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I read an interesting article in The Economist about the laws regarding sex offenders. it's shocking how these laws are applied, especially when being labeled a "sex offender" can basically ruined your life. one story they highlighted was that of a woman in Georgia who, in the '90's, at the age of 17, performed oral sex on a boy just under 16. she was labeled a sex offender and is still facing harsh scrutiny for what is basically something many teens do. despite changes in Georgia laws (ie, the "crime" she was charged and convicted of isn't even a crime anymore) she's still labeled a sex offender, still has her profile available to the public (according to the article, a local news station apparently did a special on local offenders and her name and picture popped up).
then you have stories of men labeled as sex offenders for having sex at 18 w/ underage girls that would soon become their wives and the mother of their children (BTW the children these men can never attend a youth event w/, take to the park, etc because of some current sex offenders laws). do these men deserve the life long stigma of being labeled as a sex offender, deserve to be harassed by those who think they're monsters and having to uproot b/c new laws enacted says they can't live w/in a 1,000+ foot radius or a park, school, and school bus stop or because they are being harassed by other parents who don't want them around?
the current sex laws, as illustrated by the articles, need to be changed badly. obviously, this isn't directed at the scum of the earth "humans" who kidnapped, rape, and murder children. there are a lot of people labeled as sex offenders who are NOT dangerous, whose major crime was having consensual sex w/ someone younger than them (sometimes even just a year or two longer). according to the article, in some places, you can be labeled as a sex offender just for peeing in public!
does it make sense for these laws to be applied to a man who, at the age of 18, had consensual sex w/ a 16yo girlfriend, to a teen who "sex texts" a semi-nude/ nude pic of herself to a boyfriend in the same way they apply to a person who kidnapped and raped a small child? do children, young teens, deserve to be labeled as sex offenders for simply having sex? I'm not condoning young teens having sex, but that doesn't mean they should be labeled as sex offenders and possibly having that stigma follow them for their entire lives. it seems like a sad case of the punishment not fitting the crime.
Basically the prosecutor has 100% power in area where anyone was convicted of a crime thats no longer a crime. Say that woman was convicted challenges it, if the prosecutor does nothing it can be removed, but if he is a meannie, then he can oppose it and point out that laws cannot be retroactive and the judge will have to agree.
I've seen the "people at 18" argument and the "people peeing outdoors" argument before.
The fact is, these things need to go away. They aren't sex crimes, and anyone with common sense knows that.
However, people watching kiddy porn, people raping young kids, and anything else of that nature need to be exposed, so that we can better protect our children. If there is someone in my community that was convicted of having porn of 5 year old boys on their community, I need to know about this, so I can keep my kid away from his/her house.
Without a doubt, there are some "sex crimes" that are far worse than others. It's obvious that a 50-year old man violating a 5-year old boy or girl is far worse than an 18-year old having consensual sex with a 17-year old.
Even so, the problem is always going to come down to one question: Where do you draw the line? I suppose there need to be many lines, regarding sex crimes. But they'll still have to be drawn, and there will always be people who are receiving an unjustly harsh penalty for their "crime" while other people receive an unjustly small punishment for theirs.
does it make sense for these laws to be applied to a man who, at the age of 18, had consensual sex w/ a 16yo girlfriend, to a teen who "sex texts" a semi-nude/ nude pic of herself to a boyfriend in the same way they apply to a person who kidnapped and raped a small child? do children, young teens, deserve to be labeled as sex offenders for simply having sex? I'm not condoning young teens having sex, but that doesn't mean they should be labeled as sex offenders and possibly having that stigma follow them for their entire lives. it seems like a sad case of the punishment not fitting the crime.
Your right, so how do we change this?
For instance, in my state they want to make it a sex crime for a kid to swat another kid on the behind in the school.
However, people watching kiddy porn, people raping young kids, and anything else of that nature need to be exposed, so that we can better protect our children. If there is someone in my community that was convicted of having porn of 5 year old boys on their community, I need to know about this, so I can keep my kid away from his/her house.
Have we considered an alternative way of protecting our kids, by staying home with them and talking to them, and sharing trust with them? Or is that an economically disastrous strategy that cuts into the Escalade payment book?
Statistically, for every sex offender in your neighborhood that you know about, there are twenty that you do not know about, because they were not caught. Why do you "need" to know about the one who was caught, but not the 20 who were not? Instead of "needing" to know this, why not stay home with your kids and have your own relationship with them? Of all the sex-offenders, the least dangerous are the ones that your kids know about, so of what use is knowing about them?
(I'm not going to dig out the links again to my 20:1 assertion, you can find them yourself. The number of people who state that they have beeh sexually abused exceeds the number of sex crime prosecutions by a factor of 20.)
I bet you would change your tune if you were offering your house for sale, and a sex-offender sign went up on the front lawn of the house next door, reducing your property value by about 50K.
The examples the OP made, are all deviant sexual behavior ...albiet not as bad as others done in society. I applaud the current sex laws which exist in an effort to curtail the out of control sexual behavior that is Americas favorite pastime. I wish the Media could have some tighter restrictions on what they encourage in society.
'Have we considered an alternative way of protecting our kids, by staying home with them and talking to them, and sharing trust with them? Or is that an economically disastrous strategy that cuts into the Escalade payment book?'
REPLY: The only way youre going to 100% protect your kids from the highly charged sexualized-illicit Culture we live in, is to move to another Planet ; short of that, trying to teach your Kids good Christian values and morals within your home before releasing them into a Society of alluring, enticing, and constant spewing of moral degradation ... (hopefully) helps, but even at that there are no gaurantees . America wanted to become a secular humanist nation , and now it must deal with the fallout . Something we must ALL contend with.
'Have we considered an alternative way of protecting our kids, by staying home with them and talking to them, and sharing trust with them? Or is that an economically disastrous strategy that cuts into the Escalade payment book?'
REPLY: The only way youre going to 100% protect your kids from the highly charged sexualized-illicit Culture we live in, is to move to another Planet ; short of that, trying to teach your Kids good Christian values and morals within your home before releasing them into a Society of alluring, enticing, and constant spewing of moral degradation ... (hopefully) helps, but even at that there are no gaurantees . America wanted to become a secular humanist nation , and now it must deal with the fallout . Something we must ALL contend with.
Oh, I get it. Staying home to raise your children and talking to them and sharing trust with them is not good enough by itself. It is also necessary to force them to get down on their knees and pray to Jesus to protect them from the dreaded "deviants".
If there is any "constant spewing", it's . . . . never mind. We're all supposed to be sticking to the guidelines.
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