Michigan mulls bill to keep teenage sex offenders off national registry

[NFS4]

http://courttv.com/news/2004/0504/bill_ap.html

 

[amndouglas]

This kind of goes along with that guy in Alabama (not sure) who was sent to prison for having consensual sex with his girlfriend in high school. I can't remember all of the details, but the supreme court ruled that he should have only been sentenced for a max of 1 year for statutory rape instead of the charge he was convicted of.

 

[Shockwave]

I'm all for that. Hell, by the letter of the law *I* should be on that list.

 

[kami333]

I'd be on that list too, probably.

 

[Shockwave]

Originally posted by: kami333
I'd be on that list too, probably.

Th efunny thing is, if I were on that list it would be because of my wife. :Q

 

[bunker]

Originally posted by: amndouglas
This kind of goes along with that guy in Alabama (not sure) who was sent to prison for having consensual sex with his girlfriend in high school. I can't remember all of the details, but the supreme court ruled that he should have only been sentenced for a max of 1 year for statutory rape instead of the charge he was convicted of.

http://www.ajc.com/tuesday/content/epaper/editions/tuesday/news_0479e3ce8689409300f9.html

 

[kami333]

Originally posted by: Shockwave

Originally posted by: kami333
I'd be on that list too, probably.

Th efunny thing is, if I were on that list it would be because of my wife. :Q

Old guy

Regardless, one thing I don't understand is that if there's a registery for sex offenders, why isn't there one for other crimes? Theft, fraud, or vandalism just isn't important enough for people?

 

[OutHouse]

Good. a friend of mines son who was 19 had a relationship with a girl who was 17 and her parents found out and he got charged with molestation. he served 8 months in prison in cali and when he moved to colorado when he was released his PO demanded that he register as sex offender. His parents drove him back to Cali that night.

This kids life is runied now, if he can ever repair it.

 

[Nanotech]

That is exactly why you keep it in your pants and ask to see an id if they look at all younger than 18.

My Senior year in college I was 21 and only had about a month left before graduation when one night I found myself in a bad situation. This good friend of mine's g/f had one of her friends from home come and visit. Very attractive young girl and one that I had seen before b/c she had visited periodically but I had never hung out with her until this night. I knew that she found me attractive b/c her friend told me so and when I asked her how old she was I was lied to. Well, to make a long story short she wanted it and she was not being shy about it. Luckily before anything more than some harmless making out took place another friend of mine told me to ask for her id. Turns out she was only 16 or 17 and as soon as I found this out I left and went to the bars!

Cliff Notes:

When in doubt ask for an id!

That close call could have potentially ruined my life and cost me thousands of $$$'s!

 

[Rainsford]

I'm 20, so you know what I don't do? Have sex with girls under 18! Hold cow, what a fvcking concept. It's illegal and you can get in serious trouble for doing it, everyone knows this. I can understanding loving someone who's underage when you are just overage yourself. But if you love them so much, isn't it worth waiting for sex until it can't get you jail time?

I don't think this is right, but I don't understand why people keep getting in trouble over this stuff...it seems fairly easy to avoid. Or do you HAVE to have sex with your girlfriend before she's 18? Should you be able to? Probably, but just like pot smokers who keep getting arrested for "exercising their rights", it's stupid that people keep doing it.

 

[halik]

Originally posted by: Shockwave
I'm all for that. Hell, by the letter of the law *I* should be on that list.

ditto...

 

[waggy]

i think this could be a good law. there are many instances where a 18-19 yr old has sex with a 17 yr old and gets on the list.

But what about a someone that actually molest someone? how would it impact that? If someone lives next door to me i want to know if they raped a 15 yr old in a different state.

They really need to re-think some of these laws. A buddy of mine had sex with a 16 yr old girl when he was 18. She came back asking for $200. when he said no she threatened to call the cops. when he told her he just did NOT have the money she called on him.

He ended up getting nailed with statutory rape and having a huge fine.

 

[StageLeft]

A person of legal age (barely) having sex with somebody who is barely illegal age when it's consensual and being prosecuted for it is one of the great stupidities in the justice system.

 

[Wuffsunie]

statutory rape: when her father says no.

If it's for cases like that, I can see doing it. But it would have to be look at in a case by case basis to ensure that real molesters don't slip through the cracks.

And as waggy showed, statutory rape laws are just one more thing that women can use to blackmail men :disgust:

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: Wuffsunie
statutory rape: when her father says no.

If it's for cases like that, I can see doing it. But it would have to be look at in a case by case basis to ensure that real molesters don't slip through the cracks.

And as waggy showed, statutory rape laws are just one more thing that women can use to blackmail men :disgust:

So if the age is, say, 16, and a girl is 15 and has been with her bf for 6 months and he's 16 and her dad says no and they screw, that kid deserves punishment? It's nonsense!

 

[BlamoHammer]

I can speak from personal experience about this issue. When I was 18 I went to a party and met a girl. We got to talking and she had told me she was celebrating her 18th birthday that was last week and blah blah blah. She looked more than old enough and was obviously interested. Now everyone always says check ID, check ID!! Trust me, that was one of the last thigns I was thinking about at the time. I'm not saying that I made a correct decision, but it's very easy to look at the situation from the outside in and tell someone what they should have done.

Well things took a natural progression and by the end of the night, she and I found ourselves in an upstairs room fooling around. We didnt have actual sexual intercourse, but everything else up until that point was put in play. We exchanged numbers and proceeded to chat it up on the phone for the new few days off and on.

Two weeks later a detective shows up on my doorstep and starts questioning me about this girl. It turns out that she was in fact 7 days shy of her 16th birthday. In a note she wrote to one of her friends, she described what had happened at the party and that note was intercepted by her parents. Parents called the cops and here I am being questioned at 7am on a Saturday morning by a police detective on my doorstep.

After going through all the legal motions it's decided that I will plead no contest to the charges and accept a 150 day jail sentence. At first the prosecution wanted a 90 day sentence and for me to register as an offender. We told them no dice and they came back with the longer jail sentence in lieu of registration.

While I take full responsibility for my actions, and will never try to say that I didn't have some fault in the entire ordeal...I still feel that the only reason any of it happened was because her parents targeted me as a scapegoat. Regardless of what happened to me, I still think that if I were in the parents role, I would handle it differently.

Cases like mine and the ones mentioned in the article are not what the sexual registration laws were created for. Exercising poor judgment once in your life with a girl who is 2-3 years younger than you does not make one a predator. If she had been another year older, I dont think such a fuss would have been raised. Its a stupid law and if there is any common sense in the great state of Michigan, this bill will pass.

 

[notfred]

I don't think that statutory rape should even be a crime unless there's more than 5 years difference in age between the people involved.

 

[Squisher]

I repeatedly did statutorily rape my wife some 23 years ago.

Maybe this is why I'm being punished.

23 years is a long sentence though, I wonder if I can get a retrial?

 

[NFS4]

Originally posted by: Squisher
I repeatedly did statutorily rape my wife some 23 years ago.

Maybe this is why I'm being punished.

23 years is a long sentence though, I wonder if I can get a retrial?

LMFAO

 

[EXman]

teenage sex offenders often become adult sex offenders

damn that is crap though. kinda backwards IMO I'd be guilty too.

 

[KarenMarie]

Originally posted by: BlamoHammer
I can speak from personal experience about this issue. When I was 18 I went to a party and met a girl. We got to talking and she had told me she was celebrating her 18th birthday that was last week and blah blah blah. She looked more than old enough and was obviously interested. Now everyone always says check ID, check ID!! Trust me, that was one of the last thigns I was thinking about at the time. I'm not saying that I made a correct decision, but it's very easy to look at the situation from the outside in and tell someone what they should have done.

snipped

I know what you mean. I remember that some guy in my town showed up on the registry. At the time, there was a witch hunt wanting to do everything to this guy from branding a permenant scarlet letter type thing on his forhead, to put up posters with his pic all thru town, to actually killing him. All cause he was on this register.

Turns out that the only reason he was on the register was cause he messed around with a fifteen year old. Now, this particular girl is the town bike, but he was new to the area and did not know her reputation or age. He was arrested, charged and the idiot took suspended sentence and the registry deal. The only reason he even got caught was cause the girl wanted to move in with him, he said no, so she went to the police and said that he 'took advantage of her. Her being a young girl and all, she did not know better'.

He so wanted to avoid jail time that he made this agreement and now it follows him everywhere and he not only has a problem finding a job, but has to spend his life looking over his shoulder.

Not what the law intended, but another abused system in this country.

 

[AFB]

Originally posted by: EXman
teenage sex offenders often become adult sex offenders

damn that is crap though. kinda backwards IMO I'd be guilty too.

Yeah, but the question is are they sex offenders.

 

[BlamoHammer]

Originally posted by: KarenMarie

Originally posted by: BlamoHammer
I can speak from personal experience about this issue. When I was 18 I went to a party and met a girl. We got to talking and she had told me she was celebrating her 18th birthday that was last week and blah blah blah. She looked more than old enough and was obviously interested. Now everyone always says check ID, check ID!! Trust me, that was one of the last thigns I was thinking about at the time. I'm not saying that I made a correct decision, but it's very easy to look at the situation from the outside in and tell someone what they should have done.

snipped

I know what you mean. I remember that some guy in my town showed up on the registry. At the time, there was a witch hunt wanting to do everything to this guy from branding a permenant scarlet letter type thing on his forhead, to put up posters with his pic all thru town, to actually killing him. All cause he was on this register.

Turns out that the only reason he was on the register was cause he messed around with a fifteen year old. Now, this particular girl is the town bike, but he was new to the area and did not know her reputation or age. He was arrested, charged and the idiot took suspended sentence and the registry deal. The only reason he even got caught was cause the girl wanted to move in with him, he said no, so she went to the police and said that he 'took advantage of her. Her being a young girl and all, she did not know better'.

He so wanted to avoid jail time that he made this agreement and now it follows him everywhere and he not only has a problem finding a job, but has to spend his life looking over his shoulder.

Not what the law intended, but another abused system in this country.

IMO, any reasonable amount of jail time is worth not being registered. I did my time and while it was only a few months, it was bearable. Being branded for the rest of my life? F- that

 

[todpod]

Originally posted by: notfred
I don't think that statutory rape should even be a crime unless there's more than 5 years difference in age between the people involved.

In PA if the girl is under 16 and the age difference of 4 yrs, then it criminal. Just closed a case were a guy 19 yr old got a 15 yr old pregnant. He will being going to jail shortly.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: BlamoHammer
I can speak from personal experience about this issue. When I was 18 I went to a party and met a girl. We got to talking and she had told me she was celebrating her 18th birthday that was last week and blah blah blah. She looked more than old enough and was obviously interested. Now everyone always says check ID, check ID!! Trust me, that was one of the last thigns I was thinking about at the time. I'm not saying that I made a correct decision, but it's very easy to look at the situation from the outside in and tell someone what they should have done.

Well things took a natural progression and by the end of the night, she and I found ourselves in an upstairs room fooling around. We didnt have actual sexual intercourse, but everything else up until that point was put in play. We exchanged numbers and proceeded to chat it up on the phone for the new few days off and on.

Two weeks later a detective shows up on my doorstep and starts questioning me about this girl. It turns out that she was in fact 7 days shy of her 16th birthday. In a note she wrote to one of her friends, she described what had happened at the party and that note was intercepted by her parents. Parents called the cops and here I am being questioned at 7am on a Saturday morning by a police detective on my doorstep.

After going through all the legal motions it's decided that I will plead no contest to the charges and accept a 150 day jail sentence. At first the prosecution wanted a 90 day sentence and for me to register as an offender. We told them no dice and they came back with the longer jail sentence in lieu of registration.

While I take full responsibility for my actions, and will never try to say that I didn't have some fault in the entire ordeal...I still feel that the only reason any of it happened was because her parents targeted me as a scapegoat. Regardless of what happened to me, I still think that if I were in the parents role, I would handle it differently.

Cases like mine and the ones mentioned in the article are not what the sexual registration laws were created for. Exercising poor judgment once in your life with a girl who is 2-3 years younger than you does not make one a predator. If she had been another year older, I dont think such a fuss would have been raised. Its a stupid law and if there is any common sense in the great state of Michigan, this bill will pass.

If it went down as you say you were wronged, and that's all there is too it.