Last Month Iowa comic collector Christopher Handley was sentenced to 6 months in prison for possession of obscene Manga under paragraph 1466A of the federal criminal code. Rather than being specific to photographic work, section 1466A includes “a visual depiction of any kind, including a drawing, cartoon, sculpture, or painting“.
Manga is a kind of Japanese comic and Handley was a collector, but the obscene material was only a tiny part of his collection.
In a letter appearing on the Anime News Network website, Handley’s Attorney for that case, Eric Chase, answers some concerns expressed by the public about the case and how it was handled. It is perhaps one of the clearest explanations of law regarding the criminalization of cartoon art I have yet seen.
Chase also explains how his case was handled in comparison to the 2008 Max Hardcore case (live action films which used adult women acting as children) and differentiates between the crimes of possession of and receiving obscenity.
Chase makes an interesting observation about obscenity law in the U.S.:
“Obscenity is the only law I’m aware of, if a client shows me a book or magazine or movie, and asks me if this image is illegal, I can’t tell them.”
The letter is worth reading in its entirety if you’re interested in the government’s crusade against child porn that doesn’t involve children. Imagery that doesn’t harm anyone in its production has no business being outlawed, for doing so is punishing a person not for a criminal act, but for his fantasies. In other words, the law, in effect, is targeting thought crime.