Jack and Jill went up the hill to have some sex with each other. Jill said yes, but her dad found out.. Now Jack’s serving time in prison. Should a person who commits a consensual sexual act be punished with prison time? Because of Statutory Rape Laws, he/she can be. These laws criminalize any person who performs sexual acts with a person under the age of consent (which is usually between 16 and 18) even if the act was consensual. In the eyes of the law, a person cannot consent to any sexual act until they have reached the age of consent. A person charged with Statutory Rape serves a mandatory sentence ranging from one to fifty years - in some cases life - in prison. This depends on the age of the defendant and the “victim” at the time the …show more content…
In Mike Cernovich’s article “The Hell of Sex Offender Registration” he cites John (a man on the sex offender registry) as saying “[O]ne of the biggest problems with the registry [is that p]eople who are on it are automatically assumed to be the worst of the worst through society's eyes.” Many people can attest to this. Most of the people on the sex offender registry are not serial rapists or child molesters, they are mostly people convicted of small offenses - such as Statutory Rape. If someone is found to be on the sex offender registry by a person who knows them, their whole life is gone. They lose jobs, relationships, even insurance because they are believed to be a child molester when really it might have been as trivial as sexual harassment. John was put on the registry for sleeping with a 14 year old when he was 25. The act was completely consensual, and while the huge age difference is appalling, he states he met her at a party and believed she was at least 21 because she was drinking and smoking. It didn’t matter that she came onto him, or that he wasn’t generally one to go off and have sex with random people. All that mattered was that it happened. John also states …show more content…
On top of that, laws regarding Statutory Rape are different from one state to the next. “30 states currently consider 16 to be the age of consent; the remaining 20 states set it either at 17 or 18.” (Schwiegershausen “What You Should Know About Statutory-Rape Laws”). Some states allow the use of mistaken age or a small age gap (Romeo and Juliet Laws) as a defense against charges of Statutory Rape, and some states do not. This causes a lot of confusion as to what the laws are, especially for those moving from state to state a lot. Many people (minors especially) do not think it is an issue because if it’s consensual, why should age matter? The median age difference in Statutory Rape cases is 6 years. There are plenty of people who are married and have kids who are 6 or less years apart in age. Often because of this belief they do not take the time to research and discover the laws, and then they end up in a legal mess because it never occurred to them that consensual sexual activities would send one, or both, of them to prison. Those who understand Statutory Rape laws state that if it were truly consensual it wouldn’t be prosecuted, but there is a huge flaw in this line of thinking. If the law states that it is illegal to have sex with a person under the age of consent, and the law assumes that if it’s consensual it will not be brought to the court; that
There is more than one type of rape believe it or not. According to (Article 7A NCGA) There is 1st Degree of Rape which is a person is guilty of rape if the person engages in vaginal intercourse with a victim who is under the age of 13
Each state also has its own sex offender registration, which requires any individual convicted of sex offense to be officially registered as a sex offender in the state in which they live, this registration includes the documentation of the perpetrator 's name, address, and information regarding the crime. The opinion of the judge greatly affects how the sex offender is punished, which is the main issue concerning the punishment of these offenders because the judge could have a strong opinion about sexual assault in favor of either the victim or the criminal.
I have an uncle named Michael and he’s 29; he’ll be 31 in October. In 2006 in Fredericksburg, Virginia, he was convicted of rape. A young woman lied and said he raped her, and now he will forever be scarred. In many rape cases, the defense will say that the victim was fantasizing the rape or is lying, but sometimes she really is lying (Siegel, 1995, p. 304). Virginia has a two tier system for sex offenders, violent and non-violent. Even though Michaels charge was for the rape of an adult, he is still considered a violent sexual predator, forever. This means he can’t go to McDonalds, he can’t go to see his nieces and nephews, and he couldn’t even go to my high school graduation two
Sexual offenders are the most vilified type of offenders within public opinion and the criminal justice system. The American precedent cases of Jacob Wetterling, Pam Lyncher, Megan Kanka, and other notorious crimes perpetrated by sexual offenders with a prior history of conviction have demanded a response from the criminal justice system to increase public safety. In 1994, the Jacob Wetterling Crimes against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Program was passed (Scholle, 2000), the first piece of legislation to advocate for the development of state-maintained registries of convicted sexual offenders. The legislation has been amended numerous times since then; in its present state, the law requires all states to maintain a registry, the mandatory registration of convicted sex offenders after release, community notification laws in place, and public access to the registry (Burchfield and Mingus, 2012; Lees and Tewksbury, 2006; Petrunik, Murphy, and Fedoroff, 2008; Scholle, 2000; Tewksbury and Lees, 2006; Wagner, 2011).
“Feminism has not prepared them for this,” states Camille Paglia in her essay “Rape: A Bigger Danger than Feminists Know.” The “them” in Paglia’s statement is referring to women, and she is discussing the topic of date rape. Susan Jacoby, on the other hand, writes in her article “Common Decency,” that feminism is not responsible for the rising cases of date rape, but that it is the men who are at fault. Paglia’s argument is insightful and accurate, but Jacoby’s writing is flawed and not well-researched. Paglia includes all rhetorical appeals and persuasive techniques, while Jacoby lacks in some departments of persuasiveness and fills the gap with logical fallacies. Comparing both of these papers will help the reader see why
It’s time to separate the child sex offender from the children being accused of sex offending unreasonably. There are many stories of teenagers 15, 16, 17, just trying on young love for the first time. What should be happy memories can be turned to shame, and they don’t even have to have actual intercourse for it to be called a “sex offense.” Here are some examples of needed changes to our laws:
In the article “Sex Offender Registries (SOR’s): TIME-FOR-A-CHANGE”, the topic of changing the se offender registries was discussed and elaborated upon. It began by giving a summary of the history of the sex offender registries. There was a case where a young child was murdered by a sex offender that no one knew lived in the area. To fix this problem, every person convicted of a sex crime had to register as a sex offender. The author of this article, Phil Locke, explained the effects of the sex offender registry on those convicted of sex crimes. Not only are the years served in prison for the crime uncommonly longer than for those who have committed murder, but the offender is then required to go to “treatment” programs and meetings after serving
Sex offenders have been a serious problem for our legal system at all levels, not to mention those who have been their victims. There are 43,000 inmates in prison for sexual offenses while each year in this country over 510,000 children are sexually assaulted(Oakes 99). The latter statistic, in its context, does not convey the severity of the situation. Each year 510,000 children have their childhood's destroyed, possibly on more than one occasion, and are faced with dealing with the assault for the rest of their lives. Sadly, many of those assaults are perpetrated by people who have already been through the correctional system only to victimize again. Sex offenders, as a class of criminals, are nine times more likely to repeat their
Not all cases include substantially more established men, and faultfinders ask whether we ought to criminalize the conduct of 19-yearold young men and their 15-year-former sweethearts. From my knowledge, all state has different charges and sentences. A prime example of the law difference would be Rhode Island and Alabama. According to the olr investigate report the charges that somebody may confront for statutory assault in Alabama for first-degree assault for somebody age 16 or more established to have sex with somebody under age 12 is a sentence of life in jail or in the vicinity of 10 and 99 years. Though a moment degree assault charge for somebody age 16 or more established to have sex with somebody between age 12 and 16, when the performing artist is no less than two years more established is Two to 20 years in jail. From my point of view, I trust this state considers assault important and I trust that would deflect individuals and It gets an attacker of the streets.They implement their laws immensely well and that is the means by which I think different states ought to deal with the charges
The number of registered sex offenders have increasingly grew over the years. Every day you see a man or women added to the registry for crimes against women and mostly children. The sex offender registries biggest and main focus is to keep the people in the community in each city and state informed and protected. ”Sex offenders and sex crimes provoke a great deal of anxiety in our society.” Baker, J, Brannon, Y, N., Fortney. , Levenson, J.S. (“Public Perceptions about Sex Offenders and Community Protection”). The sex offender registry is based solely on protecting the public from being a victim
Stories of sex offenders have been increasingly a focus of attention by the criminal justice system over the past years. By legal definition, a sex offender “is a person who is convicted of a sexual offense (Sex Offender Law & Legal Definition),” an act which is prohibited by the jurisdiction. What constitutes as a sex offense or normal/abnormal sexual behavior varies over time and place, meaning that it also varies by legal jurisdiction and culture. In the United States of America, for example, a person can be convicted of wide range of sexual behavior that includes prostitution, incest, sex with a minor, rape, and other sex offenses (Sex Offender Law & Legal Definition). As the nature of sex crimes have long held the
Misguided laws are compounded by media outlets use of the very words regarding sex offenses. I found an interesting study by the National Center For Reason
Rape is an extremely controversial issue and this notion is supported based on the fact that basic definitions and explanations of rape usually directly correlate with a state's lawful definition of rape. This proves problematic as many people's explanations and definitions of rape are quite different to that of the law. Social science theorists argue that rape is a learned action with which society plays a crucial role, Ellis (1989). Based on this theory it seems only logical to propose that there
Sex crimes include acts considered as either sexual abuse, or a non-tolerable behavior considered inappropriate to social norms. The law forbids certain sexual acts, despite expressed consent from both parties. Sex laws vary from region to region, and may evolve over time. Furthermore, sexual acts forbidden by law in a proscribed jurisdiction are coined as sex crimes.
Rape also known as sexual assault is having sexual intercourse or any form of sexual penetration against a person’s will or consent. It could be carried out by coercion, the use of physical power or abuse of authority. It is an act many societies, if not all discourage, and attracts different form of punishment in different geographical locations. There are many consequences of rape; some people suffer from depression, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Suicidal tendencies, and Anxiety Disorder. It was not a surprise when the Mr. Cosby’s alleged case of rapes were waved and flooded to the entire media channels in the USA and other countries. Majority of people can recall number of such cases where some prominent African – Americans were sued