Staff Editorial: Do pedophiles deserve free speech rights?

If something is despicable, is it automatically illegal?

We don’t think so.

Phillip Greaves was sentenced in Florida to two years of probation for distributing a self-published book titled “The Pedophile’s Guide to Love and Pleasure: a Child-lover’s Code of Conduct,” a guide that attempts to make the case that pedophiles are misunderstood by society and offers advice to them on how to stay within the constraints of the law.

While this is obviously a contemptible concept, there is nothing constitutionally different from it and what the Westboro Baptist Church (otherwise known as the “God hates fags” church) does on a regular basis.

The Supreme Court ruled that the actions of the church are constitutionally protected free speech, and we believe that the same should hold true for Greaves’ book.

There is also little constitutionally different from publishing or distributing “The Anarchist’s Cookbook,” an instruction manual on how to make homemade explosives and that encourages rebellion against the government. If it’s not illegal to provide people with information on how to kill people and encouraging them to do so, it shouldn’t be illegal to provide the type of information that Greaves provided, regardless of how vile it is.

There is no law against writing a book providing legal advice to people on how to avoid breaking a particular law, and there shouldn’t be. But this is exactly what Greaves’ book purports to do.

We all can and should agree that pedophiles should be caught and prosecuted for sexually abusing children, and we all can and should agree that pedophilia is an extremely psychologically harmful and reprehensible social phenomenon.

It is not, in spite of this, possible for a society that values freedom of speech as much as we do to outlaw the dissemination of publications simply because they contain information that makes people uncomfortable, even if that discomfort is highly justifiable.

Greaves’ book, while loathsome and disgusting, should be protected under our First Amendment right to freedom of speech.

DISSENT BY SARAH HANN
Phillip R. Greaves II deserves more than two years of probation for his book “The Pedophile’s Guide to Love and Pleasure: A Child-Lover’s Code of Conduct.” The book encourages an illegal act and discusses how best to go about committing a crime without being arrested.

Even though that in and of itself is dangerous, the truly harmful part is the particular crime. Pedophilia is a horrible act, and Greaves clearly states that he is instructing others on how to touch children inappropriately.

The initial controversy about the book arose when Greaves self-published it in e-book format on Amazon; the company later yanked the book. Greaves told CNN, when describing his views on pedophilia, “Penetration is out. You can’t do that with a child, but kissing and fondling I don’t think is that big of a problem.”

Mike Harris, the Jefferson County district attorney’s investigator, summed it up best when he said that “he’s in favor of freedom of speech — up to a point.”

“When it fuels the motive for people on how to approach kids, how to find kids, how to touch kids and sexually abuse them, that’s just wrong,” Harris said.

Any book that encourages people to sexually abuse children and tells people how to go about doing it without going to jail should absolutely be illegal.

The content is obscene and illegal, and it has incredibly frightening implications for innocent children.

I am fervently opposed to censorship and book burning, but there is a line, and Greaves has crossed it.

— Sarah Hann, hanns@indiana.edu