MTV’s new show Skins, which premiered in January, has come under fire for depicting graphic sexual content involving teenage actors as young as 15. MTV has been known in the past for pushing the envelope when it comes to pop culture, including racy television shows like Undressed. But as the viewer-ship of MTV becomes increasingly younger, appealing to high school students and depicting teenagers engaged in acts that are reprehensible if not illegal, many parents are calling for MTV to cancel the show, which is an Americanized version of a BBC program. MTV counters they are working with a legal team devoted to preventing the show from crossing any actual legal boundaries, even if they are brushing up against them as closely as possible. Regardless of what MTV may produce in an effort to attract ratings, the airing of Skins should have lawmakers thinking about the need for tougher penalties for child pornography.

The dangers of the production, possession and distribution of child pornography are very real, and very present - although there are many who still treat it as less than pertinent. In Maryland, for example, this crime is still only punishable as a misdemeanor, little more than a traffic ticket.

According to Michael Bourke and Andres Hernandez, authors of the “Butner Study”, sex offenders who were in possession of child pornography from the Internet “were significantly more likely than not to have sexually abused a child via a hands-on act.”

Child pornography is not a victimless crime, by any means, and often demonstrates a pattern of behavior or stimulation that leads directly to the abuse of a child, according to a May 2006 study by the Department of Justice. Let us not forget that pornography is created in the process of carrying out sexual abuse and is often used to groom potential victims for abuse.

Every time one of these images is traded, printed, or downloaded, the child depicted in the image is re-victimized.  Studies from the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children show that in addition to any physical injuries victims suffer in the course of their molestation, children can also experience psychological disorders that often continue into adulthood.  Child victims frequently experience feelings of guilt and responsibility for the abuse and betrayal, a sense of powerlessness, and feelings of worthlessness and low self-esteem.

The lives of children featured in such illegal images are forever altered, not only by the molestation but by the permanent record of the exploitation.  This documentation can be used to blackmail the child into further submission to continue the relationship and maintain its secrecy.  These are photographs and videos that can continue to circulate in the public domain for the rest of the child’s life, available for anyone to find—particularly in this Internet age.

MTV’s Skins raises important issues about the lines where bad TV ends and child pornography begins. It also returns child pornography to the public debate - where it belongs until legislators begin taking it more seriously, passing laws that take into consideration that possession of child pornography is an indicator of other abuse patterns, and levy punitive measures, especially extended jail time, accordingly. It is time to make the penalties for such crimes stringent enough to provide substantial punishment for possessors and to deter the viewing of child pornography in the first place.

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Stacie D. Rumenap is President of Stop Child Predators, a non-profit organization that prevents the sexual exploitation of children and protects the rights of crime victims.