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The US Supreme Court has ruled that a law which allows “sexually dangerous” prisoners to be jailed forever without trial does not violate the Constitution.

The case centres on Graydon Comstock, who was convicted of possessing child pornography and sentenced to three years imprisonment. He apparently never actually had sex with any children.

Six days prior to the end of his sentence, the government branded him a “sexually dangerous” paedophile who might reoffend, and denied him release, placing him into indefinite “civil commitment” in a federal prison.

He has since spent nearly three years in prison despite having been convicted of no further crime, and having served his sentence.

Release of such “committed” prisoners is possible only if they are deemed to be no longer dangerous – without a treatment program recognised as being capable of this, their imprisonment effectively becomes indefinite.

The law responsible for extending this practice to the federal level, the 2006 Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, was soon challenged by prisoners now being denied release indefinitely, eventually reaching the Supreme Court.

The Google website has removed a site with unauthorized, translated scans of dōjinshi from its search results due to a complaint that the scanlation site "contained child pornography." When a search query is run on Google for the scanlation site's name or domain, a notice at the bottom of the search results states that Google has removed some of the search results "in response to a legal request submitted to Google." Neither Google nor the Chilling Effects Clearinghouse legal resource gives information on who submitted the legal request. Google also reported the website to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, an action that is required by U.S. federal law when an electronic communication service provider becomes aware of alleged child pornography.

In the United States under Title 18 U.S.C. Section 2256, the legal definition of child pornography does not apply to "drawings, cartoons, sculptures, or paintings depicting minors or adults." However, the Protect Act of 2003 amended a seperate section, Title 18 U.S.C. Section 1466A, to state that it is illegal to produce, distribute, receive or possess drawings or cartoons containing sexually explicit depictions of minors if it is also "obscene." This is the same section of law under which Christopher Handley was sentenced for possessing "obscene" manga in February.

According to the scanlation site, it is currently in discussion with Google to clear up the situation.

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