@hawkeye10,
Indeed. Child pornography certainly exists, but as with voter fraud think it's more a solution in search of a problem. Peer-reviewed studies have demonstrated that when child pornography is legal, would-be CSA'ers 'make due' with it rather than actual child victimization. If we really wanted to protect children, we'd make at least the simulated content legal. Real content of course involves victimization so kinda a wash as to benefit.
When ever something's illegal, criminal enterprises will make it available absent any restraint or limits. When it's legal government can at least regulate it as with abortion, prostitution, and drugs. Keeping it illegal only makes it worse.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-11/s-lcp113010.php
" Legalizing child pornography is linked to lower rates of child sex abuse
Study carried out in Czech Republic confirms similar results in Japan and Denmark
Could making child pornography legal lead to lower rates of child sex abuse? It could well do, according to a new study by Milton Diamond, from the University of Hawaii, and colleagues.
Results from the Czech Republic showed, as seen everywhere else studied (Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Finland, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sweden, USA), that rape and other sex crimes have not increased following the legalization and wide availability of pornography. And most significantly, the incidence of child sex abuse has fallen considerably since 1989, when child pornography became readily accessible - a phenomenon also seen in Denmark and Japan. Their findings are published online today in Springer's journal Archives of Sexual Behavior.
The findings support the theory that potential sexual offenders use child pornography as a substitute for sex crimes against children. While the authors do not approve of the use of real children in the production or distribution of child pornography, they say that artificially produced materials might serve a purpose."