As child abuse experts point out, about 50 children are reported kidnapped and raped or murdered by strangers annually, compared to more than 3,000 children murdered by parents and other family members in non-sexual cases.
Most sex offenders, says one therapist who works with sex offenders in a state prison system, are “Gentle grandfathers who made one mistake in judgment years ago and fondled their grandchild.
At issue her is:
- Legal punishment for sexual “crimes” against minors is a modern witch hunt.
- Totally out of proportion to damage caused by it.
- Hysteria
- Purposeful confounding of criminal violent sexual crime against minors nearly or totally harmless fondling or consensual sexual acts
- any reasonable open-minded unbiased discussion or scientific analysis of the issue regarding underage sexuality is totally shunned, repressed, ignored, prohibited.
The blog cited below is pretty extreme. I am not saying that I totally agree with all of this. It is an interesting “devil’s advocate” article meant to shake up ingrained prejudices.
In spite of being Devil’s advocate, I personally still think that messing with children is somewhat of bad taste and maybe should not be totally liberated.
What I question, though, is if it is such vile a crime as it is being treated by the law in the US and most other countries.
My doubt is:
- Is it really necessary that the punishment for slightly fondling a child is higher then for throwing the same child out of a third story window or throwing boiling water on it and getting the child seriously injured?
all quotes from http://www.radicalleft.net/blog/_archives/2006/6/5/1990675.html
Of course among these sex offenders are indeed some criminals who have caused extreme harm: violent rapists of adult women as well as children. A few of them have kidnapped, tortured or murdered their victims.
Dr. Fred Berlin of the Johns Hopkins University Sex Disorders Clinic in Baltimore estimates that such crimes account for less than 1/10th of 1% of all sex offenses in America.
His studies also show that fewer than 10% of child sex offenders re-offend—though recidivism is usually given as a reason for draconian measures against them.
As child abuse experts point out, about 50 children are reported kidnapped and raped or murdered by strangers annually, compared to more than 3,000 children murdered by parents and other family members in non-sexual cases.
Most sex offenders, says one therapist who works with sex offenders in a state prison system, are “Gentle grandfathers who made one mistake in judgment years ago and fondled their grandchild.
Or lonely, geeky gay men—teenagers some of them—who sought mutual sexual release with adolescent boys.
Or young female teachers who succumbed to the wiles of handsome adolescent boys or girls. Or young men who got drunk and pushed their girlfriends over a line that is now called date rape.”
Yet the media, police, prosecutors and politicians continue to insist that children are in dire need of protection from serial rapists and murderers.
Two-thirds of parents surveyed said they feared their children would be kidnapped and or murdered by strangers. Facts simply do not matter when hysteria is involved.
very nice articles I found here:
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http://www.moraloutrage.net/
Age of Consent – Criminalizing Teen Sex
quotes:
Criminalizing normative teenage sexual behavior has the unfortunate outcome of placing sexually active teens on the same sex offender registry as predatory pedophiles. For example,18 year old Joshua Lunsford, the brother of Jessica Lunsford, for whom Jessica’s Laws are named, was recently arrested (http://www.moraloutrage.net/article.php?story=20070527141858433) for “unlawful sexual conduct” with a 14 year old. If convicted, he will be required to register under the same laws as John Couey – his sister’s murderer.
Or, ponder the fate of Genalow Wilson, who at age 17 had consensual oral sex with his 15 year old girlfriend. For this “felony” he is presently serving 10 years without possibility of parole in a Georgia prison.
What makes this case more absurd is that if Mr. Wilson and the young woman had sexual intercourse, he would have been guilty only of a misdemeanor and not required to register as a sex offender, thanks to a provision in the law meant to avoid just this type of draconian punishment for consensual youthful indiscretions, the “Romeo and Juliet” exception. (Free Genalow Wilson)( http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/21/opinion/21thu4.html?ex=1324357200&en=51de6bd7030c60c0&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland)
As Wilson’s trial was unfolding, a 27-year-old teacher was being found guilty just down the hall of sex with a 17-year-old student — the kind of crime for which child molestation statutes were written. She got three years of probation and 90 days in jail. http://www.miamiherald.com/285/story/60572.html
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http://sadlynormal.wordpress.com/2006/12/06/ut-teen-both-a-perpetrator-and-victim-of-sex-offense-presents-legal-puzzle/
Utah Supreme Court justices acknowledged Tuesday that they were struggling to wrap their minds around the concept that a 13-year-old Ogden girl could be both an offender and a victim for the same act – in this case, having consensual sex with her 12-year-old boyfriend.
The girl was put in this odd position because she was found guilty of violating a state law that prohibits sex with someone under age 14. She also was the victim in the case against her boyfriend, who was found guilty of the same violation by engaging in sexual activity with her.
“The only thing that comes close to this is dueling,” said Justice Michael Wilkins, noting that two people who take 20 paces and then shoot could each be considered both victim and offender.
And Chief Justice Christine Durham wondered if the state Legislature had intended the “peculiar consequence” that a child would have the simultaneous status of a protected person and an alleged perpetrator under the law.