Shot In The Dark: Thanks. No, Really, Thanks

February 09, 2005

Thanks. No, Really, Thanks

This story is crazy enough in its own right:

Jeffrey Swisher was caught using a videocamera to peer up the skirts of teenagers at a mall, and law enforcement officials were eager to put him behind bars for a long time.
His punishment: 10 days in jail. A loophole in Virginia law meant prosecutors were only able to convict Swisher of disorderly conduct.

Prosecutors across the country are vexed by similar loopholes preventing them from imposing harsh — or often any — punishments on similar defendants. Victims of video voyeurism are often horrified to find out that what has happened to them isn't even illegal in most states.

Not sure what the law is in Minnesota [perverts, move along - Ed.], and I'm sure there's a first amendment issue involved anyway (call it "art", what the heck, you'll probably get an NEA grant).

But that's not the part about this article that amazed me. That came next:

The Internet has only exacerbated the problem. Type the words "upskirt" and "downblouse" into the search engine Google, and millions of Web sites popup.

Is someone getting a kickback from the pr0n sites, or what?

Posted by Mitch at February 9, 2005 05:08 AM | TrackBack

Comments

I'm sure there's some kind of reward. In WA we had a similar problem, so last year they passed a law making such photography illegal in public. There was much consternation that there was no way to prosecute the behavior which amounts to public peeping tomism.

Posted by: aodhan at February 9, 2005 08:24 AM

Well, it's a tough issue, for sure. One man's upskirt is another man's . . . well, . . . arty upskirt. I know what my reaction would be to someone pointing their camera up my twelve-year-old daughter's skirt - but, at the same time, I don't know how I could write a statute against it that passed Constitutional muster. It's flag-burning all over again. I suppose we could try the old Mississippi trick of fining people who beat up the upskirt-photographers ten dollars.

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Posted by: Eduardo at May 16, 2006 07:19 PM