Celebrated crime-fiction writer John Grisham has attacked America's judicial system for wrongly locking up men he believes 'accidentally' watched child pornography.
The best-selling author and lawyer - who penned novels like The Rainmaker, The Firm and The Pelican Brief - has given an astonishing interview to The Telegraph defending some child sex offenders, saying they have become victims of a legal system that has 'gone crazy'.
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He said his 'old buddy from law school' became involved in an operation organized by the FBI in Canada.
'His drinking was out of control, and he went to a website,' Grisham told The Telegraph. It was labelled ''sixteen-year-old wannabee hookers'' or something like that. And it said ''16-year-old girls''. So he went there. Downloaded some stuff - it was 16-year-old girls who looked 30. He shouldn't have done it. It was stupid, but it wasn't 10-year-old boys. He didn't touch anything. And God, a week later there was a knock on the door: ''FBI!'' and it was sting set up by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to catch people - sex offenders - and he went to prison for three years. There's so many of them now. There's so many ''sex offenders'' - that's what they're called - that they put them in the same prison. Like they're a bunch of perverts, or something. We've gone nuts with this incarceration.'
Grisham was sure to say that he has 'no sympathy for real pedophiles' and believes anyone caught committing such a crime should face harsh penalties.
However he believes many men have been penalized too harshly for doing too little.
Questioned about the fact that viewing child porn fuels child abuse by placing a demand on creating new material, Grisham replied that sentences should still be lower for people who only download the content.
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However, a report published in February by Reason magazine claimed that offenders caught viewing child pornography often received harsher sentences than offenders caught sexually abusing children.
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