Quote:
Originally Posted by shakran
There is also a large conceptual difference between a man who has sex with a 17 year old who claims she is 18 or 19, and a man who knowingly has sex with a child. The law treats them both the same - you statutorially raped her, you're a sex offender. But the criminal nature of these two situations are night and day different.
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You're right, of course. Here in Florida, where we've had several high-profile child murders recently, there has been increased attention given to sex crimes against children, which is a good thing, long overdue, and I'm grateful for it...but no additional measures have been enacted to make the judicial system
more efficient and just and dealing with them. Therefore those accused of "statutory rape" (Florida doesn't even use that term) are often given sentences that one might deem too harsh given all the details and those who pose a true danger to our children are very often sentenced
too leniently. Personally, I don't think a pedophile should be given three chances to molest children (to paraphrase DC above). I think we should be more focused on making clinical diagnoses of pedophilia
early and dealing with it in a manner totally distinct from the judicial sphere of what is called in psychiatric circles "situational child molesters."
Step one should be the prohibition of ANY plea bargaining for clinically-diagnosed pedophiles. That is the number one factor that gives pedophiles the opportunity to recidivate. If pedophiles were more often sentenced for the crimes they actually committed, there would be far fewer of them on the streets.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JinnKai
And yet on the other hand, if a man were to do the same thing, it's unlikely that it would ever make it to trial. Even if it did, I have a hard time believing the woman would actually be convicted as a sex offender. She'd probably end up with house arrest like that teacher. Gender imbalance, anyone?
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Well, that teacher will have to register as a sex offender. That was part of her sentencing. And quite simply,
women do not molest children as much as men do.
BUT, that said, on the sex offender rolls here in my neighborhood I was surprised to see how many women were actually on them.