John Grisham, known for his commercial success in law-based novels, has come out swinging against a particular law: the one that sends child porn offenders to jail.
The author told The Daily Telegraph that America’s prisons are filled with men who have had too much to drink, watch child porn, then are considered sex offenders. Yes, he said that.
He can speak about this, he says, because his friend was caught in a Canadian child porn sting, after drinking “out of control” and downloading something called “16 year old wannabe hookers”. His friend, he says, went to prison for three years - and that’s unfair.
"We have prisons now filled with guys my age, 60-year-old white men in prison who've never harmed anybody, would never touch a child, but they got online one night and started surfing around, probably had too much to drink or whatever… They haven't hurt anybody, ok?”
Fact is indeed stranger than fiction.
You would hope that Grisham - a lawyer, author and most importantly, a father - would have carefully considered his words. Sixteen-year-olds - girls in the 11th grade - should only be enticing to 16 year old boys. And I’m fairly certain the “16 year old hooker wannabe” industry and those who fund it are doing those girls serious harm.
A surprise to no one, the reaction to Grisham’s empathy for child porn watchers was less than kind:
Somebody bet John Grisham that he couldn't say something that was creepy, sexist, and racist all in one comment and Grisham won the bet.
— JRehling (@JRehling) October 16, 2014
This week, I'm accentuating the positive. Today, for example, I'm grateful that John Grisham no longer practices law.
— Dawn-of-the-Dead-a (@donnajherren) October 16, 2014
To be sure: Those who watch and download child porn - 16 year old or not - should receive no sympathy. It's a dark, violent and abusive crime that shouldn't receive any leniency from anyone, let alone a public figure.
In a statement posted on his website, following much online anger, the author apologized for his words:"Anyone who harms a child for profit or pleasure or who in any way participates in child pornography - online or otherwise - should be punished to the fullest extent of the law."
The only questions that remain: What on earth was John Grisham thinking? And where were his handlers?