“Ignorance is not an excuse.”

[Nomenclature]

Well, if it makes you feel any better, you're my little sex crime, Kennylingus.


/facetious

 

[Kennylingus]

Well, if it makes you feel any better, you're my little sex crime, Kennylingus.


/facetious

Lawl.


I'm putting you on my neighborhood watch list.

 

[asadoyayunta]

I am active in trying to smarten up most of the US sex laws on the books. One of the current stories has an 18 year old going to prison and having to register as a sex offender for life when he gets out because he went to a 18+ club, met a girl inside then had a one night stand with her. Some time down the road the guy gets arrested because it turns out is was only 16 and the guy doesn’t live in a state with a grace period.

In a recent case in the UK a man who had sex with a 12 yr old girl received just an 18 month suspended sentence because the judge decided he had "reasonable belief" that the girl was over 16. They had met on Facebook, where she claimed to be 16 and about to leave school. Evidence cited in his favour included the fact he bought her an "adult" rail ticket when they went on a date. He pleaded guilty to statutory rape and has to register for 7 years.

 

[Sam Blum]

Then what is?


I keep seeing this on issues I keep up on. If one doesn’t know something is illegal or “wrong” how are they to know they shouldn’t or can not do it?

That's why we have one set of laws for kids in most parts of the world, and another set for adults: One court system scares the kids as punishment (hopefully scaring them straight) and the other brings financial and social punishment in the veins of loss of freedom, rights, access to financial gain, etc. If we live in social orders, then it is our personal responsibility to adhere to behaviours that are contructive, not destructive, inclusive, not exclusive, productive, not counter-productive. Don't we all hear things like do unto others? Most people have a fairly good idea of what is considered wrong and right in their society, and newbies can participate in lessons with locals in most places newbies would ever gain access to. This is well known information.

There are of course many stupid laws in many places, and as we all know this, it is up to us to teach our kids to err on the side of caution (anyone else ever heard of this saying?) and to step lightly where angles fear to tread (anyone?), prevention better than cure, blah,blah,blah... Also, we can (in many parts of the world) rally for changes to legislation. THe US is of course rather paronoid about all things sexual, but that's becasue the people vote paranoid law-makers in and tell them how important it is to the people to have religious piousness in their leaders. Sadly in Oz we are following the US like the fuckwits we so often are...

 

[TickTockMan]

In a recent case in the UK a man who had sex with a 12 yr old girl received just an 18 month suspended sentence because the judge decided he had "reasonable belief" that the girl was over 16. They had met on Facebook, where she claimed to be 16 and about to leave school. Evidence cited in his favour included the fact he bought her an "adult" rail ticket when they went on a date. He pleaded guilty to statutory rape and has to register for 7 years.

The man got “lucky”, but it is still bull. From the organization I’m a member of and just the stories I keep seeing it seem the US and the UK is trying to out do one another when it come to stupid “sex” laws.

Sex is in quotations because not all of the US and UK “sex” laws have much if anything to do with sex.

THe US is of course rather paronoid about all things sexual, but that's becasue the people vote paranoid law-makers in and tell them how important it is to the people to have religious piousness in their leaders. Sadly in Oz we are following the US like the fuckwits we so often are...

I don’t think the law makers are paranoid. I think they’re just being politicians and using irrational and unfounded fears against people. It’s a way to say that they did something to help families.

 

[TickTockMan]

It should be more than an excuse it should be a valid legal defense. He wasn't ignorant he was deceived and so long as he believed what he was being told he should not be punished in any way. She should be placed in a juvenile detention center until she has reached legal adulthood for the protection of both her and any potential victims.

I definitely agree with that. She was more of a sexual predator than he was. He was just out for a good time.

It’s too bad though that society has the stupid notion that when it comes to sexual things all minors are nonsexual little angels. That’s about as far from the truth as possible.

 

[Nomenclature]

If it can be proven that some teenaged girl knowingly lied about her age, I think she should be punished for this.

But as a general guideline: If you're an adult, It's a very safe bet to stay away from anyone who's still a teenager, even if they say they're 18 or 19; many of them do lie about their age. . .and nowdays, some 12 year old girls look identical to 20-year old women, for example.


So, stick to people who're college students or older and you'll have nothing to worry about. That doesn't sound too hard to me.

 

[Harke the Boeotarch]

Then what is?


I keep seeing this on issues I keep up on. If one doesn’t know something is illegal or “wrong” how are they to know they shouldn’t or can not do it?

This is our so-called legal system in all it's Kafka-esque splendour...

We are punished for breaking laws that most of us can know nothing about without expensive aid that we can afford.

That's one of the perks of Sharia law; in principle you know what you're going to get.