Thumbs up or thumbs down?

[MonkeeMan]

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On a related note, many released sex offenders have been hounded out of towns and cities, since they must identify themselves to local law enforcement. Concerned citizens then force said ex-con out of the area by various means. Should these people be locked up forever, or can they be cured? If the latter, will parents believe it to be true?

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They can be cured the same way I cured my cats and dog. snip snip.

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This can and has been done via chemical castration. Once treated, I still doubt they'll be considered safe. When you're on a Megan's Law list, you don't get off.

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Sigh, then I guess it's time for the McMurphy cure. snip snip SNIP.

[MCS]

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Maybe he picked up a hooker who turned out to be a 15 year old runaway.

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Something like this happened to me once.

I almost had a heart attack that day. Come to find out the girl was a 12-year old runaway. I was arrested; my car was impounded.

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Here is more on that story.

(Look near the bottom of the page for the pertinent info.)

[Blarg]

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Disclaimer: Before I get flames, I'd just like to point out that I believe that pedophiles should be be thrown in jail and they should throw away the key after doing so. There's nothing more disgusting than someone who molests a child.

That being said...

The story sounds more like a car full of drunken good ole' boys who had a great excuse to go beat someone down. My gut feeling is that there never was any "attempted assault" of a 12 year old girl. The car full of rednecks had a few too many beers, someone mentioned that there's a sex offender in the neighbourhood, and next thing you know they're all piling in the '93 Oldsmobile for a beat-down.

We have no idea what this "sex offender" really did to be labelled as such. He was convicted of lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 16. Maybe he picked up some girl at a bar who "looked 18" but turned out to be 15 (though he doesn't look like the type an 18 year old would be all that interested in). Maybe he picked up a hooker who turned out to be a 15 year old runaway. My point is that we don't really know, and I'm suspecting that the guys who laid a beating on him didn't really know either.

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In many states, the age of majority, for statutory rape, is higher for the girl than the boy. There are boys who have gone to prison for rape for having sex with their girlfriends when they were 16 and the girl was 17, older than they were, and when they were both the same age.

A friend of mine is a prosecutor in L.A. She told us a story about a guy who got caught beating off in a curtained booth in a porno store, the kind where you pay 25c to keep a porno movie going. It's illegal to beat off there, but the booths are basically set up for beating off; it's a beat off business. Anyway, the cops did a raid and caught the customers whacking away, and they from that point on got permanent records as sex offenders, and would have to register with the sheriff everywhere they went. It was a major mark against them, and the information is now publically available to all. And, I submit to the OOT jury, this is a victimless crime. Heck, the beat off joint was set up to make money off his jerking, and he paid up. To me, this is an example of ridiculous laws run amuck, and it's very sad what happened to the pecker pounders.

The stigma of sex crime is so awful, and the punishments and life consequences can be so cruelly severe, that we really should be careful we don't lump all sex criminals in with each other, because there are night and day differences. Frankly, if I had a 17 year old daughter who slept with an 18 year old guy, I'd hope it was done safely and was a good relationship, not that the law would throw him in the slammer and ruin his life. Heck, oral, anal, and homosexual sex are still against the law in some places. I'm all for people paying the price for doing really terrible things, but the law often has no clue or concern what crimes should be, and destroys as much as or more than it protects. The idea of what properly constitutes a sex criminal is unforgivably sloppy, considering the effect of the designation.

[Aloysius]

I guess the post subject is too "on-the-nose" for Commodus to make an appearance...

[send_the_msg]

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Heck, oral, anal, and homosexual sex are still against the law in some places.

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is this true?

[Blarg]

Sure is. Almost every place used to have these laws, and quite a lot of them. Many have been removed, but many have not. Laws can hang around many decades after societal mores have changed; they basically live forever until the courts or the legislatures get rid of them. The incentive for a legislator to take on the identity of the guy who said butt sex should be okay is a pretty low one.

[MCS]

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Heck, oral, anal, and homosexual sex are still against the law in some places.

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is this true?

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I'm just here to confirm that it is.

And also to point out to the people that read my first post in this thread and wondered about what happened with the 12-year old, I provided a link for you.

[Namdrahsirhc]

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The story sounds more like a car full of drunken good ole' boys who had a great excuse to go beat someone down. My gut feeling is that there never was any "attempted assault" of a 12 year old girl. The car full of rednecks had a few too many beers, someone mentioned that there's a sex offender in the neighbourhood, and next thing you know they're all piling in the '93 Oldsmobile for a beat-down.


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Im gonna have to go with this answer. Although anyone who molests a kid should be knelt down, and shot in the back of the skull.

[Cancer Merchant]

All US state sodomy laws were declared unconstitutional in 2003; a list of laws on the books by state can be found here.

[PoBoy321]

HopeyDaFish, you're my new favorite poster. I agree completely that sex offenders should be locked up forever, or at the very least, admitted into civil commitment or kept under strict supervision, but he committed a crime, served his time, and now these assholes are just trying to play judge, jury and executioner.