Asst. U.S. Attorney Wanting Sex With Child Attempts Suicide
By Mona
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We’ve been having quite the contretemps in the thread below about the Internet sting operation that caught Florida Assistant U.S. Attorney, John D.R. Atchison, attempting to procure sex with a 5-year-old from a MI undercover agent. Thomas Knapp argues vehemently in comments that because the child is “imaginary” there should be no crime here — I and other libertarians disagree. In any event:
A federal prosecutor from Florida who authorities say flew to Michigan for a sexual encounter with a 5-year-old girl tried to hang himself in his jail cell Thursday but was stopped in time, the sheriff said..….Atchison, 53, used a sheet in an attempted hanging around 4 a.m., said Sanilac County Sheriff Virgil Strickler..[...].Atchison was charged with three felonies, the most serious of which is crossing state lines with intent to have sex with someone under 12. Conviction carries a minimum 30-year prison sentence and a maximum of life.
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September 21, 2007 @ 10:34 pm
Cop: Fed Caught In Sex Sting Tries Suicide…
An assistant U.S. attorney from Florida who authorities say flew to Michigan for a sexual encounter …
Comment by John —
September 22, 2007 @ 12:04 pm
So here’s a simple question for Thomas: if the undercover agent in question was actually the mother of a five-year old girl, and that girl was used as the bait, did Atchison commit a crime?
Comment by Leonard —
September 22, 2007 @ 12:09 pm
Yeah, would it matter if the undercover cop used an alias for her daughter? Would it matter if the daughter was really 6, not 5? Would it matter if the cop crossed her fingers when she typed to Atchison the terms of their agreement? Would it matter if the cop was actually imagining selling a neighbor’s 5-year old, and not her own?
Comment by John —
September 22, 2007 @ 1:52 pm
Thomas also argues that the investigative resources used in this sting would have been better deployed catching perpetrators with actual victims, which sounds like a great plan. It does, however, assume that there are other methods that are more effective.
Meanwhile, back in the real world, this kind of story is what happens when the police use ad hoc methodology to pursue child abuse cases. Without requiring clear indications of intent, such as a trip from FL to MI, innocent behaviour is easily twisted into something sinister.
Child abuse of this sort is extremely difficult for the police to even detect, much less prevent. The victims are most often silent before and after the crime, and physical evidence is transient, at best. Aggressive monitoring of a child’s environment by trusted authorities, such as doctors and teachers, can reveal the existence of psychological trauma, but it is also extremely intrusive and subjective. And note the use of the word “trusted”, above. A decade or two ago, would anybody have blinked if I’d included priests in the category of trusted authorities?
So, my second question to Thomas is, if the police are tasked with attempting to stop sexual child abuse, what are the methods that they can use that are both more effective and less intrusive than this kind of sting?
Comment by Mona —
September 22, 2007 @ 10:24 pm
It isn’t just the police, but as that article (a story I had already known about) documents, CPS. What the suspect in the case I posted about is alleged to have done constitutes — if what the undercover cop reports is all true — clear-cut contracting to rape a 5-year-old.
But you are absolutely correct that nation-wide, some of the most absurd events are investigated as child “abuse.” This phenomenon also harms children and families.