge Jackson’s statements at sentencing speak for themselves. The following cases illustrate Judge Jackson’s significantly lenient approach to sentencing child pornographers and her personal policy disagreement with federal sentencing policy.
United States v. Cane (2019): In Cane, the defendant amassed a collection of over 6,500 files depicting school-age children, including elementary school children who were engaged in sexual conduct and sadomasochistic acts such as with adult men and foreign objects. Judge Jackson failed to apply sentencing enhancements to address the significant number of files at issue and she did not apply the enhancement for sadistic or masochistic content, as recommended by the probation office. Judge Jackson “modified the facts” against probation’s recommendation, ordering thousands of files excluded from consideration at sentencing. She ultimately handed down the lowest allowable sentence: 60 months (the mandatory minimum).
Key Quote from Judge Jackson in this case: “[You’re] obviously aware of my policy disagreement. I just think it’s very, very hard to deal with number of images as a significant aggravator…”
United States v. Hawkins (2013): In Hawkins, the 18-year-old defendant downloaded child pornography depicting prepubescent boys, ages 8 to 12, engaging in sexual acts with other children and adults. Defendant uploaded 37 such images to a file-sharing service. Law enforcement ultimately discovered 17 videos and 16 images saved on the defendant’s computer. Judge Jackson’s sentence of 3 months was significantly lower than every other recommendation (18 months from probation, 24 months from the prosecutor, and 97 to 121 from the Sentencing Guidelines). After serving his short sentence, defendant reoffended and violated the terms of supervised release in 2019. Judge Jackson placed him in a halfway house for six months.
Key Quotes from Judge Jackson in this case:
- “I feel so sorry for [your family] and for you and for the anguish that this has caused all of you.”
- “This seems to be a situation in which you were fascinated by sexual images involving what were essentially your peers.”
- “I do think that the guideline factors are in many ways outdated and no longer adequately distinguish more serious child pornography offenders from less serious child pornography offenders. For example, the Guidelines focus primarily on the number of images and the use of a computer, which are hardly aggravating factors today.”
- “I don’t feel that it is appropriate, necessarily, to increase the penalty on the basis of your use of a computer or the number of images or prepubescent victims as the Guidelines require because these circumstances exist in many cases, if not most, and don’t signal an especially heinous or egregious child pornography offense.”
- “This seems to be a situation in which you were fascinated by sexual images involving what were essentially your peers.”
- “[S]ex offenders are truly shunned in our society, but I have no control over those collateral consequences.”
United States v. Cooper (2019): In Cooper, the defendant pled guilty to distribution of child pornography. He had posted graphic depictions of prepubescent male children to his blog, and saved over 600 additional videos and images on his personal devices. The videos and images depicted sadomasochism, including sexually explicit images depicting bondage of young children, usually male, ranging in age from prepubescent to teenaged. Videos depicted prepubescent children engaging in sexual acts with each other and with adults. Because the prosecutor knew that Judge Jackson held fundamental policy disagreements with some of the aggravating Guidelines factors, the prosecutor noted he had intentionally not argued for some enhancements that would have resulted in a higher Guideline range. Judge Jackson noted during sentencing that in similar cases nationwide, judges issued average sentencings ranging from 84 to 92 months. Judge Jackson ultimately gave the lowest sentence she could give under law: 60 months (the mandatory minimum).
Key Quotes from Judge Jackson in this case:
- “First, let me talk a little bit about my considerations, as a general matter . . . I have long considered it appropriate to make some adjustments to the calculation as it relates to child pornography cases.”
- “I’ve stated in similar cases, and I’ll say here again, that the guideline factors are in many ways outdated and, in general, they no longer adequately distinguish between more serious and less serious child pornography distribution offenses.”
- “I have decided to apply my general policy disagreement with respect to those two enhancements, at least that is the computers and the number of images.”
- “I’m really reluctant to get into the nature of the porn.”
Key Quote from Federal Prosecutor in this case: “I understand from my experience before Your Honor, Your Honor’s objection—policy objections to the . . . sentencing guidelines.”
CONCLUSION
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson has a record of handing down dramatically lower sentences in criminal cases, but especially lower sentences in cases involving child pornography.
- In every single child pornography case that she heard; Judge Jackson sentenced the defendant below the sentencing guidelines.
- Similarly, in every single child pornography case, Judge Jackson sentenced the defendant at or below the recommendation from the prosecutor.
- In all but one child pornography case, Judge Jackson sentenced the defendant below or at the probation office’s recommendation.
Resulting in sentences in child pornography cases 47% less than the national average.
Sen. Cruz Publishes Review of Judge Jackson’s Soft-On-Crime Track Record | Senator Ted Cruz
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