Lies and Punishment

I know I've been away from here for a while, but I've been busy living a life and working a pretty good job. Funny things happen when no one cares about your past, refuses to investigate it because it has no bearing on your employment, and you don't have to worry about it except for the occasional registration visit with the local law enforcement.

Anyway, this happened to float across my news feed today:

Woman Who Lied to Police About 3 Black Men Raping and Kidnapping Her Faces Zero Years in Prison

Now, I'm no legal scholar, but it seems to me that if you accuse someone of kidnapping and rape, and it turns out that you might have lied just a little bit about the kidnapping and rape part, you should face some sort of consequences. I mean, this sort of accusation had the potential to alter the lives of 3 people in very serious ways, not to mention the possibility of vigilante justice being perpetrated upon any number of innocent black men in the community.

Rape is a serious accusation. It should be investigated seriously, and punished seriously. Similarly, when there is clear evidence and an admission of falsehood, that should also be punished seriously. Alas, this is not to be the case here.

There can be no justice when a mere accusation is weaponized in favor of a presumed victim, with no repercussions for falsehood that wastes police time and resources and puts lives in danger.

Collateral Damage

The Sex Offender. The boogeyman du jour, so evil that untold law enforcement man hours are spent tracking their every movement, so uncontrollable that they're not allowed within hundreds (sometimes thousands) of feet of anywhere children are, so different from the rest of society that their every detail must be listed on a website for all to see.

Sometimes, the desire to identify and mark as different means that it's not enough to list them on a public website. No, in the name of safety, we must identify them in other ways, such as special license plates for their vehicles, or special markings on their drivers licenses. So, what happens when the wrong box gets checked off by a bored and inattentive clerk, resulting in being identified as a sex offender when you are not?

Woman: Driver's license mistakenly labeled me a sex offender

"It reminds me of 'The Scarlet Letter,'" said Phillips, referring to the 19th century literature classic about a woman ostracized for having a child out of wedlock in Puritan Massachusetts. "This is the worst thing you can call a person."

The Scarlet Letter. Marking a mistake for all the world to see. It's wrong, and it needs to stop.

Sex On The Beach

The next time someone tells you that everyone on the Sex Offender Registry is a creepy pedophile that wants to molest your child, remind them of this:

Couple to register as sex offenders after being caught having sex on beach

Yeah. You read that right.

The New Puberty?

Article link: http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/12/02/367811777/how-girls-are-developing-earlier-in-an-age-of-new-puberty?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=freshair

A good portion of the Sex Offender Registry are young men who had to misfortune to be 18 with a 16 year old girlfriend. Some are even younger, with correspondingly younger girlfriends. Curiously, only the males in these "Romeo and Juliet" relationships are punished.

"It has been established that girls who enter puberty earlier are more likely to have symptoms of anxiety, higher levels of depression, initiate sex earlier and sexual behaviors earlier," Julianna Deardorff tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross.

Think about that for a moment. Young men, full of raging hormones, are being approached by young women, also full of raging hormones, who then initiating the sexual contact. And, as it turns out, it's happening earlier and earlier, when the emotional and intellectual development of these girls are not fully mature. And yet, the boy is at fault, locked away and subject to registration and restrictions.

Victim blaming? No. There are two victims here: the young woman who isn't equipped to deal with the changes and hormonal urges her body is experiencing, and the young man who is all too willing to help satisfy those urges with urges of his own.

These types of "crimes" need to be seen for what they are, and dealt with fairly. Ether both are convicted and put on the registry, or (more preferably), both are educated on the consequences of their actions and taught to deal with the changes their bodies are going through.

Vigil

There are those who say that sex offenders deserve the "punishment" of the registry, because they get off free after serving their time, while their victims are "scarred for life". Those people have no idea what they are talking about.

Tonight, I sit in vigil. On this night, so many years ago, something happened that forever altered the course of two lives.

I will not sleep tonight. I can't. I haven't slept on this night for over twenty-five years. I can't sleep, because when I do, I see it happening again. And I am powerless to stop it. In the days and weeks leading up to this night, the nightmares build. I am tortured by them, haunted by actions I cannot prevent. On this night, they reach their peak, and I am at my breaking point.

"They", those who advocate for the registry, say that it is a just "punishment" and compensation for the suffering of the victim.

I say to you that no punishment, no time in prison, no threats can equal the torture I put myself through each and every year.

Halloween Tally

Source: http://www.buzzfeed.com/jimdalrympleii/three-trick-or-treaters-were-killed-friday-by-a-hit-and-run

5 children killed

5 children injured 

(Plus 2 adults) 

Thankfully, the police were otherwise occupied by making sure that sex offenders didn't have their lights on or passing out candy, because there were ZERO sexual assaults of children reported for Halloween (just like there is pretty much every Halloween). If the police hadn't been performing that oh so important task, they might have been available to patrol the streets and maybe prevent these tragedies.

The truth is, your child is more likely to be hit by a car than to be sexually assaulted on Halloween. And, if they are sexually assaulted, it's more likely to to happen at the hands of a family member, trusted adult, or a close friend than by the registrant down the street.

Halloween is a night of frights and fears, but the real threat to children isn't the imagined monster on the registry. The real monsters roam the streets in metal boxes, drunk, careless, or inattentive. They lurk inside your house, called "uncle", "dad", or "cousin". And you won't find their names, pictures, or addresses listed on the internet.

Fears based in facts are healthy. Unfounded fears kill. 

Hater

You can't bring me down, already had my life turned upside down
I ride a downward spiral round and round
But I keep flying, I keep fighting
You won't ever bring me down

I'm good, I'm fine, this life's divine
No hate, no shame, no one to blame
You might despise your life with lies
I won't chastise, even if you think you can

Bring me down, already had my life turned upside down
I ride a downward spiral round and round
But I keep flying, I keep fighting
You won't ever bring me

Down (down, down, down, down), you won't ever bring me
Down (down, down, down, down), you won't ever bring me

I can't escape from the disdain; your heart, your pain
Your drama is lame, why can't you find
Some peace inside? I won't chastise
Even when you think you can

Bring me down, already had my life turned upside down
I ride a downward spiral round and round
But I keep flying, I keep fighting
You won't ever bring me

Down (down, down, down, down), you won't ever bring me
Down (down, down, down, down), you won't ever bring me

Hater (hater, hater), Hater (hater, hater)

I'm good, I'm fine, this life's divine
No hate, no shame, no one to blame
Why can't you find aome peace inside?

Hater (hater, hater, hater, hater)

You can't bring me down, already had my life turned upside down
I ride a downward spiral round and round
But I keep flying, I keep fighting
You won't ever bring me down

Hater (hater, hater, hater), you won't ever bring me down
Hater (hater, hater, hater), you won't ever bring me down
Hater (hater, hater, hater), 'cause I keep flying, I keep fighting
You won't ever bring me

Down (down, down, down, down), you won't ever bring me
Down (down, down, down, down), you won't ever bring me
Down (down, down, down, down), you won't ever bring me
Down (down, down, down, down), you won't ever bring me down