Does the Sex Offender List Need to Change?

[LIPTON BASH]

I definitely think so, while you don't want people preying on youth, the fact of the matter is that there are many things that can get you on the sex offender list. Public urination on a playground at night (with no children present) while definitely something worth a fine and probably a day or two in the local jail, can get people on the registry. That in and of itself is absurd.

 

Furthermore if you have a 17 year old dating a 15 year old in KY, one is of legal age and the other isn't. If for instance mom or dad walks on on the 15 year old princess and her 17 year old boyfriend mid-coitus then there is a good chance that, even if it was consensual, that the parents may press charges and pressure the daughter into saying he raped her.

 

Now if there is a 24 year old man with a 15 year old girl, then no problems, definitely okay to register him.

 

No lawmaker will ever touch this , but to your example.

 

I had a basketball teammate in high school , he was kind of a dork. He dated a freshman as a senior. Next year as a college freshman he was 18 she was 15. Parents of the girl walked in on them making out. Pressed charges and he got 20 years or whatever on the list for kissing and heavy petting on the outside of the clothes with a minor. Literal wording.

 

We weren't friends but I always felt bad for him. He was a nice dude , but had no luck with the ladies and he finally did.

 

Its a tough subject because on actual child predators I don't think the law is tough enough. But common sense needs to come into play.

[PepRock01]

 

No lawmaker will ever touch this , but to your example.

 

I had a basketball teammate in high school , he was kind of a dork. He dated a freshman as a senior. Next year as a college freshman he was 18 she was 15. Parents of the girl walked in on them making out. Pressed charges and he got 20 years or whatever on the list for kissing and heavy petting on the outside of the clothes with a minor. Literal wording.

 

We weren't friends but I always felt bad for him. He was a nice dude , but had no luck with the ladies and he finally did.

 

Its a tough subject because on actual child predators I don't think the law is tough enough. But common sense needs to come into play.

 

In the U.S. you're right it would never change. We are very punitive in our legal system so much so that many people never get out of the system once in.

 

To actual child predators I am with you, they need to be punished harshly. However to what happened to your teammate is exactly the kind of thing that irritates me.

[ColonelCrazy]

Something to think about: in as many as 93% of child sexual abuse cases, the child knows the person that commits the abuse.

 

The thought that the creepy guy down the street is going to drive by in his van & kidnap Johnny & sexually abuse him is sensationalism. It rarely happens like that, although the media would suggest otherwise.

 

Source: http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/factsheet/pdf/childhoodSexualAbuseFactSheet.pdf

 

Source: Common Questions