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bemildred

(90,061 posts)
Mon Dec 15, 2014, 07:31 AM Dec 2014

The overpolicing of American sex



Rape and sexual assault often do not get the police attention they deserve in the United States, whether on college campuses, in the military or in major American cities. This isn’t arguable.

But sex is also vastly overpoliced in this country, and this ought to concern us, too. The combination of steroidal law enforcement, Puritan fear of the genitalia and a constant need for political scapegoats has led to ferocious police overreach on sex. The consequences are neither moral nor just. In fact, they’re frequently horrific.

Branded for life

Sex offenders are commonly regarded as outcasts in the United States. This might change if it were more widely known that children as young as eight have been put on sex offender registries, where many will stay for decades, if not their entire lives. Some of the offenses that get minors listed are serious and (obviously) require a law enforcement response. But many, from streaking at a high school football game to consensual sex between randy teens, do not.

A Human Rights Watch report released last year documented the lasting damage done to kids put on these publicly available registries. Most are barred from attending school and restricted in their daily movements and where their families may reside and travel; their chances at employment are wrecked. Such ostracizing of minors must end.

http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/12/sex-police-crimesoffendersregistry.html
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The overpolicing of American sex (Original Post) bemildred Dec 2014 OP
Not just kids. . pipoman Dec 2014 #1
 

pipoman

(16,038 posts)
1. Not just kids. .
Mon Dec 15, 2014, 09:09 AM
Dec 2014

Adults arrested for public urination, prostitution, etc. I once met a young man who was dating a girl who was a year younger...he was 17, she was 16. Shortly after he turned 18 when she was still 2 months from turning 17, she became pregnant. The girl was the neighbor of the chief of police in a small town. The chief arrested/charged the young man for statutory rape, he plead 'no contest'. He was required to register (something nobody told him until his sentencing hearing which he received probation). I met him 10 years later, still a registered sex offender. He had completed a bachelor's degree in accounting, but the only job he could get was in manufacturing. He was married with two more children. ...his wife was the same woman who he was accused of raping. He had petitioned twice for expungment and removal from the registry, denied both times.

The abuse of the registry has diminished the purpose of the registry and ruined the lives of countless people who don't deserve it.

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