having sex

A mother gives the blessing for her 16 year old daughter to marry a 51 year old man and the marriage is performed. Sounds like something you might hear of in the Middle East, but nope, this story happened right here in the United States:

Cue the reality show: Doug Hutchison, a 51-year-old actor who has appeared in Lost, The Green Mile, and The X-Files, married 16-year-old aspiring country star Courtney Alexis Stodden in Las Vegas last month. "We're aware that our vast age difference is extremely controversial," the couple told E! Online through a spokeswoman. “But we're very much in love and want to get the message out there that true love can be ageless." Nevada requires marriage applicants to be 18 years of age. Luckily for Stodden, a former Miss Teen USA contestant, she had her mother’s blessing. "We are totally supportive of this marriage," her mother tells RadarOnline.com, before over-sharing: "Courtney was a virgin when she married Doug. She is a good Christian girl."

And yet we have 18 and 19 year olds in this country going to jail and being labeled sex offenders for having sex with their 16 and 17 year old girlfriends.

Who says money can't buy you love?

The biggest problem with the sex offender registry is that it has become convoluted with names of people who shouldn’t be on there. Here is a perfect example”

Freeman pleaded guilty to fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct involving force or coercion and was sentenced to probation in September 2003, court records show. By pleading guilty to the misdemeanor charge, he admitted to having sex with his 15-year-old girlfriend, who was two years younger. In Michigan, the legal age of consent is 16.

[SNIP]

Freeman, who had no criminal record, pleaded guilty to the fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct with force or coercion charge on the advice of his public defender, he said.

While he broke the law by having sex with an underage girl, the police report says the victim was “not forced to commit any act” nor “did she ask him not to commit any act.”

A 17 year old and 15 year old have sex and it’s a crime. Actually according to this law it could be his 16th birthday today and his girlfriend’s tomorrow and if they have sex tonight it’s a crime. For this this young man must register as a sex offender until 2028.

This is a major problem with criminal justice in the United States and one that needs to be seriously addressed. Labeling someone as a sexual offender should be taken very seriously, not just thrown at people nilly-willy. Now that we have been doing that, the list has become essentially ineffective.

There is a big discussion going on here in Ohio right now. At the center of the discussion is pending legislation called Kristin's Law. This new law will require sexual predators to have green license plates on their vehicles. Last night Anderson Cooper had Kevin Coulghlin, the state senator who wrote this legislation, to discuss the impact it may have:

This may sound like some sound legislation on the outside, but will it really work?

Ten years ago Ohio started the sexual offenders registration list. To date there are almost 16,000 names on the list. This is, however, a highly inflated number.

I know of cases where 18 year old boys had sex with their 16 year old girlfriend, resulting in the girl getting pregnant. The parents of the girl get upset and file charges against the boy and in turn he gets convicted of having sex with a minor and being branded a sex offender for life. There are numerous other cases that are similar to this.

What the sexual offender list has become is a form of punishment instead of a tool of warning. Something as innocent as the incident I cite happens and judges decide to invoke the list as part of their sentence, causing serious negative consequences.

First - should the boy be branded the same as someone in their 50's who rapes a 13 year old? That doesn't seem right.

Secondly, and the most serious, is that the list is becoming unmanageable. The true repeat offenders never follow the rules. I can't tell you how many times I have heard of a child being raped by a repeat offender who didn't follow the rules and their information on the list became outdated.

Coughlin is trying to assure people that the plates will not be used as generously as the list. The list also was created with these promises. So now we have people being branded with green license plates like the 18 year old boy I mentioned; all because a judge wants to set an "example".

Today's New York Times article covering the developments in the Foley case has one key paragraph that must be addressed:

At the Justice Department, an official said that no investigation was under way but that the agency had “real interest” in examining the circumstances to see if any crimes were committed.

Why is an investigation not under way? The ABC chat transcripts are more than evidence enough to get an investigation going. So why not start it already? If this was any other citizen or a Democrat in Congress, you can bet the investigation would have started when the story broke. Is this the type of vigilance Gonzales' Department of Justice takes? If it is then there is no wonder why our country is always at danger.

Something else this does is allow more time for a cover up. With Foley's sudden departure, who is to say he didn't want to get home and start erasing his hard drive? More times than not these cases also involve child pornography. Investigators should have immediatley been assigned, a warrent immediatley obtained and his computers seized. Oh but wait a minute. Could they have been able to get his office computer? Remember - Dennis Hastert doesn't think members of Congress should have their offices searched, even with proper court orders. Now maybe we see why he went out to fight for a Democrat - Rep. William Jefferson.

I am also wondering what kind of message this sends to other internet sex predators out there? I mean they won't investigate the Congressman with this damming evidence out there, so why should any other predator worry? WRONG MESSAGE REPUBLICANS!