# Victims of child porn should be able to sue the people that are caught with it **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 28, 2010, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/victims-of-child-porn-should-be-able-to-sue-the-people-that-are-caught-with-it/530751 "2010-02-28T16:32:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/victims-of-child-porn-should-be-able-to-sue-the-people-that-are-caught-with-it/530751/101 "2011-04-04T20:00:50Z")
Oops. Right you are. I read the post and not the actual filing. Footnote 4, in fact, specifically acknowledges that they reduced the award request by the amount of money that Amy has already received from other pedophiles. My mistake. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/victims-of-child-porn-should-be-able-to-sue-the-people-that-are-caught-with-it/530751/102 "2011-04-04T20:21:51Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Oops. Right you are. I read the post and not the actual filing. Footnote 4, in fact, specifically acknowledges that they reduced the award request by the amount of money that Amy has already received from other pedophiles. > > My mistake. Hey no prob. The lawyer’s post was misleading. To my mind, the concern is that this legal case leads to a situation in which you get the adoption of one common-law tort principle (joint & several liability) but without other common-law principles, such as a requirement that the defendant “proximately caused” the harm. I realize that this is driven by the statute, but it isn’t a good result. This leads to unbalanced awards - such as some person downloading a pic being responsible in law for the full damages of a life destroyed by sexual abuse. This result is only possible because kiddie porn users are so highly disliked. But in other contexts, it would be seen as outrageous. Hence, bad facts driving bad law. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/victims-of-child-porn-should-be-able-to-sue-the-people-that-are-caught-with-it/530751/103 "2011-04-14T17:15:08Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Returning to this thread a year later with an update: > > In [this petition](http://cdn.volokh.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/petition-filed-filingservice.pdf), “Amy’s” lawyer asks for three million from this single defendant, and in [this posting](http://volokh.com/2011/02/03/d-c-circuit-argument-on-victims-right-to-restitution-in-child-pornography-cases/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+volokh%2Fmainfeed+(The+Volokh+Conspiracy)&utm_content=Bloglines), he says: > > > [@](#): > > > > To my mind, this and other provisions in 2259 guantee Amy a right to restitution award of $3 million from each and every defendant who views her images – as an innocent victim of crime, Amy shouldn’t be required to track down all the multiple offenders around the country to obtain full restitution. I was totally on her side until I read that (although I guess he’s correct, based on the statute). ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/victims-of-child-porn-should-be-able-to-sue-the-people-that-are-caught-with-it/530751/104 "2011-04-14T18:04:15Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I was totally on her side until I read that (although I guess he’s correct, based on the statute). It doesn’t mean what it appears to mean - read on. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/victims-of-child-porn-should-be-able-to-sue-the-people-that-are-caught-with-it/530751.md?page=5)