The kid on the right is 23 year old Matthew Freeman, a Pittsfield, Michigan resident who 6 years ago was convicted of having sex with his then 15 year old girlfriend he was 17 years old. After being convicted of stautory rape (a prosecution initiated by his girlfriend's mother) he is required to register as a sex offender. Now he's facing further criminal charges because he lives within a 1000 feet of an elementary school. He will remain on the sex offender registry for the next 19 years (25 years in all.)Here, on Bad Lawyer I've established my cred on the question of pedophiles, offenders, and perps--so listen to me folks, laws like the well-intentioned prohibition of sex offenders living within a certain radius of certain buildings are asinine. The sex offender registry requirement for young men who have "consensual" sex with girlfirends who are close in age, albeit not technically at the age of consent--is ridiculous.
These sorts of laws evolve out of state legislators wanting to appear "tough on crime" without doing something nuance and effective.
for more: http://www.annarbor.com/news/a-young-man-struggles-with-the-sex-offender-label/
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It's incredible how anyone could look at this situation and think it is acceptable.
ReplyDeleteYes, I was thinking about this sort of thing vis a vis Romeo and Juliet. If they hadn't gone all suicidey at the end, he'd be in jail. She was "not fourteen," remember. Bet Shakespeare would be surprised to know that his greatest love story is now a felony with lifelong repercussions for latter-day Romeos.
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine is a state probation officer and very down on sex offenders but she says its a big problem finding anywhere to put these guys that doesn't violate probation because of the radius limits around schools, hospitals, playgrounds and parks.
ReplyDeleteOh, Gayle, you are so right on the R & J-front. Not that I was much of a teenage sex deity--ok, well I admit it, I was pretty hot ;) --but, yeah I could be in this guy's shoes given circumstances not applicable to my day and age.
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