New Subdivisions Ban Sex Offenders From Moving In

[RaetherEnt]

With all due respect to the suffering you encountered as a child watching a loved one die, you cannot, for one minute compare that to a molestation.

Your Aunt and your grandfather did not make a CHOICE to hurt you, but rather passed away, the same as all humans do at one point or another. Death is a biological part of life that all humans deal with at one time or another. Molestation is not. Your argument makes no sense to me.

 

[rbernie]

I'm 21 now, and had been with my girlfriend who is 2 and a half years younger from when I was 17-20 yrs, the whole time which she was technically underage. You don't get in trouble for this.

Depends on the state - most states define the age of consent to be 16 or 17, and some allow an affirmative defense for a three year or four year age gap. There are, however, many states that maintain the age of consent to be 18 years old and which do not provide an affirmative defense for age gap. My point is that you could be a sex criminal in one state but perfectly legal in another. Don't get it wrong, or you're labeled as a pervert for life.

By the way - if any of y'all are still young enough to still worry about this sort of thing (I'm far too old for this stuff ), you might want to peruse the Age of Consent web site to make sure that you stay legal.

Honestly, if we could alter sentencing to an automatic death sentence for anyone convicted of rape or child molestation in any form, I'd fully support it.

So if you lived in Virginia while you were dating your girlfriend, it'd be OK for society to put the needle to ya? I suspect that you'd not quite appreciate that......

That's still not close to acceptable. If 13-17% of gun owners were committing felonies, I'd have no problem with them regulating gun owners too. But that's not the case. It's far under even 1% of us who are criminals.

At the risk of further hijacking the thread, I'm interested in how you derived these numbers.

 

[HankB]

When one hears the term "sex offender" one initially thinks of a rapist or child molester - truly disgusting, lowlife scum who deserve to be treated in a manner such that detailed discussion of appropriate punishment would draw the ire of The High Road's moderators.

But the way laws are applied, the "sex offender" label can be applied to far too many instances . . . for example, in Texas within the last two weeks, a reasonably attractive 25 year old female Spanish teacher was arrested for allegedly having consensual sex with one of her students. The charge is "having an improper relationship with a student" and is a second degree felony.

The student in this case is 18 years old.

You can argue this is unprofessional conduct, but considering the age of the student, even if true, should THIS make her a "sex offender?"

 

[Camp David]

The student in this case is 18 years old.

You can argue this is unprofessional conduct, but considering the age of the student, even if true, should THIS make her a "sex offender"?

Yes I believe it does. A teacher's responsibility is to teach, not abuse students, irregardless of age. Even if the teacher is 45 and the student is 50, I would not want them to engage in any kind of relationship because of 1) breach of professional trust, and 2) the potential of grading based on personal favors. A teacher is in a unique position of authority over a student of any age; I would agree that any personal relationship between them rightly qualifies teacher as a "sex offender". If teacher wants to pursue relationship with adult (over 21) she should resign her teaching position. You'll find this opinion is shared by most parents and many in the teaching profession.

 

[Crosshair]

With all due respect to the suffering you encountered as a child watching a loved one die, you cannot, for one minute compare that to a molestation.

You are missing the point. The point is not about what is worse than the other. Kids "loose their innocence" all the time in any number of ways. Yes some are worse than others but molestation is nothing special. What gets me iritated is that people "feel" more for a kid who was molested than one who is killed/crippled by a drunk driver, has both parents die in an accident, dies a painfull death from some rare illness, etc. My case was not "over it in a week" I was having problems long after the funeral was over. Yes it is not the worst thing that can happen to a child, but it was still a very traumatic event. Bad things happen to kids all the time. You have to deal with it and move on, just as you have to do with anything in life. Putting a scarlet letter on the offender really solves nothing.

Labeling the one who was caught is not going to really prevent anything. There will still be bad memories and trauma in the child from that event. Those who will reoffend will still do so and those who want to get this behind them will be hampered in their efforts. All the while those who have not been caught will still go about their business in these "offender free" areas. If you want them to not reoffend then keep them in prison and stop it with these feel good measures.

 

[Phetro]

Holy cow, it's the second time in my life, I believe, that I've ever agreed with the ACLU. What a sham this is--the idiots running the homeowners associations involved in this should be publicly flayed.

Registering them is another unacceptable thing. They paid their debt to society--let them be! If they do it again, punish the criminal. "Prevention" of crime is a loss of rights for everyone.

 

[HankB]

Camp David, in this specific instance, we disagree. The "victim" is 18 - that's old enough to vote, old enough to fight as a Marine in Iraq, certainly at the age of consent.

As I wrote in my original post, you can argue this was unprofessional conduct. I'd find it difficult to defend against the teacher's firing and revocation of her teaching credentials . . . but this would fall into an area the business world deals with every day as "harassment."

Unless the 18 year old male was, shall we say, "mentally challenged" or otherwise particularly vulnerable, I don't consider the teacher's actions criminal, on a par with rape or child molestation.

If teacher wants to pursue relationship with adult (over 21) she should resign her teaching position. You'll find this opinion is shared by most parents and many in the teaching profession.

I don't have access to any poll or survey showing this. Post a link if you do.

 

[hjames000]

Pete F and Crosshairs are right

We're dealing with complex issues when we use the term "sex offender".

Case 1 statatory rape. A freind of mine impregnated a 15 year old when he was 18 or 19. Result they're still married and have several grandchildren.

Case 2 "touching" I was drinking beer at a friend's house. He got a phone call from a neighbor. Neighbor had arrowed a deer on a farm several miles away. It was now dark and he needed help dragging it out of the woods. He asked us to pick up his twin 12 year old daughters across the street and bring them for the fun.

We ended up with several of us in the back of the big 4x4 pu. Over hill and dale we went. When we got to the scene I jumped out. One of the little girls asked me for help. I held up my hands and slid off the side of the pu bed into my arms. Her sister then asked for help. Some how when I caught girl #2 I ended up with a small breast directly cupped in my hand. I didn't release her immediately because I didn't want to drop her.

I believe she knew it was accidental as she made no comment and ran off to look at the deer. I was more traumatized than she. Think of it, a tiny change in thought patterns by her or maybe someone saw the contact and the SHTF.

 

[razorburn]

Sorry, do you guys have links to cases to prove convictions in these unlikely scenarios? I have trouble believing any jury has convicted an 18 yr old/17 yr old coupling. Or the innocous cases of accidental contact. I did click on crosshair's link, and it didn't make me feel better. The 13/17% reconviction rates are just for a 5 year period following the 1st crime, not over the criminals lifetime. I do in general have more respect for terrorists than rapists and molesters.

 

[SteveS]

You are missing the point. The point is not about what is worse than the other. Kids "loose their innocence" all the time in any number of ways. Yes some are worse than others but molestation is nothing special.

While I am not going to suggest that child victims of molestation are "special," the above statement is very ignorant of the impact of actual molestation. In my practice, I have treated 100's of children and adults. Some of them were victims of sexual abuse. I would have to say that, depending on the nature of abuse and how it occured, this was probably one of the more difficult things to recover from.

Most victims were molested by a family member. So, not only do they have to deal with the abuse and subsequent trial, but they also have to cope with the role they played in tearing apart their family. In many cases, there are family members that don't believe that the defendant is capable of doing what they were convicted of (despite confessions and physical evidence). The adults that were molested as children had difficulty with a myriad of sexual and relationship issues. Many of my female clients stayed in bad relationships because they honestly believed that they didn't deserve better and that they were "damaged goods."

Again, I am not suggesting that victims of sexual abuse deserve some kind of sainthood or that other kinds of victiums don't suffer, but I don't believe you have a good understanding of the impact of being molested as a child.

 

[Soybomb]

I dont think I want to live anywhere with a home owners association.

 

[gc70]

Sorry, do you guys have links to cases to prove convictions in these unlikely scenarios?

Strange but true - 13 and 12 year old kids convicted of sexually abusing each other. "The decision leaves the teens in the position of each being both a victim and a perpetrator in the same offense."

 

[YellowLab]

HMA's are pure evil. I'm not sure what they are supposed to accomplish (ppl tell me about property values etc) but you are giving up so much freedom for a percieved value that you may never achieve.

My friend in FL tells me that he cannot have more than X cars, the boat cannot be outside, the house has to be a certain color, the x-mas decorations must be approved etc etc.

On top of that you have to PAY the HMA... so they can police and FINE YOU. At what point does that make sense?

Another note, teenage kids have been having sex for ages.... its what we do to keep the species going. Morals somehow got in the way and now you have to do X and Y but not Z to have sex. The male of the species hits thier prime at 18. Thats a lot of hormones to control. But religion and other social pressures tell us its not right.... all made up rules to control things that we really should not have control over. Since there are people who cannot go on without imposing THIER WILL on others, they somehow convinced us that completely NATURAL actions, are now morally wrong.

 

[Sindawe]

HMA's are pure evil. I'm not sure what they are supposed to accomplish (ppl tell me about property values etc) but you are giving up so much freedom for a percieved value that you may never achieve.

HOAs serve a useful function in some circumstances. In the one I live under, the HOA is charged with upkeep of the property (I live in a condo development) doing stuff like cutting the grass, painting the buildings, handling trash pickup and the like. Ours also pays for water use and has a bulk rate contract for cable TV that works out ot $10/month/unit for extended basic. Ours also sets some basic rules like picking up after your animals and some silly ones like not permiting non-drapery or blinds as window coverings. Membership is voluntary in that a prospective buyer is provided copies of the covenants before purchase. Don't like 'em? Don't buy in.

For detached single family homes, I don't think they provide so much use to their members unless the HOA does stuff like run a local pool, playgrounds or such. Setting standards for home color and landscaping is just asinine.

If a newly forming HOA wants to bar sex offenders, I have no problem with that as membership is still voluntary,

Hmmmm...I wonder if I could get my HOA to mandate that all residents must have a firearm in the home.

 

[Chrontius]

Sindawe - take 'em all out to shoot .22, take them to lunch and make the pitch, then slip each of them $20. Not cheap, but it should work ^_^ (IANAL)

 

[SteveS]

I live in a detached single family home development with an HOA. The fees are pretty low and they mostly cover upkeep of the road, snow removal in winter and some basic landscaping.

I served on the board for a time and there were a fair amount of rules. In a perfect world, neighbors would be allowed to do what they want AND be respectful of each other. In some of the places I have lived, they were could care less about how their actions affected their neighbor. An HOA just allows some people to get together and agree to live by certain rules. If someone violates the rule, there are consequences.

Like it has been mentioned previously, if you don't like them, don't live in them.

 

[rbernie]

An HOA just allows some people to get together and agree to live by certain rules.

If only it were optional. In most subdivisions being built these days in my neck of the woods, membership is mandatory.

 

[Colt]

Guns-required Community

How many here would pay a little more to live in a subdivision that required gun ownership?

As a positive, it could keep the numbers down on would-be rapists and petty thieves. On the other hand, it might identify a target-rich environment for gun thieves.

Hmm...

 

[razorburn]

Strange but true - 13 and 12 year old kids convicted of sexually abusing each other. "The decision leaves the teens in the position of each being both a victim and a perpetrator in the same offense."

In the link, the judge only refused to dismiss the case, he did not convict either. The girl was "convicted" when she admitted to the allegation, but she maintains the right to appeal. The boy was not convicted. The girl will probably lose her conviction after she finishes appeals. So I stand by my statement that convicted rapists and child molesters in any form are the lowest scum of humanity. Sickos like those rapists and molesters are why a lot of us carry.