On Kiddie Porn: Sexual Representation, Free Speech and the Robin Sharpe Case

In January 2001, the Supreme Court of Canada handed down its ruling on the Charter challenge brought to the "kiddie porn law" by Robin Sharpe’s case. Political and legal commentator Stan Persky and former senior justice department policy advisor John Dixon follow the course of Sharpe’s case through the courts from his arrest in 1995 to the verdict.

While favouring sanctions for the possession of material whose production requires crimes to be committed, Persky and Dixon remain equally concerned that child pornography law not violate constitutionally guaranteed freedoms such as thought, belief and expression – values central to democratic life.

Does the law as it now stands, with the Supreme Court’s modifications, measure up? On Kiddie Porn’s clearly thought–out analysis let the reader decide.