Jackson continues to lay out federal guidelines for child porn sentences
Continuing a familiar attack line for Republicans on the committee, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, also tried to drill down on Judge Jackson's sentences for child pornography offenders, raising the case of a defendant who use a computer to access images, but Jackson, again, defended her record and laid out how she approaches the cases.
Nevertheless, Lee still said he has "grave concerns" about her record.

"Senator, as in every child pornography case that I sentenced, I considered all of the evidence, all of the relevant factors. It is not the same exercise to look at a transcript, to think about guidelines, to not have in front of you the individuals, the victims, the pictures, the circumstances that trial judges have to review in these cases or any cases," she said.
In addition to evidence and recommendations, she reminded, again, that courts have "under Congress' authority, the responsibility of using our judgment to make determinations that are 'sufficient but not greater than necessary' to comply with the purposes or promote the purposes of punishment, taking into account things like unwarranted sentencing disparities."

Because the federal sentencing guidelines for child pornography offenses were drafted before the internet age, Jackson has argued judges can't only look at the number of lewd images when handing down sentences but have several other factors to evaluate.
"It may seem like an easy exercise. It may seem in retrospect when you look back at a few pieces of data, that courts have not done what it is that they're supposed to do, but what I can assure you, is that I took every one of these cases seriously in my duty and responsibility as a judge -- and I made my determinations in light of the seriousness of the offense, the nature and circumstances of the offense, the history and characteristics of the defendant, the need for the sentence imposed to promote various purposes of punishment and all of the other factors that Congress prescribes," she said.






