No, I'm not joking. Simply being in possession of real child research should not be enough to make someone a criminal. At most they should be closely watched for a while to make sure they aren't raping anyone.
If it's a few pictures,
maybe, and only if they were planted as a sick joke (I.e. the supposed versions of Sad Satan that had CP and gore planted in or a particularly nasty ex trying to get revenge). This guy had
137,000 photos, he clearly had the full intent of choking his chicken to this stuff for decades to come, and the fact that you're trying to justify that shows how much of a degenerate you are.
How would you feel if a relative or family friend was masturbating to childhood pictures of
you? How would you feel if you were coerced into doing disgusting acts just to satisfy them because you didn't know any better? How would you feel if someone was raped or molested and you found videos of that act on said relative or friend's computer? Would you just accept it? If they're actively resisting their urges, I'd be tempted to give them a chance, but if they have masses of CP, they're clearly a danger to society and should be treated as such.