Local activist Jacob Schwartz is arrested for possession of child pornography HOW TO REACT

Over the Memorial day weekend 29-year-old, Jacob Schwartz was arrested for having child pornography on his computer. Schwart is the son of Arthur Schwartz, Democratic District Leader for the West Village. Arthur is a well know progressive and a noted civil rights and union lawyer. I replaced Arthur when he had to withdraw because of health reasons from a  primary race for State Assembly. Jacob is the President of the Young Democrats of Manhattan. A nightmare for any parent. The tabloids went wild over the weekend. The allegations are serious but unproven at this point. Coming on Anthony Weiner sexting scandal, the headlines screamed DEMOCRATIC PARTY ACTIVIST held on possession of child pornography. What could be more taboo than a child pornography charge: Some of the supporters of his father's primary opponent have been having a field day, condemning the father for the alleged crimes of his son.

I am enclosing an open letter I have written to people in my community about how to address this crisis fairly. 

Please give a read and let me know your response

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Dear friends.

I trust that all of you understand the immediate effect of Jacob Schwartz's  arrest besides the public spectacle of attempting to tie his alleged pedophilia immersion in the digital collection of underage girls involved is sexual activity on his computer is the impact on a family well known to us in the political community.  

While a few of you have been quite outspoken in your dislike of the father, District Leader Arthur Schwartz as I understand  because he challenged Deborah Glick in a primary and cited  her actual record in Albany and her leadership role in enforcing the will of now crimally convicted Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver,

Now is not the time to attack Schwartz because of the alleged activities of his son

For those of you who are parents of adult children, I trust you understand a parent is not responsible for the actions of their adult children Some of you who are parents know more than others of us know personally of how heartbreaking indiscretions of adult children can be.

Tony Hoffman, former President of VID is correct; We need to think of how this will affect the lives of Jacob's family who are innocent and did not participate in the alleged actions of Arthur's first born.  My concern has been for Jacob's mother and father and their families right now.  I have made my feelings known to Arthur, who, contrary to some of you, I do not and have not had a close personal relation with other than as progressive political people do in our community, We share ,as I think most of you do, mutual community concerns

As to pedophilia: I must admit that as a gay man I did have a sigh of relief when the gender of the young children was identified as girls, not boys. Despite the fact that 93% percent of all people charged with inappropriate behavior with underage children are herotsexual men, The media has focused on the sexual misconduct with underage children and framed in the eyes of the public gay men as sexual predators.

IIt is my opinion that sexua fetisaion of uder age children is NOT a gay issue , but is a general mental health issue.

At this point, Jacob is charged with possession of images and videos on his computer. He is not charged with actual physical, sexual encounters with any young girl. I hope that remains true.

I believe that pedophilia can not be cured and the best treatment is environmental boundary control.  

Some of you referenced your own interactions with sexual predator's victims as social workers years ago,

I suggested that as horrible as the allegations, if true, are, they need to be put in the context of reality and not simply a subjective moral outrage.

Human trafficking and the exploitation of children to satisfy the arrested sexual development of an adult and the exploitation for profit of deviant desire is the root issue for me of this problem. I do not excuse the actions of any pedophile regardless of what actions they took ..but  I do distinguish between physical contact and viewing illicit images in the privacy of their personal life.

If we do as political people speak out and demand that the individuals who exploit children in a sexual context for profit or pleasure are in fact criminal activities, then we must demand they must be found and prosecuted.

Pedophilia to me as define in these charges the possession of and the viewing of images and videos is different from sexual assault including rape. A distinction must be made leagally between viewing =images and actual physical , sexual abuse, is not the same thing as physical, sexual assault.

I have counseled young who were the victims of members of the NAMBLA. It may surprise you to learn that while the majority of members of NAMBLA were adult gay men, there were also female members who were attracted to underage boys. The boys now men I worked with were severely damaged emotionally and for the most part repress their memories through drugs and alcohol and some even repeated the same seduction of underage boys and girls in the manner they had been subjected to as children and adolescents.

So please,  look at the big picture here.  On a daily basis millions of men and some women consume pornography on the internet. Some of that pornography involves children. It has become a major addiction in our contemporary society and is rarely spoken about in public or the media.

So we get these lurid headlines like we saw over the weekend in the NY Post and the Daily News ..We see it politicized in their comments pages. I hope VID and all progressive people will begin not a witch hunt but an education on how the sex industry exploits children for profit.

Jacob, if the allegations are proven true, does not need prison where his life will be at high risk for his murder, he needs long-term mental health treatment. I say this about him and any other sexual predator of underage children.

As someone who has been raped four times. I know the journey back from those assaults and while I have never felt sympathy for my perpetrators I have given much thought about how to prevent other people from suffering the same actions  The first time I was raped I was 15 years old in a men's locker room. It is one of the reasons I have raised serious concerns about biological girls who identify as transgender demanding equal access to boys and men's locker rooms.

I also think we should use correct language. When we talk of the exploitation of children and adolescents under the legal age of consent (age of consent is a topic also worth serious discussion), we need to use the proper words because in this case words actually matter.

Hebephilia is the strong, persistent sexual interest by adults in pubescent (early adolescent) children (especially those showing Tanner stages 2-3 of development), typically ages 11–14. Hebephilia differs from Pedophilia,[ which is the strong, persistent sexual interest in prepubescent children.[ It also differs from ephebophilia, the strong, persistent sexual interest in later adolescents, typically ages 15–19.

Human trafficking is a worldwide problem.

Much food for thought

Jim fouratt