BALTIMORE (Map, News) - A bill to increase penalties for possessing child pornography was approved and sent to the full House of Delegates by the Judiciary Committee on Friday in an at least partial victory for child-welfare advocates.

The committee voted to make the possession of depictions of children in sexual acts or of their genitals a felony as a second offense, but it rejected harsher legislation that would have made possessing any child pornography a felony on the first conviction with a mandatory two-year sentence.

“I think it’s a big victory, but we’re still a long way from the finish line,” said Del. Susan McComas, a Harford County Republican who is the lead sponsor of both bills.

The amended bill passed by the committee (HB436), co-sponsored by Del. Jeff Waldstreicher, a Montgomery County Democrat, also increases the possible prison time for being found with child porn from two to five years on the first offense, and from five to 10 years for subsequent offenses.

The harsher measure had bipartisan support, but at a hearing last Tuesday, it was opposed by the state’s judges, who do not like being forced to impose mandatory sentences, and by public defenders, who say felonies should be reserved to public threats.

A felony also carries harsher sanctions for the convicted felon after he is released.

That proposal has “been around a number of times and it hasn’t been successful,” McComas said. Sen. Nancy Jacobs, another Harford Republican, has sponsored the same bill in the Senate. It failed last year in the Judicial Proceedings Committee, which will hear it again next week.

Many child advocates say there is evidence that child pornography can lead to pedophilia, carrying out sexual acts with children in real

life.

“We did pretty well [in the committee], considering,” McComas. She said she introduced both bills because “we were going to take what we could get.”

llazarick@baltimoreexaminer.com