Prohibited from speaking to the under 18s

Check this article out. In particular:

Christopher Dawson, a 22-year-old, is a registered sex offender prohibited from speaking to anyone under the age of 18. When he was 19, he had what he says is a consensual sexual relationship with a 14-year-old. He believed she was older.

"I knew her for a year, and we dated for a few months", he remembers. "Her parents testified against me, and I was sentenced to two years' house arrest followed by eight years' probation."

When he violated the terms of his probation by speaking to the younger brother of a friend, he spent four months in the county jail. Then the judge ordered him to move to Miracle Village - the alternative was a lengthy prison sentence.

I find this all terribly harsh. They don't ban rapists from going near or talking to women, or burglars from going near other people's houses. Prohibited from speaking to anyone under tha age of 18? What if he'd had a younger sibling or a nephew/niece? I don't get the US justice system anyway. They're obsessed with consecutive sentences rather than concurrent, meaning someone caught with 100 images of girls in bikinis could end up serving a century in prison. Bunch of lunatics!

Partridge wrote:"I don't get the US justice system anyway."... "Bunch of lunatics!"

I think these two sentences sum up the justice system in quite a few counties. Though yes, the US system fails considerably worse than a lot of others.

The justice system here in the UK is not much better either. There are times when they're way too harsh and other times when they basically let serious criminals walk free.

allahuakbar wrote:The justice system here in the UK is not much better either. There are times when they're way too harsh and other times when they basically let serious criminals walk free.

Indeed. Being a UK resident myself I can attest to that. Reading the news and finding out that someone only got something stupid like 3 months for murder or other such ridiculous thing or or that kid that got.. What was it, 11 months? For threatening his school on FB? I mean, REALLY?!?

I think it sounds harsh when you only consider his version of events. I don't think it sounds so harsh when I see his rap sheet. Without seeing the court transcripts, it's hard to know whether the punishment was excessive imho.

Anyway, he seems to have found acceptance of his punishment:

It's been a blessing in disguise. It was upsetting to leave my parents, but I feel as though I have a destiny with Miracle Village. I feel at home and safe here - I love the people," he says. "Even though I have the label of a sex offender, I'm not a monster. I made a mistake and I've faced the consequences.

What is Miracle Village? A place where they send sex offenders? Or just a new area for him to live in?

I think it happens quite often where a girl lies about her age and it ends up that the boy gets in trouble because he is over the age of consent. And the worst part is that so many girls look a lot older than they are so boys don't bother to question the age they said. It's not like an 18 year old boy is going to meet a girl he thinks is attractive and the first thing he says is 'hey can I see some identification please?'

allahuakbar wrote: It's not like an 18 year old boy is going to meet a girl he thinks is attractive and the first thing he says is 'hey can I see some identification please?'

I must say I find myself agreeing with you once again. The sad part though is that I'm pretty sure this is what the so called "Justice" system expects of us. I mean just the other week I was on a bus and I saw this girl/woman with what I am assuming was her mother, now some aspects of her appearence made her look about mid to late twenties, yet other aspects made me question wheher she was even 16 yet. And it's not like there was even any effort made, clothing/makeup wise, to appear older. And eventually I just gave up trying to guess the age entirely.

Anon539 wrote:I must say I find myself agreeing with you once again. The sad part though is that I'm pretty sure this is what the so called "Justice" system expects of us. I mean just the other week I was on a bus and I saw this girl/woman with what I am assuming was her mother, now some aspects of her appearence made her look about mid to late twenties, yet other aspects made me question wheher she was even 16 yet. And it's not like there was even any effort made, clothing/makeup wise, to appear older. And eventually I just gave up trying to guess the age entirely.

This happens to me ALL the time. I know girls who are 17 but look so much older and even friends of mine have lied about their age and got away with it (even to a policeman once)!

I really don't understand the justice system anywhere, I mean. A guy might mistake a girl's age and receive some harsh sentence, yet a woman wouldn't. It's odd... I live in Brazil now and the legal system is really faulty, criminals "walk" quite a lot, especially if you are under age. You could be go on a killing spree but if your 13 you can't get more then 3 years (which usually doesn't happen anyways). And if you're an adult you will probably be released before you serve your sentence (that's if you get one) or before you escape from prison. Thing's are so messed up, it's sad actually. The more poor you are the higher chances of going to jail for a crime. But being prohibited from speaking to the under 18s for dating a 14 year old? I personally think it's the girl's fault too, she didn't tell him the appropriate age, heck she didn't even bother to respect the law. I see girls all the time dating older guys cause it's "cool".

Simontheo wrote:I personally think it's the girl's fault too, she didn't tell him the appropriate age, heck she didn't even bother to respect the law. I see girls all the time dating older guys cause it's "cool".

I agree & I can't lie that I would always date older guys throughout my teens because it was 'cool'