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Culture War Roundup for the week of December 19, 2022

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In the US, it is not illegal to merely desire to commit a crime.

Punishment for a status is particularly obnoxious, and in many instances can reasonably be called cruel and unusual, because it involves punishment for a mere propensity, a desire to commit an offense; the mental element is not simply one part of the crime but may constitute all of it. This is a situation universally sought to be avoided in our criminal law; the fundamental requirement that some action be proved is solidly established even for offenses most heavily based on propensity, such as attempt, conspiracy, and recidivist crimes.[4] In fact, one eminent authority has found only one isolated instance, in all of Anglo-American jurisprudence, in which criminal responsibility was imposed in the absence of any act at all

Powell v. Texas, 392 US 514, 543 (Black, J, concurring).

Besides, the only reason that non-obscene child porn is not protected by the First Amendment is that its production harms the child involved. New York v. Ferber, 458 U.S. 747 (1982). Hence, non-obscene depictions of children having sex that does not involve a real child are protected speech.

What is that one isolate instance?