Yes it does. I was called to a burglary the other night with the person still in the house. I found a teenager underneath a bed. Well he was 16 and was there having sex with a 15 year old girl who let him in the house. I looked at the text messages on both phones and she invited him over to have sex. Well the parents were very religious and the next thing I know another officer informs me the girl was claiming the sex act was rape.....wait a minute! After some very strong words and removing her from the presence of her parents she told us the act was consensual and that her mother told her to tell us she was raped! Thank goodness we looked at the text messages on the phones. Lucky my supervisors were there or I would have lit into the mother.
Jail time as severe as the penalty for rape for those who claim rape falsely. That will help prevent these cases of girls crying wolf because they wake up regretting the decision they made the night before. Unrealistic obviously but in a perfect world would be nice to see. Idk what to do with the ones released from jail though. I don't want them living next door to me either, but obviously they have to live somewhere.
I hate even having to discuss this topic, however as a parent I feel strongly about it. First off, we should as a society begin to acklowledge that there really is a difference in sex offenders. The 20 year old Student Teacher with the 17 year high school Junior should not face the same penalities as a hardcore pedophile. So honestly, there needs to be a true warning system like, hey 'This guy is 24 years old now and is dating age appropriate women" but he lives down the hall, vs "hey Jared Fogle just moved in next door, but he served his time". There is no rehabilitation for the Jerry Sandusky, Jared Fogle types. Honestly, they are severely and genetically damaged to the point that they will do it over and over again. For those types, I think its ok to say death should be a certainty. I won't even give them the benefit of life in prison. How many people's lives are damaged by these creeps over and over again because psychologist think they can be the one to rehab them. Its not possible. Since we dont kill them, I am fine with making their lives miserable to the point that they hang themselves. No internet access for them, no employment, I mean nothing once they hit the street. The proverbial scarlet A is fine.
I'm a criminal defense attorney so I know that the kind of incident Virginiashadow describes here is not necessarily common, but not unheard of either. Our legislator finally passed a Romeo and Juliet exception if the accused in no more than four years older than the complaining witness. But the complaining witness still has to concede that the sex was consensual. (It's called a Romeo and Juliet exception because, as we know, Juliet was 13.)
All we can reasonably do is separate difference levels of sex crimes so your teen statutory offender is not classified with serial child abusers or rapists. And perhaps increase the use of and advance the capability of GPS monitoring.
Last night a male was arrested in the Up Town area of Minneapolis. Witnesses saw the man tackle a woman and hold her down by the throat till she blacked out. The suspect was caught blocks away and he had the phone and ID of another woman that was attacked earlier in the evening. The man arrested had served time before for violent sexual assaults. One could only imagine how he would have been defended had he resisted arrest and been shot and killed by the police when he was taken into custody.
That's the problem with catch and release. Works fine for fishing, but not so well for society when criminals are routinely released early due to overcrowding or whatever BS excuse they come up with.
Very religious, but had no problem destroying a young man's life? What a nasty *****, too bad she couldn't be charged with something.
This is the problem right here. Even in the world of DNA and forensic science, people are wrongfully convicted EVERYDAY.
I have my grandchildren stay the summer and all I would do is tell them not to be around that man or family and then explain. They would be with us for the whole summer, form the age of 2 up to 16.
