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bacasper
Joined: 26 Mar 2007
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 Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 10:28 pm Post subject: America's unjust sex laws |
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Why does this
Illiberal politics
America's unjust sex laws
Aug 6th 2009
From The Economist print edition
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An ever harsher approach is doing more harm than good, but it is being copied around the world.
IT IS an oft-told story, but it does not get any less horrific on repetition. Fifteen years ago, a paedophile enticed seven-year-old Megan Kanka into his home in New Jersey by offering to show her a puppy. He then raped her, killed her and dumped her body in a nearby park. The murderer, who had recently moved into the house across the street from his victim, had twice before been convicted of sexually assaulting a child. Yet Megan�s parents had no idea of this. Had they known he was a sex offender, they would have told their daughter to stay away from him.
In their grief, the parents started a petition, demanding that families should be told if a sexual predator moves nearby. Hundreds of thousands signed it. In no time at all, lawmakers in New Jersey granted their wish. And before long, �Megan�s laws� had spread to every American state.
America�s sex-offender laws are the strictest of any rich democracy. Convicted rapists and child-molesters are given long prison sentences. When released, they are put on sex-offender registries. In most states this means that their names, photographs and addresses are published online, so that fearful parents can check whether a child-molester lives nearby. Under the Adam Walsh Act of 2006, another law named after a murdered child, all states will soon be obliged to make their sex-offender registries public. Such rules are extremely popular. Most parents will support any law that promises to keep their children safe. Other countries are following America�s example, either importing Megan�s laws or increasing penalties: after two little girls were murdered by a school caretaker, Britain has imposed multiple conditions on who can visit schools.
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lead to this
Sex laws
Unjust and ineffective
Aug 6th 2009 | HARLEM, GEORGIA
From The Economist print edition
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America has pioneered the harsh punishment of sex offenders. Does it work?
ONE day in 1996 the lights went off in a classroom in Georgia so that the students could watch a video. Wendy Whitaker, a 17-year-old pupil at the time, was sitting near the back. The boy next to her suggested that, since it was dark, she could perform oral sex on him without anyone noticing. She obliged. And that single teenage fumble wrecked her life.
Her classmate was three weeks shy of his 16th birthday. That made Ms Whitaker a criminal. She was arrested and charged with sodomy, which in Georgia can refer to oral sex. She met her court-appointed lawyer five minutes before the hearing. He told her to plead guilty. She did not really understand what was going on, so she did as she was told.
She was sentenced to five years on probation. Not being the most organised of people, she failed to meet all the conditions, such as checking in regularly with her probation officer. For a series of technical violations, she was incarcerated for more than a year, in the county jail, the state women�s prison and a boot camp. �I was in there with people who killed people. It�s crazy,� she says.
She finished her probation in 2002. But her ordeal continues. Georgia puts sex offenders on a public registry. Ms Whitaker�s name, photograph and address are easily accessible online, along with the information that she was convicted of �sodomy�. The website does not explain what she actually did. But since it describes itself as a list of people who have �been convicted of a criminal offence against a victim who is a minor or any dangerous sexual offence�, it makes it sound as if she did something terrible to a helpless child. She sees people whispering, and parents pulling their children indoors when she walks by.
Punish first, think later
The registry is a gold mine for lazy journalists. A local television station featured Ms Whitaker in a spot on local sex offenders, broadcasting a helpful map showing where she lives but leaving the specifics of the crime to each viewer�s fearful imagination. �My husband�s family saw me on TV,� she says. �That�s embarrassing.�
What Ms Whitaker did is no longer a crime in Georgia. |
full articles at links
Edit: bolding added
Last edited by bacasper on Mon Aug 17, 2009 10:37 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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cwflaneur
Joined: 04 Aug 2009
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| Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 10:37 pm Post subject: Re: America's unjust sex laws |
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| bacasper wrote: |
Unjust and ineffective
Aug 6th 2009 | HARLEM, GEORGIA
From The Economist print edition
America has pioneered the harsh punishment of sex offenders. Does it work?
full articles at links |
I didn't get any classroom blowjobs from 17 y/olds when I was 15! There is truly no justice in the world.  |
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ED209
Joined: 17 Oct 2006
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| Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 10:53 pm Post subject: Re: America's unjust sex laws |
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| cwflaneur wrote: |
I didn't get any classroom blowjobs from 17 y/olds when I was 15! There is truly no justice in the world. |
Don't lie. We know you went to an all boys school. |
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cwflaneur
Joined: 04 Aug 2009
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| Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 12:40 am Post subject: |
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| Touch�. |
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ED209
Joined: 17 Oct 2006
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| Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 1:30 am Post subject: |
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Sorry, couldn't resist  |
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samcheokguy
Joined: 02 Nov 2008
Location: Samcheok G-do
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| Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 1:51 am Post subject: |
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| If we didn't give raises and promotions based on juvinile convictions this would never have gone to court. |
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bacasper
Joined: 26 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 6:42 am Post subject: Re: America's unjust sex laws |
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| cwflaneur wrote: |
I didn't get any classroom blowjobs from 17 y/olds when I was 15! There is truly no justice in the world. |
Exactly! This is how just about EVERY guy I know feels (well, those who didn't get any, anyway).
The only way this situation could have mushroomed out of all control is from the gender feminist lobby. They tool their victimhood status and ran with it, got children included, and then ratcheted up the age of childhood to 16-18, depending on the specifics.
| Samcheokguy wrote: |
| If we didn't give raises and promotions based on juvinile [sic] convictions this would never have gone to court. |
You mean for the prosecutors and detectives, right? |
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samcheokguy
Joined: 02 Nov 2008
Location: Samcheok G-do
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| Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 7:44 am Post subject: |
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-I've been quoted with a [sic]. It's like freshman English all overagain. Yeah, I have a PBJ, from a college prank. I got arrested for double felony trespass(cause it was STATE property) but after paying out the thousands of dollars in court fees, plus my day of comunity service, I felt as if I had been booked largely to raise funds for the state.
-But it was such a racket, pay up now white boy, or go to real court, lose everything and get a real record! No one is THAT stupid. |
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Hater Depot
Joined: 29 Mar 2005
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| Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 3:31 pm Post subject: Re: America's unjust sex laws |
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| bacasper wrote: |
| cwflaneur wrote: |
I didn't get any classroom blowjobs from 17 y/olds when I was 15! There is truly no justice in the world. |
Exactly! This is how just about EVERY guy I know feels (well, those who didn't get any, anyway).
The only way this situation could have mushroomed out of all control is from the gender feminist lobby. They tool their victimhood status and ran with it, got children included, and then ratcheted up the age of childhood to 16-18, depending on the specifics. |
I don't know about the "gender feminist lobby", but overzealous prosecutors can certainly do a lot of harm. |
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Fox
Joined: 04 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 4:09 pm Post subject: |
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| Sex offender registries in particular never made any sense to me. If the person is still a genuine danger to society, why are they out on the streets at all? If they aren't a genuine danger to society, why are they being harassed and prevented from living a normal life via these lists? |
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bacasper
Joined: 26 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 7:09 pm Post subject: |
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| Fox wrote: |
| Sex offender registries in particular never made any sense to me. If the person is still a genuine danger to society, why are they out on the streets at all? If they aren't a genuine danger to society, why are they being harassed and prevented from living a normal life via these lists? |
Yet we don't have murderer registries! You can kill someone, do your time, and get out, and then resume a normal life. That is apparently cool.
But engage in instinctual human behavior with your teenage boy/girlfriend, and your life is ruined. Go figure.
And it is more than mere harassment and prevention of living a normal life. There have been a number of fatal attacks on people whose names were found on internet registries by vigilantes.
This modern day scarlet letter is essentially a descent into barbarism. |
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Fox
Joined: 04 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 8:19 pm Post subject: |
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| bacasper wrote: |
| This modern day scarlet letter is essentially a descent into barbarism. |
That's a very apt metaphor. |
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djsmnc
Joined: 20 Jan 2003
Location: Dave's ESL Cafe
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| Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 9:16 pm Post subject: |
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In ancient Greece, grown men would marry 13 year old women and then when they finished their military service, the women would still be virgins.
If there's grass in the field, play ball! |
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Steelrails
Joined: 12 Mar 2009
Location: Earth, Solar System
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| Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 10:23 pm Post subject: |
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I don't think anyone alive hasn't had some predecssor within the past 4-5 generations who was below the age of 16. Odds are they probably turned out alright too.
Treat kids like kids and they end up acting like kids.
Treat kids like adults and they start to act like adults.
Back in the day boys of 12-14 would take care of the household and act more like men than the average 25 year old now. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2009 3:37 am Post subject: |
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Treat kids like kids and they end up acting like kids.
Treat kids like adults and they start to act like adults.
Back in the day boys of 12-14 would take care of the household and act more like men than the average 25 year old now. |
I agree with the first two sentences, but the operative word is 'start'. Don't take it too far. Back in the day people lived in extended families and Dad, both grandpas, all the uncles, brothers-in-law etc lived within a few hundred yards. Don't discount the effect of peer pressure...or a big hulking brother-in-law to keep adolescents in line: testosterone may well be the most powerful drug known to man--and it is not conducive to rational thought. |
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