The issue here is that it's fictional. Just lines on a paper. How can you arrest someone for a "crime" without a victim? They've done it.

doesn't matter, they're still **fictional** -- this is definatly under the category 'thought crime'

I'm personally unaware of thought crime laws in the US... I'm pretty sure they don't exist though to be honest.

I'm not sure where I stand on this issue. The idea of *young* girls having sex is pretty uncool for me personally, but I don't want to interrupt others enjoyment...

After all, I know that Japan allowing Loli is considered a leading contributing factor to the lack of child sexual abuse... Like that they're getting all the steam out with their right hand...

Then again the case could be made that eventually pen and paper won't be "enough"... That some people may be "pushed over the edge" by watching and reading such material.

I mean, you could swing either way. And to be honest, just as is the case with all things illegal: if people want something bad enough, they won't mind breaking the law to get it.

I heard about a man who was given a felony conviction for sleeping drunk in a broken down car that wouldn't even start. He was arrested for drunk driving even though he wasn't driving. This is just as crazy. Fictional characters don't really have an age because they aren't real. Do they think they're doing any good putting this man in jail when he hasn't done anything yet? That's their thought process. Keep him off the street and away from kids. Then when he comes back he'll be a hardened criminal. Our legal system is all messed up.

I think our legal system is cowardly, frankly. They find easy targets who are poor to middle class, and either hidden from or disliked by society, and throw the book at them in an effort to make it SEEM like they're doing their jobs. Meanwhile, the real criminals get slaps on the wrist or no sentences at all because they've got the clout and the legal representation to get away with murder (sometimes literally). How many warning signs were there for Michael Jackson? He builds an entire amusement park for the express purpose of luring in kids, then admits to sleeping with them (but only platonically... sure, whatever Mike), and goes scot-free because he's rich and lawyered up to the hilt.

I cry bullshit. The district attorney cooked up a crime that didn't exist to pad his resume and prep himself for a run in a higher political office. Mark my words... five years from now, he's going to be the mayor or the governor of these corn-fed hicks, using trumped up cases like this one as stepping stones in his rise to power. And it's all because the little shit didn't have the balls to do his job go after real criminals who've committed real crimes. Hope it was worth it when the kid you threw in prison commits suicide or shoots up city hall later, scumbag.

Or assassinates him personally. I'm just waiting for the day when someone arrested on trumped-up charges like this waits out their sentence, gets a gun, and blows away the douchebags responsible for ruining their life. "If I'm going to go to prison I'm going to F-ing EARN that sentence."

I heard about this a while ago, and it scares the shit out of me that they can arrest you for fantasies now. So I guess if I read a book about a serial killer I'm going to be arrested for murder now, too? How about if I read a manga about piracy? Does that make me a pirate? I wish people would pull their heads out of their asses.