I don’t believe youths should be jail for having consensual sex .Example ,I know of an individual who had a daughter her age Sixteen years old was dating a seventeen year old boy ,the parents did not approved the relationship ,but these two seem in love ,as soon as the boy turned eighteen her mother had him arrested and charged for having sex with her daughter ,that ruined the young man life, because that stigma as a sex offender , would prevent him from having opportunities in his life ,such as decent jobs. In 2007, Florida created a law known as “Romeo and Juliet law, to address issues such as high school youth being labeled as sexual offenders or sexual predictors, as a result of participating in consensual sexual relationship. Reason being these stigma, can have long term consequences, which can affect the offenders, ability to attend his or her child’s school functions, and where the offender can live.(Florida Senate ,2011). Several states have also participated in the “Romeo and Juliet Law “this law intention is to protect young sexual offenders who are close in age to their victims and engage in consensual sex ,from registering as sexual offenders. However Florida, have done this using a motion or petition process for registration relief, some have provided age-gap provisions. Some states has legalize certain sexual condition between minors, and /or those close in age to avoid not only registration requirement but to avoid but the criminal charge previously
I believe that the justice system should not be harder on youths because we are all too young and naive and might not really know what’s right and wrong. Also, many youth usually get peer pressured into doing wrong things and we can’t really blame them for that. Besides, if the crime is big enough, youth are taken to juvy which is a less serious version of jail. I believe that juvy gives youth criminals a chance to learn about what’s right and wrong and that is all they need. Furthermore, some youth can be given an adult sentence for some very serious crimes.
Further exploration discovered that the choice of sexual expression correlates more to the child’s age then the offenders (Sanford, 87). Offenders do not form intimate relationships with other adults (Henderson, 39). Eight-five percent of sexual activity was nonorgasmic with one-fourth of activity ending before any stimulation occurred by the offender (Sanford, 83). Now that we know some offenders characteristics, it is paramount that we learn to identify traits that may be common to youthful victims.
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).
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:
However if we take a step back and look at how incarcerating youth is hurting them. According to the risks juveniles face when they are incarcerated with adults written by Jason Zeidenberg "juveniles are more likely to be targeted for rape five times more than the adult prisoner and suicide rates among juveniles are 7.7 times higher than those that are in juvenile detention centers." Those two statistics alone explains the reason juveniles should not be placed in prison with adults. Another reason juveniles should not be locked up with adults is because "juveniles are twice as likely to be beaten up by staff." This statistic is very sickening because in the prison the people the juveniles should trust are also bringing them
States control how long they must register for, what types of crimes make them a sex-offender, and what all information must be made public. Juveniles can also be considered sex-offenders, these records are often expunged, but according to the state they can be registered until they are eighteen or even longer (2011). A law with so many layers is bound to cause controversy among the public; although enacting Megan’s Law was done with good intentions it has caused a negative social stigma towards sex offenders with low risk of
(n.d.), 46 percent of people say juvenile offenders should not be tried and punished as adults while 54 percent of people agree with that juvenile offenders should be tried and punished as adults. The common opinion for agreement is that teens can know and understand about what they do and for disagreement is that teens are kids, and they are still in the process of developing to be adults. Especially, it is quite common voice of disagreement that juvenile justice system should punish juvenile offenders because they are criminal offenders even though they are
Sexual assault is a major global issue; sexual deviance such as sexual assault definitely needs a lot of social attention from many different societies across the globe (Nelson, 2007, p. 7). It is a very serious problem that needs to be continuously addressed, through research, government programs, and new fundamental treatment possibilities. As a matter of fact, it is continuing to spread rapidly with a percentage of 25% of women and 15% of men in the United States have been affected by sexual assault (Nelson, 2007, p. 7). Due to rapid growth, public awareness should be made about the different types of sex offenders. The public should be aware of their distinct characteristics and possible treatment options. Public awareness is extremely important; it allows us to know the many different kinds of people that are in this world. Different kinds of people, including sex offenders, it’s important to know what measures one would have to take and the different possible options when faced with such issues (Nelson, 2007, p. 7).
Teens should be spent to adult jail for the crime they committed! In the late 1980s juveniles have been committing crimes during the period of this time, many of them were getting in trouble more often, crimes were getting more violent by this time. On June 25, 2012 The Supreme Court justices who agrued to abolish mandatory sentences to life in prison for juveniles who commit murder or any crimes reflecting the will of Americans society should be punished as an adult . Justice Alito noted that , “Even a 17 ½ -year-old who set off a bomb in a crowded mall or guns down a dozen students and teacher is ‘child’ and must be given a chance to persuade a judge to permit his release into society…” In other words I agree that teens should be sentenced to life in prison, if I did the same crime I should be punished the same way as an adult who has committed the same crime because during this age I know what I am doing wrong and right. I believe that teen should be sentenced to life in prison because the victim's family reactions, rehabilitation, they should understand the consequences of their actions, mental health issues, and heinous crimes.
While sexually deviant behavior among juveniles is not a new phenomenon there has been a dramatic increase in the concern of this problem over the last two decades. As the number of juvenile sex offenders arrested increases, the recognition of it as a serious issue also increases. The anxiety over juvenile sex crimes has led to a wide variety of research being conducted to determine if there are antecedent traits in offenders. The tremendous data collected and analyzed to try to understand the factors leading a juvenile to sexually violate has piloted a wide range of theories and also much disagreement among professionals about the appropriate consequences a violator must face.
These offenders are people who had consensual sexual relationships with a minor. Sometimes the offender is also a minor, but is older than the other partner. The older person is then charged with statutory rape and are forced to register as a sex offender even though there was no force used. This law is in place to prevent older persons from taking advantage of a minor; however, this is completely unfair, especially if the offender is also a minor. Some opponents might say that “Romeo and Juliet” offenders should be on the registry because their sole purpose is to take advantage of minor to meet their needs. This is true and all “Romeo and Juliet” offenders should pay for the offense in some way; however, their names should not be on the registry and definitely not for life. Alternatives penalties include paying a fine, doing community service, going to counseling, and have the their name on the registry for a short term if the age gap is greater than five years or if the offense is committed more than once. For most offenders, these are foolish mistakes that they made in their teenage years, and therefore shouldn’t pay for it all their life. In addition, there are couples who are happily married even though there is an age gap of five or seven
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
Although there is the “Romeo and Juliet Law”, which is in place to prevent serious criminal charges against teenagers who engage in consensual sex with others close to their own age. In Florida, there is an exemption for consensual sex when the minor is 14-17 years old and the defendant is no more than four years older. If the defendant meets certain eligibility requirements, the law will remove the requirement of registering as a sex offender. The terms of imprisonment and fines may still be
In the United States, there are provisions called Romeo and Juliet Laws, which were made known by Texas. The purpose of the Romeo and Juliet Laws is to prevent an individual from being charged with a criminal offense and/or having to register as a sex offender because they engage in sexual
This paper will mainly discuss sexual crimes. It will explain the differences about various sexual crimes. It will also go into detail about sexual crimes that revolve around men, women, and children. It will also talk about the history of sex crimes, along with some of the different types of sexual crimes committed. This paper will provide explanations as to what these sexual crimes are in their nature. Sexual offenses are serious crimes that occur more than that should. There are a wide range of victims from male and female children to male and female teens to young adults attending college to adults. Many people have to deal with the results of these sexual offenses. This paper will also discuss the transition of child sexual assault