Did Pornography Contribute to Jessica Ridgeway’s Murder?
Reports this week indicate that the accused killer of 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway of Colorado, who disappeared on Oct. 5 and whose dismembered body was found several days later, was a boy who was addicted to pornography.
“News that the boy accused of killing Jessica Ridgeway is addicted to pornography will come as no surprise to law enforcement agents with experience in sexual crimes,” says Patrick A. Trueman, president of Morality in Media and former chief of the U. S. Department of Justice Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section in Washington, D.C.
“Pornography consumption causes addiction and leads many, children included, to sexual violence. It’s high time the U.S. government took the issue of pornography seriously again and began vigorously prosecuting the major producers and distributors of hardcore pornography.”
The connection between pornography and sexual violence among minors has been clearly established. Several peer-reviewed studies regarding this link are available on PornHarmsResearch.com.
The mother of the boy accused of this monstrous crime called police to say that her son, 17-year-old Austin Sigg, may have been the killer. News reports indicate that he has been treated for pornography addiction since he was just 15, so the question must be asked: Did pornography contribute to Jessica Ridgeway’s killing?
Sigg is the main suspect in another violent crime, an attempted rape on an adult jogger. “We do not know and may never know exactly how much influence pornography played in these two crimes, but sexual crimes by minors do not happen in a vacuum; porn is almost always a significant contributing factor,” Trueman said.
“When the U.S. Department of Justice gave up enforcing federal pornography laws, it gave up on our children. Now addiction, sexual experimentation mirroring scenes from violent porn videos, as well as sexual violence are all too common among children. Child-on-child sexual crimes, once unheard of, are also on the rise,” says Trueman.
“The porn industry is directly responsible for these trends and the harm to our nation’s children. But law enforcement officials, such as U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who refuse to enforce anti-pornography laws, designed to protect children and society from sexual predators, bear much responsibility also,” he continued.
Eric Holder is the first U.S. Attorney General in nearly 30 years to refuse to enforce federal pornography laws, which were passed by Congress over many years by wide bi-partisan margins. Federal laws prohibit distribution of obscene (hardcore) adult pornography on the Internet, on cable/satellite TV, on hotel/motel TV, in retail shops and by common carrier, such as UPS.
