In Eugene Ionesco’s absurdist play “The Bald Soprano” a character talks about a husband and wife named Bobby and Bobby Watson whom no one could tell apart because they had the same name. In People v. Gillotti, the Court of Appeals has applied similar logic to hold that “victim” under the Sex Offender Registration Act (SORA) is identical to “victim” in tort cases where persons depicted in child pornography can seek damages from mere viewers.1 Gillotti accordingly holds that anyone convicted of possessing multiple images of child pornography has multiple “victims” and therefore presents the same future risk to public safety as someone who has sexually assaulted multiple children.
The majority sees no absurdity in this. Rather, it asserts that any other result would violate the “plain language” of SORA. But plain language interpretation does not mean that just because two things have the same name they cannot be told apart.
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