Convicted pedophile Bradley Pendragon walked free from the West Australian District Court yesterday after receiving a slap on the wrist for possessing more than 800 images of child pornography. Despite Pendragon having a long criminal history of sex offences, Judge Antoinette Kennedy sentenced the pedophile to a 12 month suspended sentence and ordered him to undertake a sexual offenders program [source: news.com.au]
Child pornography has become a big problem in Australia. Just yesterday a British man was arrested at Perth International Airport for possessing a DVD containing images of a child engaged in sexual activity. Back in December an Australian Federal Police task force arrested a dozen men and charged them with various offences related to child pornography.
The Australian Federal Police are catching the offenders, but courts are letting them go. Although offences related to child pornography carry a penalty of up to 10 years imprisonment, courts around the country are handing down relatively light sentences for what are very serious offences. Is it any wonder why child pornography is flourishing?