An Anchorage prosecutor is urging state legislators to ban anime that depicts sexual situations involving children, and he’s finding bi-partisan support, according to the Anchorage Daily News.  Anchorage prosecutor Aaron Sperbeck is quoted as saying that “the fight needs to happen,” because anime images “are almost as graphic and disturbing as real children.” 

Republican legislator Jay Ramras agreed, saying that he thought a new law was “a good idea.” 

Democratic legislator Bill Wielechowski also chimed in with, “It would be an additional tool to put people away who are possibly abusing children.”

Federal law, the PROTECT Act, already prohibits depictions of children in sexual situations, whether the children are real or not.  A conviction for possession of anime was upheld by a Federal Appeals Court last year (see “Anime Conviction Upheld”). 

And possession of comics with this type of content was also criminalized by the same law; Christopher Handley pleaded guilty to federal charges in Iowa earlier this year (see “Handley Pleads Guilty to Possession of Manga”), and faces jail time despite having no depictions of actual children in his possession. 

The U.S. Supreme Court has yet to hear a case involving animation, drawings, or other artistic depictions of children in sexual situations.  Prior to passage of the PROTECT Act in 2003, U.S. child pornography laws focused on protecting actual children who were abused in the production of the pornography, rather than prohibiting the "thought crime" of possessing imaginary depictions.   

The Alaska prosecutor and legislators want the ability to prosecute for possession of animation under state laws, apparently feeling that federal prosecutors are insufficiently diligent in pursuing cases of this type.