MANHATTAN (CN) - Rebuked by the 2nd Circuit for his compassionate treatment of a child pornography case, a federal judge reluctantly doubled the sentence of a teenage offender.
The 92-year-old U.S. District Judge Jack Weinstein has had a longstanding reputation as a maverick of the federal judiciary, both in philosophy and in practice. Early in his tenure, he got off the bench to visit schools for desegregation cases he handled. He took another field trip to a depressed housing project that he believed to have been decimated by the so-called war on drugs.
When teenage Corey Reingold first faced child pornography charges before Weinstein, the Brooklyn judge kept up this tradition by touring Federal Medical Center Devens, a Massachusetts prison dedicated to the rehabilitation of sex offenders. Weinstein initially shielded Reingold's identity by marking the docket with the initials "C.R.," but the appellate court decided to print his name in full after Reuters discovered his name.
Nobody disputed that the FBI found 100 videos and 208 images of explicit and often-violent child pornography on Reingold's computer, after an undercover agent traced his "Boysuck 0414" handle on the file-sharing program GigaTribe to his stepfather's apartment in Queens.
Since GigaTribe users cannot download without sharing files of their own, Reingold was charged with distributing child pornography, a more serious crime than possession that carried a mandatory five-year sentence.
Judge Weinstein, who favors psychological treatment over incarceration for child pornography offenders, pushed for Reingold's attorneys to plead not guilty to that charge, crediting Reingold's testimony that distribution was the passive result of being a GigaTribe user. The judge relented after both parties insisted on avoiding a trial, which would have increased Reingold's sentencing exposure.
Probation recommended at least 14 years imprisonment for Reingold, enhancing his sentence for use of a computer, distribution of the images and a "pattern of abuse." Reingold admitted under a polygraph examination that he coaxed his much-younger sister into three sexual encounters: The first occurred when he was 15 and she was eight, and the last happened when he was 18 and she was 11.
Weinstein called for several days of testimony by psychiatric experts and a tour of FMC Devens before imposing his light sentence, in a whopping 401-page ruling dotted with swaths of transcripts, academic literature, philosophical debate and legal history.
According to that ruling, Reingold's biological mother was a stripper and a cocaine addict, who lost custody of him and then broke almost every promise to visit, as he got older. At age 15, he found his stepmother in bed with family friend, which ended his father's remarriage with the "most important and nurturing person in his life."
Around this time, he picked up his drug, alcohol and child porn habits, the ruling states.
Weinstein argued that a 30-months prison term at FMC Devens would provide enough deterrence for the crime, while providing Reingold psychiatric treatment for rehabilitation. A higher sentence, he believed, would constitute "cruel and unusual punishment."
Though uniquely adamant in his views, Weinstein is hardly alone in opposing minimum sentences. He noted in his ruling that a 2001 survey conducted by the U.S. Sentencing Commission found that 71 percent of judges believed mandatory minimums for receipt of child pornography were too high.