My last post to this blog is dated May 31. On Jun 1 my husband suffered a serious injury, one that has required inpatient therapy, which still continues, and requires my being with him almost all of my waking hours. I am just now trying to carve out a few early morning and late night hours to get back into my work. This is my first effort here, and I absolutely cannot let this situation go by without exploding over it.
That last post concluded with this sentence:
And most disturbing of all is the fact that the sex offender registry, something sold to the public on the grounds that it would protect children, is now a weapon used against children and putting them in unfathomable danger.
Keep that sentence in mind.
This is the situation that pushes me back here right now instead of on the freeway heading to the rehab hospital.
In short, according to the Washington Post article, a 15 year old girl texted naughty pics of herself to her 17 year old boyfriend. He responded by sending her a video of like images of himself. Her mother saw the video, and it went downhill from there.
The Manassas City, Virginia, police, in their attempts to make a felony case against him for possession of and for production of child pornography, seek to serve him with a warrant forcing him to submit to photographs being taken of his erect penis for "comparison purposes." The erection will be induced by means of drugs in a hospital setting.
Most people are finding that point the central horrifying element.
I do not, as vile and disgusting as it is, nor do I find the fact that he could spend the years between a conviction and his 21st birthday in prison the most egregious, although depending on what might happen to him in prison, I could change my mind on that point.
According to the Post, he would also face inclusion on Virginia's public sex offender registry, possibly for life.
Let's go back to the last sentence of my last post.
We are talking about a kid here. This young man is in high school. He plays football. He goes to classes every day. He's a KID.
There is no suggestion that he sent pictures of his girlfriend or of himself to third persons. Why, in the name of all that is holy, are the police, and one assumes the Manassas County District Attorney's office, determined to ruin the life of this KID? Why are they using something that was sold to the public on the grounds that it would protect children as a weapon against this 17 year old kid and putting him in unfathomable danger?
WHY???
Update--7/11 The Manassas Police Department has withdrawn its attempt to seek the warrant forcing this young man to submit to a medically forced erection in order to photograph it. I fully believe they have taken this action because there was a great hue and cry against what they proposed, a hue and cry from many quarters. We must learn from this. We must keep up the pressure, keep up the expressions of outrage at any and every opportunity. We must watch this case carefully. Will they continue their case against him? Will the district attorney file charges? We watch and wait.
Why indeed? Why did they pursue this abuse of the registry? http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/11/AR2006091101142.html
ReplyDeleteIn that case it was behavior that started at age 11 - an age I don't think most of us would consider fully morally and emotionally developed - and which was years in the past. And where the victim equally wanted to keep the whole thing over and done with. But the blacklist must be maintained at all costs, it seems, regardless of whether it does more harm than good.
Well then for the safety of the people a dui should put you on a list you might drink and drive again and KILL someone. Maybe every drug dealer should go on another list cause the will sell to your child.
Deletethis whole registry crap is so sickening. there is no need to put non contact, non violent or consensual teen experimenting on the registry!!
Deletenot only does it ruin their lives but the collateral damages to families and friends is heart breaking and never ending but it puts so many, many people in danger!!!
This is so sad. Do these people not realize the impact of what they do or do they just not care about ruining a young mans life.
ReplyDeleteContact Vicky Henry with W.A.R.
ReplyDeletewomenagainstregistry dot com
This began when the 15 YO girlfriend first sent photos of herself to her 17 YO boyfriend but yet the girl has not been charged. Why has she not been charged? Because she is the younger one, being female helps as well. But the fact is this;NO ONE should be charged. My God they are minors! Just another minor (Which we MUST protect) to be added to the sex offender list and who's life will be ruined from these unjust laws!
ReplyDeleteSloan44
I find this very disturbing. I first heard of this on the CA-RSOL site. It's pretty clear to me that our society has been bombarded so much and for so long with non factual misinformation and outright lies that paint anything sex (unless it's by Disney Corp aimed at small little girls / 16 and pregnant, etc) as something dirty and something to be reviled.
ReplyDeleteThe end result is now that most people have lost sight of the fact that kids are born with a sexual instinct and that it awakens at varying times in different kids. This is the way God made us. It's natural and normal for kids to want to explore this newly realized facet of life; it's the parents responsibility to teach their children the proper use of this basic instinct, just as they teach them (hopefully) the proper use of their other basic instincts, such as their social and security instincts, as well as the proper use of things like ambition.
It's equally disturbing that this girls mother is so lacking in parental skills that she thought the right thing to do was to ruin this young boy/mans life before it even began (because her child is growing up and she can't handle it?). Mothers in my generation would have recognized this as a normal part of life and sat their daughter down for that true and time tested mother daughter talk; anyone remember that? I believe it's a lost skill that mothers need to re- learned instead of thinking something that 's a normal part of life is a crime and expecting the state to handle their parental duties.
I also believe the state needs to get out of the business of being the arbiter of everyone’s sex conduct; they have already proven they are incapable of governing this aspect of humanity. The only thing with the word “sex” they should address are violent crimes like forcible rape, etc. Sadly, even that would be a difficult task, as they already have everything so screwed up I wonder if sanity will return in my lifetime.
This is sheer madness and I don't believe it will end anytime soon. My suggestion ( and what I am working on) is to simply get out of the country or create a place where there is no registry.
ReplyDeleteOk I'll state the obvious, " I just happen to notice that not one poster who responded to your "words of wisdom" bothered to ask about your husband??? (Just an observation)
ReplyDelete