To be illegal to possess under the state’s child pornography law, the images had to depict children engaging in what the law defines as “graphic sexual intercourse” - it’s rape when a minor is involved, of course, but these are the terms the law uses - or a “graphic or lascivious” exhibition of the genitals or pubic area.Ĭhild erotica images, under the new state law, don’t necessarily involve full nudity, intercourse, or display of genitals. “We shouldn’t be dealing with this.”Īmong other things, critics of the child erotica law say the state’s existing child pornography statute is adequate.įor Noret, though, there was a glaring and troubling gap. “Let’s face it, this is something that’s despicable,” said state Representative Thomas Noret, a Democrat of Coventry who sponsored the legislation in the House. The prosecution may well become an early test for a law that seeks to tackle an exploding problem: the exploitation of children online.

He was charged on Saturday after an investigation by Yelle’s team in the Rhode Island State Police. That’s in addition to charges of possessing and transferring child pornography, which are felonies. Mary’s Church on Broadway is the first person in Rhode Island to be charged with child erotica, a misdemeanor, according to a spokesman for the state court system. It is now being used for the first time in Rhode Island, in a case against a Providence priest: Father James Jackson, 66, of St. And Governor Dan McKee, over the objections of the state’s American Civil Liberties Union and LGBTQ groups, who warned of its vagueness and its potential unintended consequences, signed it into law in July of this year. The General Assembly this year passed the bill banning child erotica.

Yelle’s advocacy worked, though it took a few tries.

Child drawing of house