“Steve Kutzner Pleads Guilty to Simpsons Porn.”
“Man Faces Ten Years in Prison for Downloading Simpsons Porn”
(c) Nonrequired Element of Offense.— It is not a required element of any offense under this section that the minor depicted actually exist. –Title 18 U.S.C. 1466A
When I first read the United States Attorney’s Office- District of Idaho’s press release regarding Steven Kutzner, the 33 year old former middle school teacher who pled guilty to “possession of obscene visual representations of the sexual abuse of children,” specifically images involving Simpsons characters having sex, I was shocked. How can possession of images of fictional characters engaging in fictional acts be a crime? How dangerous is a drawing? What’s the legal status of Harry/Draco fan art? Could every comic reader in possession of Lost Girls, Alan Moore’s and Melinda Gebbie’s ode to childhood, loss and sensuality, be in danger of prosecution?
Well, the answer is no, except when it’s yes.