I am inclined to get worked up over fifteen months for raping a teenager, or six months for nearly shaking a baby to death.

I'll speculate that part of the problem is that judges know that prisons are hellholes, and shrink from sending anyone there. I would like to see prison reform coupled with "truth in sentencing" where rapists and other violent criminals serve meaningfully long sentences in strictly controlled, but not inhumane, environments. I also recognize that, if we're going to impose serious sentences, we should also take rather more care to ensure that convictions are soundly arrived at.

And while I'm spouting off on things I'd like to have that I know I won't get, I wish the MacArthur Foundation would give me a million-dollar genius grant, and Bill Gates would write me into his will.

Stupid judicial system or stupid copyright system?

Both. As for the enforcement, the problem is that we appear to do just exactly what you are saying Dave, but with more serious crimes. When you rape a young girl it seems to me the punishment should be more than what you'd get if you video tape 20 seconds of a movie. There was recently a post over at the Volokh conspiracy where charges were brought against a man for raping a woman something like 25+ years ago and the main bit of evidence appears to have been nothing more than recovered memories. The whole thing looked like nothing more than an attempt to smear a person. Then there is the Genarlow Wilson case where it looks like the DA in that case is at least guilty of distributing child porn to shore up a case that is recieving severe criticism. And, Genarlow Wilson isn't in prison for 15 months like the rapist above, but 10 years. The more you look at our judicial system the more you see some very ugly and some very serious warts, IMO.

However, in criminal law, it is a separate offense to video tape all or part of a motion picture inside a movie theater, regardless of whether it is a violation of copyright or not.

Whatever became of the principle of “a government of laws not of men”? If you don't want the law enforced, repeal it. If you only want it enforced some of the time, how will you ensure that it's enforced at the “right time”. Sounds like a formula for tyranny to me.