PROPOSAL WOULD BAN ELDERLY AND HANDICAPPED PORN

As reported in the Boston Herald, a new law could make geriatric and handicapped porn illegal.

Fueled by a rise in sex abuse against the elderly and disabled and a string of cases involving photography and cyber postings, the proposed legislation would add seniors and the handicapped to child porn laws.

“Obviously with the technology evolving, the crimes committed using that technology have increased. That’s clearly the case,” said Northwestern District Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel, who covers parts of western Massachusetts and helped craft the proposal. “All we’re trying to do with these two pieces of legislation is to protect our two most vulnerable populations.”

Emil DeRiggi, spokesman for the state Disabled Persons Protection Commission, said the agency has “certainly seen an increase” in sex abuse cases involving pornography. One case currently being investigated involves a twisted online posting offering sex with a “cognitively impaired” virgin.

Other cases cited by those in favor of laws against porn that depicts handicapped and elderly people include a pair of caretakers who took their disabled boarder on a “state-to-state party,” taking sexual photos along the way, a man with cerebral palsy who can talk only with a communication board was mocked and harassed by caretakers who snapped pictures of his genitals, and mentally retarded woman had pornographic pictures taken of her and posted on the Internet by relatives.

On the other end of the issue is prominent civil rights attorney Harvey Silverglate, who says the proposal “amounts to blatant censorship” and is “unconstitutional.”

“It seems to be the latest in a long effort to broaden the definition of obscenity,” said Silverglate. “We’ve already got (laws) against coercion. Why is that not adequate?”

There are currently no federal laws against elderly or disabled porn, and Massachusetts officials were unaware of any similar legislation in other states. A similar effort, though, is underway in Illinois, where new child porn laws also protect the “severely mentally retarded.”