Registered Sex Offender

[Sycophant]

Not sure if this is the best forum for it, but why not...

Wendy Whitaker is a registered sex offender. At 17 (she's now 26) she performed oral sex on a boy just days before his 16th birthday. At the time this was a felony in Georgia (it is no longer).

Now, because of her sex offender status, she and her husband may be forced to leave their home, because a church nearby operates an unadvertised daycare service, meaning she resides within 1000ft of an area where children gather.

Reasonable? There's a lot of talk about sex offenders, but the term can be quite broad - should there be more room for individual considerations in these laws?

An interesting point was that if they'd instead had full sexual intercourse, it would have been a misdemeanor and she'd not be a registered sex offender.

Some links:
Life in the shadows
Sex offender files lawsuit to get off list

 

[Sycophant]

Found this neat little link too:
You might be a sex offender if...

 

[Pliny the Elder]

Found this neat little link too:
You might be a sex offender if...

I am a sex offender multiple times over if I go by that ridiculous list.

 

[lazor]

I just read a news story where a 15 year old may be added to the registry for taking nude picture of herself.

My next door neighbor is a registered sex offender because he committed an act of incest at the age of 17.

Weren't these laws meant to protect people, specifically children?

http://www.unitedliberty.org/articl...ces-sex-offender-status-for-the-next-20-years

 

[Autumnleaf]

If you have a problem with the law go get it changed. Complaining about it comes off as whining.

 

[Pliny the Elder]

If you have a problem with the law go get it changed. Complaining about it comes off as whining.

Just as you will whine when prop 8 is overturned, but that is ok I would assume.

 

[Autumnleaf]

Just as you will whine when prop 8 is overturned, but that is ok I would assume.

You do assume. It speaks volumes about you.

 

[Peach Beacon]

Come on, everyone knows that registered sex offenders are ALL child molesting scum who want to rape and murder little boys.

 

[Angel4Truth]

Not sure if this is the best forum for it, but why not...

Wendy Whitaker is a registered sex offender. At 17 (she's now 26) she performed oral sex on a boy just days before his 16th birthday. At the time this was a felony in Georgia (it is no longer).

Now, because of her sex offender status, she and her husband may be forced to leave their home, because a church nearby operates an unadvertised daycare service, meaning she resides within 1000ft of an area where children gather.

Reasonable? There's a lot of talk about sex offenders, but the term can be quite broad - should there be more room for individual considerations in these laws?

An interesting point was that if they'd instead had full sexual intercourse, it would have been a misdemeanor and she'd not be a registered sex offender.

Some links:
Life in the shadows
Sex offender files lawsuit to get off list

Seems since the law is no longer in effect there that she was convicted under alone would be enough to request a pardon and get granted one not to mention she was a minor at the time as well.

 

[cantata]

Ridiculous.

 

[Andreusz]

In Denmark, apparently, there is a 'relative age of consent' (as well as a minimum one, which is 14, I think). No offense is committed if the particpants are no more than two years apart in age. That seems sane to me.

 

[cantata]

In Denmark, apparently, there is a 'relative age of consent' (as well as a minimum one, which is 14, I think). No offense is committed if the particpants are no more than two years apart in age. That seems sane to me.

Indeed. Very sensible.

 

[wanderingone]

Indeed. Very sensible.

Here the laws vary by state, in many age difference is a factor and I think it's a pretty good idea to avoid 18 year olds from being charged as sex offenders when parents are upset by the fact that their 17 year old daughter is having sex. These laws are meant to help protect younger kids from being manipulated and coerced by people in positions of authority.

Sex offender registries make it even more troublesome when someone has been charged just because the law makes it possible. I don't think people convicted only under statutory offenses belongs on their state registry.

I'm not actually a fan of sex offender registries I understand the need of some for tangible folks to fill in their need for a bogeyman but they create some illuson that we can protect ourselves by a frenzied search of the local zip code.

 

[Jane_the_Bane]

This case is quite telling, too.

Gosh, I mean, don't you have child psychologists over in the US who know better than that? I played "doctor" with other kids even in my pre-school days, and let me tell you, it had about as much to do with adult sexuality as playing "house" or "shopping". Even in such games, children retain their innocence, never once contemplating actual sexual acts.

But I guess I would've been hand-cuffed, sentenced and entered into the registry if I had been living in the United States.

 

[clarksided]

I agree 100% with registering sex offenders, but I also agree the definition of a sex offender is a little too broad. Discretion should be applied to each individual case so things like the OP's situation don't happen. A 17 year old having relations with a 15 year old is NOT on the same level as a 30 year old man continually molesting a 12 year old, nor is it on the same level of a 57 year old man who has 30,000 images of child pornography stored on his computer.

 

[jcook922]

Not sure if this is the best forum for it, but why not...

Wendy Whitaker is a registered sex offender. At 17 (she's now 26) she performed oral sex on a boy just days before his 16th birthday. At the time this was a felony in Georgia (it is no longer).

Now, because of her sex offender status, she and her husband may be forced to leave their home, because a church nearby operates an unadvertised daycare service, meaning she resides within 1000ft of an area where children gather.

Reasonable? There's a lot of talk about sex offenders, but the term can be quite broad - should there be more room for individual considerations in these laws?

An interesting point was that if they'd instead had full sexual intercourse, it would have been a misdemeanor and she'd not be a registered sex offender.

Some links:
Life in the shadows
Sex offender files lawsuit to get off list

I really hate that fine line they have with 18 and 19 year olds having relations with someone who is like.. 16 or 17. You make friends in lower grades than you, graduate, then you're at risk suddenly.

 

[Sycophant]

If you have a problem with the law go get it changed. Complaining about it comes off as whining.

That's a difficult enough proposition generally, but in this case it's made even more difficult in that the law in question related to sex offenders and no politician would want to be seen as being soft on sex offenders.

Seems since the law is no longer in effect there that she was convicted under alone would be enough to request a pardon and get granted one not to mention she was a minor at the time as well.

It seems that when the law was revoked it was specifically made non-retroactive.

Here the laws vary by state, in many age difference is a factor and I think it's a pretty good idea to avoid 18 year olds from being charged as sex offenders when parents are upset by the fact that their 17 year old daughter is having sex. These laws are meant to help protect younger kids from being manipulated and coerced by people in positions of authority.

The main thing here, and the thing that made her a registerable sex offender wasn't the age at all, it was the fact that it was an act of 'sodomy' - oral sex was, at the time, illegal.

Sex offender registries make it even more troublesome when someone has been charged just because the law makes it possible. I don't think people convicted only under statutory offenses belongs on their state registry.

I'm not actually a fan of sex offender registries I understand the need of some for tangible folks to fill in their need for a bogeyman but they create some illusion that we can protect ourselves by a frenzied search of the local zip code.

Well the registry can't really be avoided. Any concerned citizen could probably make their own. The larger issue is the state enforcement of prohibitions based on that registry (which would seem unconstitutional I'd have thought). The larger issue is the lack of oversight or individual assessment of these registry - it creates two problems. It raises serious issues of injustice (such as this case, or those of people being force to move home as a result of peeing in public, for example) and it dilutes the value of any such registry. What use is a sex offender registry if many or most of the people on it pose no ongoing risk or are simply technical offenders?

Also, of course, the whole idea of this sort of system completely ignores the fact that the majority of child victims of sexual abuse victims, and they are the only ones the laws aim to protect with residential and movement restrictions, are abused by someone known to them - a relative or friend of the family.

 

[Ryal Kane]

These cases are one of the reasons I have a big problem with mandatory sentencing.
All cases are different and lumping thing together on the same list, especially one with such a stigma, isn't helpful to anyone.

It's utterly absurd that a 17 year old who fools around with his fifteen year old girlfriend can be branded in the same way as a 40 year old who abuses a child.

In the case of the OP it's even more bizarre. Even if she did have a predilection for adolescent boys how she a risk by being near a daycare centre? It's a law the paint with far to broad a brush.

 

[tcampen]

This is the exception to the rule of those subject to register as a sex offender. There are legal means for her to deal with this, she's just whining at this point.

But I find it hard to believe a law against performing oral sex on a 15 year old has been repealed. Perhaps a general sodomy law has been repealed, but oral sex on a 15 year old? No way.

She can go back and try to withdraw her plea and have the case dismissed. Change the law. Have the governor pardon her. There's are ways to deal with this without diminishing the registration requirements for real sex offenders.

 

[Risen Tree]

It never ceases to amaze me just how many uncivilized statutes remain in effect in the United States of America.