l I - National Criminal Justice Reference Service

July 27, 1987 JUVENILE JUSTICE DIGEST Page 5
Agreeing with Huntington regarding the research
usefu/neu, Stanford Uniwmty Department of Psychotogy
expert Philip Zimbardo offered a supplementary endorsement
of: "the significance of [my] findings" as did Dr.
Gordon Muir, d/Jrector of medical commun/¢ation for
Glaxo Research, who sa/d:
"Now, for the t'u'st time, major documentation
has been provided regarding how children are
depicted in nutimtream pornography and how
images of children are related to situations of
nudity, abuse, crime and violence."
Suppottinj Muir, peer reviewer Laura Lederer, program
officer for the L J. Skaus and Mary C. Skaggs
Foundation` affirmed:'
"It is the first study ever to document the
complete representation of ch//dren, children depicted
in sexual situations, and children depicted
in c~Lmtnal and violent situations in Playboy,
Penthom# and Hua~l~r. "
Similarly, N~'~h CaroLinas" psychiatrist Linnea
Snndth concurred: "The significance of [the] research
cannot be overestimated" while in a letter to Senator
Kennedy; Brandeis Un/verdty sociolog/st and author
K'athleen Barry dated:
"Here ~u; have, in this document of 1,800 pages
(fundinl $734,371) all the research and data
necessary to besin to construct pubfic proarams
that will protect potential victims from sexual
violence... We DO have the research! But the
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
hal suppressed and ALTERJED it."
On that notq it is well to rememhen Professor Seymore
GUbm of Ruts,re Unlverslty, who warned tha~ we
need to conalder why this research was suppressed: "Those
attacks certainly raised queutions u to the motives of those
emdeawrin8 to abort an organized scholarly research pr~
jeer." Gilbert's ominous warnin8 is el/the more relevant
when ,,me considm~ the 'call by Dallu Cowboys coach Tom
l.~ndry to tM pnl~ll~ t~ am(~ Us .get~in~ this report mat:.
"After reviewinll, p~ur g~'search on lmaaes of
recr.e, ational drugs, and chi/dren as presenmd
by sexually explicit nutp.~nes, 1 jm convinced
that your findings dewtve the widest public dinclosure...
[and of] great value to thole of us in
the athletic commun/ty as weU as the nation's
youth and adults in general."
Concluetema And Recommendations
The research findings yielded 30 yean 0f increas=
inslY numerous md .bhttmt d~plays of sexusfi2ed children,
crime and violence, peaking ov~ran in the late 1970s. While
the project was not desisned to establish a causal relation-
skip between actual assaults upon children and depictions
of assaults upon children in these magaz~es, the study
rakes very sedons questions about the Imitative effect of
these lmaaes on vuluerable Juveniles and adults. EspeciaUy
recognizing the spate of copy-cat Juvenile ndcldea, the
nation will need to consider the probability of a similar
spate of copy-cat juvenile sexually violent behaviorL
In addition, there are se~ral other issues requ/dng
future study:
I. The role of these magazines in n~kins children
more acceptable as objects of abme, neg/ect, and
mistzeatment, especially sexual abuse and exploiration;
2,"1"as pc~ibillty that these fmqes of children,
crime and violence have reduced taboos and
inhibitions, which had previously resmdned abusive,
nea/ectful, or ezpioltive behavior towards
children;
3. The pmslbin trtviallzabon ot child maltreatment
in the musd8 of madras; rod,
4. The consequences of preeenti~ sexual and violent
lmajes of children in maga~nes wklch call attention
to sexual and/or violent" activity.
As Brandeis UntversiW.schohur Kath/een Berry has
said: the Reisman Report provides "aft the research and
d~a necessary to be81n to construct publ/c pro~ams that
wi~ protect potenthti victims from sexual v/okuce.'"
These'flnd/nga should be made avLiisblo in educational
packages (Le., charts, graphs, statistical tables,
examples and explanatory ns~'aUve) for lain enforcement
andother profeuioaak and lay persona. Such an educations/
program could encourage Wsmnuttc data collection
of any such media nmteriak at the crime site or
used by offenders or victimt Thb wu Its original purpos~
and it wu this intention wh/ch is thwarte~ by the OJJ~P
rejection.
The report should be aveflsble to the public, facllitatln8
active debate and dialoaue in o~jan/zatiom, schools,
churches, etc., without requlrin8 exposus~ to pr/mary
sotlurc~.
: While much of the study's controversy wu based on
its $734,000 price tail, the peers' critiques establish the
worthiness and usef~dne~ of the research (note: Gray &
Co., contracted to disc~flt "lnc~duald' like me, was
paid morn than double the proJe~ ema).
Beyond its value as basic research, however, these
flndinss could support a public policy divestment that
wou/d save American tupayeru enflliom of doUsm8 over
the next few yes.,V: divestment from govenunent subsidy
of braille Playboy editions u well u diwmiture from
pu~Es--d~-th~-ii~a-g~in~-by public Libraries, ~al]s--a-fid--
state un/vendtisa acrom the nation.
£dLtov'a Note: For further Inform~rLon, plea~
contact: Dr. Judt(h A. R¢laman, Prea[dtnt, The Inatlr~Fe
for Media £dueatLon, P.O. Boz 7404, ArUn~rton, VA
22207, Phone: 70J-2JT-J4JJ. •