Award-winning Teacher with Child Porn Blames Addiction

This is not a California case, in fact it is not even an American case, but I wanted to discuss it, after seeing it reported on the Internet by News Star, in the U.K., because it highlights something I believe is too often overlooked by both prosecution and defense counsel in sex crimes cases: the pure addictive nature of this form of admittedly criminal behavior. Read the original article: Teacher had child porn

Stephen Burns, a 33 year-old recipient of the Bedfordshire school best teacher award, had no record of abusing children or acting inappropriately with children and was “well liked with a good teaching record, of good character,” with no record of anything, and he told the court he was filled with remorse.

As he described it, “I started searching the Internet for porn and came across websites with images of children . . . and became caught up in it and could not stop, even though . . . I could lose my job and go to prison.”

That is addictive behavior.

Turned in by his partner, Burns tried to justify his acts by claiming he tried to only download images of “children smiling, so they did not appear to be suffering.”

The court would have none of it, stating, “The children would not have been smiling . . . they would have been extremely distressed. You should be ashamed.”

Burns was sentenced for two years, suspended with probation, plus ten years as a required registrant on the Sex Offenders’ Register.