TheRanger:

"He is being arrested for going out with the intention of meeting an underage girl for sex."

Ah, in other words he had thoughts of sex with an underage girl. What you are saying is that he has mens rea, the mind of crime. Is that so hard to transfer to kiddie porn?

Geez TheRanger, how long can you keep getting the same thing wrong?

Mens rea is NOT "having thoughts of sex with an underage girl". It's not wanting to commit a crime, or thinking about committing a crime. Mens rea is the actual intent to follow through in reality. As with conspiracy charges, you are not guilty of them just by wishing or thinking or talking about some crime. You are guilty of conspiracy when you make actual plans to actually do it. How do we decide about that? In conspiracy cases, you let a jury do it. The prosecution has to provide evidence that someone was really working on carrying out a plan to commit a crime. NEVER will you see someone convicted of conspiracy unless there is evidence that something is actually in the works.

Got that? Mens rea is NOT "the mind of crime". Mens rea is the intent to actually do the crime. Please please please do your homework before posting on this any more.