• 6 years ago
• Posted in:Possession of CSA images, Possession of extreme pornography, Sexual Offences
• 0
• Author: melodie
• Tags: Aged <20, Alice Smith, Child victim, Convicted 2016, England, Essex, Gender issues cited as mitigation, Get Out Of Jail Free card, Lenient sentence, Media obscuring trans status, Offended 2015, Post-transition, Reported as woman, Suspended sentence, Trans woman, Transitioning prevented enrolment on sex offender course, Young Offenders Institute

Silhouette image via Wikimedia Commons

Alice Smith, a male who identifies as a trans woman, was convicted of possessing indecent images of children, possessing prohibited images of children and possessing extreme pornography in October 2016. Smith was sentenced to eight-month’s detention in a young offenders’ institution, suspended for two years, and ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for ten years.

Between March 2013 and August 2015, Smith, 20, downloaded over 1,200 indecent images of children onto computers which were seized by police in September 2015. 200 of the images were at the highest level A, 300 were at level B and there were 700 in the lowest C category.

Smith was described as living in a rural area where “there was not a very good understanding of identity and transgender matters which had resulted in her feeling excluded from the local community.”

The judge, while noting it was rare for women to commit this kind of crime, then proceeded to find it inexplicable that there were not any specific internet sex offenders’ treatment programmes for women (who, remember, rarely commit this kind of crime). He ordered Smith to attend a 60-day rehabilitation activity which a probation officer said could incorporate some aspects of the internet sex offenders’ programme.

The defendant is described as a woman rather than a trans woman throughout both media reports identified.

Media reports:

East Anglian Daily Times: http://www.eadt.co.uk/news/judge_criticises_lack_of_specific_treatment_for_women_who_download_child_porn

Daily Gazette http://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/14643220.Woman__20__charged_with_downloading_more_than_2_200_indecent_images_of_children/  archive