Ga.’s sex-offender laws an injustice themselves
You know, it takes a lot to generate sympathy for a sex offender. But Georgia’s draconian laws about where sex offenders can live are doing the trick. It’s downright ridiculous.
“A group of homeless sex offenders who had been living in tents in the woods behind an office park near Marietta were told they had to leave the land by Tuesday.
“We don’t want to allow anyone to live on our property for liability issues,” said Mark McKinnon, a spokesman for the Georgia Department of Transportation, which owns the wooded land where the sex offenders had taken residence.
Several men said their probation officers had told them about the encampment as a kind of last resort for homeless sex offenders trying to meet the strict residency requirements of their probation.
Georgia’s law prohibits the state’s 16,000 sex offenders from living, working or loitering within 1,000 feet of schools, churches, child care facilities and other areas where children gather. It limits the locations where they can live….
William Hawkins, 34, a registered sex offender living in the camp, gathered his belongings Tuesday.
He’s not sure where he’s going to go.
When Hawkins was 15 years old, he had sex with a 12-year-old in Florida and received two years of house arrest and 10 years’ probation. “I have a 19-year-old case. Technically, I don’t think I have to be on it,” Hawkins said of the sex offender registry.”
The law hounding those people has no real purpose but to, well, hound them. As experts have testified to the Georgia Legislature, it serves little or no protective function. A sexual predator intent on finding victims will do so, regardless of where he (or occasionally she) is forced to live. Furthermore, unlike many states, Georgia law makes no distinction between somebody like Hawkins and somebody who has a history of true predation.
An even better example is Wendy Whitaker, who as a 17-year-old was caught performing oral sex on a 15-year-old classmate. That incident back in 1996 put her on the same sex offender list as a multiple rapist, As The Economist recently pointed out in an article featuring Whitaker as an example:
“The Georgia Sex Offender Registration Review Board, an official body, assessed a sample of offenders on the registry last year and concluded that 65% of them posed little threat. Another 30% were potentially threatening, and 5% were clearly dangerous.”
Given that reality, throwing them all into the same bag and forcing them to live together in surreptitious little communities helps no one. If serious threats must be freed, restrict their movements and track them closely. But don’t pretend that they’re all the same. Law enforcement officials have already told legislators that the law is overly strict, forcing officers to spend precious time tracking low-risk offenders that could better be spent elsewhere. But politicians passed the law as an act of grandstanding, and so far they haven’t summoned the courage to correct it.
Of course, much of the rest of the world is more intrigued by the case of Roman Polanksi, who hasn’t exactly been living in a tent city in the 32 years since he drugged and raped a 13-year-old girl. Ann Woolner, a columnist for Bloomberg, explores that case and reaches what I think is the right conclusion:
“The shame is that it has taken this long to sort everything out. The blame for that lies with Polanski for refusing to answer for evading the law.
Celebrate the man’s talent, honor his contributions to filmmaking. However gifted he is, Polanski’s art can’t serve as a reason to ignore his terrible crime or his refusal to answer for it.”
The injustice done to the Wendy Whitakers of the world, and maybe to the William Hawkins, far outweigh any alleged unfairness to Polanski.
UPDATE: I should note that my colleague Cynthia Tucker has also weighed in on the Polanski case, reaching a verdict similar to Woolner’s.
“It’s important for Polanski to face the bar of justice, even thirty years late. His appearance would serve as an example to others among the wealthy and glamorous that they are not above the law. Neither money, fame, connections nor artistic achievement should excuse you from facing up to your crimes. Forcing Polanski into court, in a case which will receive lots of media attention, might also stiffen the resolve of other victims of sexual violence who are trying to find the courage to face their abusers.”
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364 comments Add your comment
david wayne osedach
September 30th, 2009
9:47 am
Miami has a better solution. There the sex offenders get to live under a causeway bridge. Fresh fish from Biscayne bay daily!
USinUK
September 30th, 2009
9:47 am
Nif –
“Justice denied anywhere is justice denied everywhere” – MLK, Jr.
I’m sorry to hear that you don’t care about the people who are unjustly added to the sexual predators list … I’m sure you’d be just as sanguine if it was your daughter who was added to the list for doing something like Wendy did. (”sorry, dear, but people like you are just a small percentage of those on the list, so I can’t be bothered to care about what it means to your life”)
so yes, I do understand that this is not the norm – the difference between you and me (one of many, thank His Noodley Appendages) is that I actually CARE about people who are denied justice.
mm
September 30th, 2009
9:48 am
Jay,
Wow, you found yet another reason for the wingnuts to hide under their beds. Just based on their posts, they’ve already soiled their diapers.
Finn McCool
September 30th, 2009
9:49 am
The US is a system of laws and we have systems set up for people who break those laws.
Once law breakers do their time, you can’t just ostracize them. You have to allow them the opportunity to improve themselves.
What kind of people just throw up their hands and say “banished”? It takes people who don’t want to deal with the situation at hand to throw the baby out with the bath water.
Those of you who want us to care about the plight of innocent people in foreign lands don’t realize that your allowing your own system to turn into the type of system which produces situations which put innocent people in plight.
Nothing is Free
September 30th, 2009
9:49 am
Jackie
I hope you are not equating other crimes with child rape?
Stupid Law
September 30th, 2009
9:51 am
I was 20, she was 15. By the laws today I would have to register since her mom caught us when she was 16. As a side note, Friday will be our 32nd anniversary.
The law is wrong. Zero tolerance is wrong. Politicians, judges, school administrators, teachers and parents need to judge each instance as a unique event. One size does not fit all.
Mrs G, to answer your question, yes on my prom night and yes on her prom night. Lucky for me, people still used a little common sense back then.
jt
September 30th, 2009
9:52 am
These asinine laws and asinine situations are all a product of centralized authority in which all of you lefties crave.
Deal with it.
And if you think the plight of these sex offenders are gruesome, just wait until you fail three consequetive cholerestoral tests under Obama-care.
Fat Gulag.
Washington, Larry Craig, and Barney Frank knows best.
Jackie
September 30th, 2009
9:53 am
@NIF
Where did you get that idea?
Bosch
September 30th, 2009
9:54 am
Barry made a good point – these laws do absolutely nothing to make our children safer, in fact, in my opinion, it makes children more vulnerable. Law enforcement officers don’t have the time to monitor the really dangerous offenders – plus, offenders are left to wander the streets and will most likely repeat their offense so they can get sent back to jail – at least there they have a roof and food.
stands for decibels
September 30th, 2009
9:54 am
And if you think the plight of these sex offenders are gruesome, just wait until you fail three consequetive cholerestoral tests under Obama-care. Fat Gulag.
I think we have a “Farthest Traveled” award nominee. Any seconds?
jt
September 30th, 2009
9:56 am
Normal
September 30th, 2009
9:32 am
Mrs. G. I had sex the first time at 14, but the woman was in her 30’s.
If that was sex abuse, I didn’t know.
Righttttttttt.
Finn McCool
September 30th, 2009
9:56 am
Hmm, sometimes you should make sure the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow really exists before you turn your back on your state, your voters, constituents, and all.
Palin Lectures Not Selling, No One Wants To Book Her: NY Post
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/30/palin-lectures-not-sellin_n_304020.html
Jackie
September 30th, 2009
9:56 am
@NIF
Hit the enter button too quickly.
Having an adult conversation about an adult problem is one thing, for you to think that you can frame the conversation to fit your terms is another.
I will not be drawn into the situation where I try to prove the points that you set forth. Conversation is about GA law and people being made to live in the woods.
If there are other questions about other subjects, feel free to ask; you will get an answer.
Taxpayer
September 30th, 2009
9:57 am
Wait until the Republicans get approval to publish their list of abortion offenders and make it illegal for them to live anywhere. The power of the good book in the wrong hands — Republican hands — is wrong in so many ways. And, we have not even talked about the list of gays and the cross-reference to the list of HIV infected and the places that they are not allowed to go. But, as long as we can keep the sick uninsured, everything will work out in the end.
Paula M
September 30th, 2009
9:59 am
Isn’t there an island or something nearby? We could put some facilities on it, require them to work to pay for most of their own living, and keep them separated from us? Haven’t made this proposal/comment with a lot of thought, just off the top of my head. Some sort of worthless island nearby, maybe that floods sometimes?
USinUK
September 30th, 2009
9:59 am
Jackie –
9:56
nicely done! (golf clap)
Finn McCool
September 30th, 2009
10:00 am
Good points Bosch. Plus it’s unsafe to head to the woods for relaxation.
Is it Budwiser who is always heading to the woods? Maybe someone should warn him.
Seriously, our national parks are already turning into a roll of the dice whether you will come across a crazed person with bad designs on your life. Look at the number of people who disappear or show dead there every year.
Put an ankle boot on these people and let em live in normal housing.
USinUK
September 30th, 2009
10:01 am
meanwhile … a little good news …
The worst U.S. recession since the Great Depression eased more than anticipated in the second quarter, setting the stage for a recovery to take hold in the last half of 2009.
The world’s largest economy shrank at a 0.7 percent annual rate from April through June, the best performance in more than a year, revised figures from the Commerce Department showed today in Washington. Gross domestic product contracted at a 6.4 percent pace in the first three months of 2009.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601068&sid=a3g5lqDmy2N8
Bosch
September 30th, 2009
10:01 am
Yes, Jackie, well done –
I need to put that in my “cool blog posts” folder.
Turd Ferguson
September 30th, 2009
10:02 am
She’s got me dizzy, she sees me through to the end
She’s got me in her hands and there’s no use in pretending
Christine sixteen, Christine sixteen
She drives me crazy, I want to give her all I’ve got
And she’s hot every day and night, there is no doubt about it
Christine sixteen, Christine sixteen
“I don’t usually say things like this to girls your age, but when I saw you
coming out of the school that day, that day I knew, I knew, I’ve got to have
you, I’ve got to have you.”
She’s’ been around, but she’s young and clean
I’ve got to have her, can’t live without her, whoo no
Christine sixteen, Christine sixteen
Christine, Christine, sixteen, sixteen
Christine, yeah, yeah
So clean, Christine, sixteen, sixteen
Christine, yeah, Christine, yeah, yeah
Christine, Christine, sixteen, sixteen
Christine, yeah, Christine, yeah, yeah
Christine, Christine, sixteen, sixteen
Christine, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Christine, Christine, sixteen, sixteen
Christine, yeah, yeah, yeah
Christine, Christine, sixteen, sixteen
Christine, yeah, yeah, yeah
Christine, Christine, sixteen, sixteen, Christine, yeah, yeah
Christine, Christine, sixteen, sixteen
Christine, yeah, yeah, yeah
Nothing is Free
September 30th, 2009
10:02 am
USinUK
**is that I actually CARE about people who are denied justice.**
I’m sure you do. The problem is that you assume that I don’t, because I care much more for children. It’s the basic lib dodge. “Only I can care about anyone because I’m a liberal”. I never said that I wasn’t concerned, but since when did facts get in the way of your finger wagging at others.
See? Sometimes there is more to a conversation that trying your little best at pi*sing the other person off. Once again, this is your problem, not mine.
The media will take care of the extremely rare instance where a teen is charged and there will always be people like you who choose to make those people the poster children for your daily finger wagging. But please pardon me for being concerned that the other 99.99999999% of the child molesters are kept away from children.
You live to pi*s off others. I live to protect children. It’s yet another of those delicious differences that I thank God for every chance I get.
jt
September 30th, 2009
10:03 am
I meant Gulag Fat Glutinus Maximo.
Brad Steel
September 30th, 2009
10:04 am
How many of us had underage sex? With an underage partner?
What are you doing for lunch and how old are you?
lem1970
September 30th, 2009
10:04 am
Finn McCool
If you believe anything from the Huffington post, then you are sure to be misinformed and easily misled
Brad Steel
September 30th, 2009
10:05 am
Reciting lyrics from Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. That’s just sad.
stands for decibels
September 30th, 2009
10:07 am
I meant Gulag Fat Glutinus Maximo.
Seriously, if there were to be government funded fat farms proposed, they’d be so popular that the private fat farm owners would have the offending bill sponsors shot.
USinUK
September 30th, 2009
10:07 am
NiF –
“The problem is that you assume that I don’t, because I care much more for children.”
ahhhh … the classic righty binary thinking – that you can only care for one thing and not the other. believe it or not, you CAN care for children AND care that justice is served by not punishing people beyond fairness.
“Sometimes there is more to a conversation that trying your little best at pi*sing the other person off.”
yep – there’s logic, empathy, and rhetoric. you seem to be lacking all three.
and, like I said – pi$$ing off people like you isn’t my raison d’etre, but it is a nice little bit o’ sunshine when it’s a cloudy day like today …
Nothing is Free
September 30th, 2009
10:07 am
Jackie
Wow. So you only want to discuss the issues that you want to discuss. Maybe you could win the argument where you make all the rules.
You brought up bank robberies, not me. That wasn’t what we were talking about. But I was glad to discuss that with you. But apparently, you are getting angry because I do want to keep bringing it back to the children.
Good luck to you. Maybe you can find someone who will just agree with you.
I need to go to work.
JAMES
September 30th, 2009
10:08 am
Please fix the laws. If a minor has sex with another minor who was a willing participant then there should not be a legal penalty.
Gary Puckett
September 30th, 2009
10:08 am
Young Girl, get out of my mind,
my love for you is way out of line.
Better run, girl, you’re much too young, girl.
With all the charms of a woman,
You’ve kept the secret of your youth.
You led me to believe you’re old enough to give me love
and now it hurts to know the truth. Oh, Oh,
Young Girl, get out of my mind,
my love for you is way out of line.
Better run, girl, you’re much too young, girl.
Beneath your perfume and make-up,
You’re just a baby in disquise
And though you know that it’s wrong to be alone with me,
that come on look is in your eyes. Oh, Oh,
Young Girl, get out of my mind,
my love for you is way out of line.
Better run, girl, you’re much too young, girl.
So hurry home to your mama
I’m sure she wonders where you are.
Get out of here before I have the time to change my mind
’cause I’m afraid we’ll go too far
Young Girl, get out of my mind,
my love for you is way out of line.
Better run, girl, you’re much too young, girl.
Young Girl, get out of my mind,
my love for you is way out of line.
Better run, girl, you’re much too young, girl.
Taxpayer
September 30th, 2009
10:08 am
The Huffington Post is second only to the Daily Show for accurate unbiased news.
Finn McCool
September 30th, 2009
10:09 am
Wow. I had forgotten exactly how bad Kiss lyrics are.
Finn McCool
September 30th, 2009
10:10 am
lem, HuffPo is an excellent source of fiber for the liberal diet. Highly recommended.
Finn McCool
September 30th, 2009
10:11 am
And Lem, that HuffPo link was from the NY Post.
The conservative Ny Post.
Nothing is Free
September 30th, 2009
10:14 am
USinUK
Changing your story, yet again. LOL!!!
SO we agree that children need to be protected. See? Wasn’t that easy?
Conservatives would like for everyone to be happy. Liberals want to be unhappy and try constantly to make others unhappy. If you guys would have looked at who you were voting for instead of considering what would pi*s off conservatives, we wouldn’t be in the mess we are in.
Have a good, cloudy, smelly, dank, London day. (The buildings over there actually smell like mold. How can you stand it?)
Soothsayer
September 30th, 2009
10:17 am
Another War in the Works
America Is Led and Informed by Liars
This is another great article by Paul Craig Roberts and is well worth reading.
Nothing is Free
September 30th, 2009
10:17 am
The Obvious Problem
“The Huffington Post is second only to the Daily Show for accurate unbiased news.”
USinUK
September 30th, 2009
10:18 am
NiF –
“Changing your story, yet again. LOL!!!”
awwww … diddums … so desperate to be right that you’re lying …
I haven’t changed my story at all. Usually, I’d say “nice try”, but, really, that just smacks of desperation.
“Conservatives would like for everyone to be happy. Liberals want to be unhappy and try constantly to make others unhappy”
wow. that’s so delusional, I don’t even know where to start (of course, the funny thing is that liberals are usually accused of chasing pleasure over responsibility, so I find your accusation rather amusing, actually)
“(The buildings over there actually smell like mold. How can you stand it?)”
well, considering I don’t live or work in a building with damp, it’s not a problem.
Jack
September 30th, 2009
10:19 am
It’s really very easy to stay out of jail. And when one manages that, they don’t have worry about where they’re going to live.
Citizen
September 30th, 2009
10:19 am
NIF:
Only far lefties seem to think that another solution is needed.
No I am about as far right as you get on most issues and another solution is needed
anonymous coward
September 30th, 2009
10:20 am
Jay, thanks for the column today in the AJC. I wasn’t going to post on the comments here since people that seem to hang out there make me physically ill, with a lot of real anger and simple thinking in absolute terms. I’d be very interested to understand what drives the fear underlying the anger those people express here and all over the country, but to be honest I have my own demons to wrestle with.
As far as the sex offenders story and your column – obviously this is a complex problem that deserves more than the simple minded laws that have been enacted. As a nation we don’t do well with finding ways to help people overcome these issues – from drug rehabilitation to sexual rehabilitation. Since we lack the compassion to treat the root of the issues (I mean after all – you have to *earn* health care, right?) we prefer to put them in jails, and when the jails are full and we can’t build any more, we shun them because we can’t bring ourselves to either deal with the real problem or just kill them. Instead we inflict upon them a form of torture, rationalizing it with simple sayings like, “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time”. (They’ve done their time – so then what?). These are the really hard to solve problems of our time and few among us have the fortitude or capabilities to address them. Do I have a solution to offer? Only humility, compassion and understanding for those that cannot help themselves. And for those that can help themselves and won’t? Then I have a much harder response – remove them.
PM
September 30th, 2009
10:26 am
Enter your comments here
eolufemi
September 30th, 2009
10:26 am
This is a silly law with any number of unintended consequences that are dangerous for the public. Tent cities are a public health hazard. You inevitably get human waste that inevitably contaminates local water supplies. The residents become a vector for communicable diseases. The diseases fester in that population until they eventually make the jump into the main population and suddenly you have a real problem. There’s a reason why the third world still struggles with cholera outbreaks. Don’t let ego push us down a path to destruction merely because we want to appear tough on crime. Policy-makers have to be held to a higher standard. They can’t just say they are doing something to be tough on crime. We should expect them to carefully weigh the pros and cons of any decision. They should have to offer proof that what they are proposing will work with minimal damage to the rest of us. We can’t just make unrealistic principle arguments that lead to this type of nonsense.
jt
September 30th, 2009
10:27 am
do these people have health insurance?
Bosch
September 30th, 2009
10:29 am
jt,
They do if they go back to jail!
jt
September 30th, 2009
10:30 am
If these people do have health insurance, they are paying inflated rates because of mammogram mandates.
So much for case by case consideration.
Bud Wiser
September 30th, 2009
10:31 am
Why bother?
American ‘justice’ allows murderers to go free, or at best serve minimal sentences, when they get drunk or high and kill innocents. The alcohol, the weed, the ice or the blow was responsible for the murderous accident, not the poor, disadvantaged, addicted victim.
Until ‘justice’ swings toward the rights of the victims as opposed to the perps, I could give a rats a$$ what happens to these poor, misguided sex offenders; they should be behind bars anyway, where it is reported that hard core prisoners don’t really care for child molesters and the like, and real justice comes from the savagers, as opposed to the soft headed lawyers and judges.
Taxpayer
September 30th, 2009
10:31 am
Bosch
September 30th, 2009
10:29 am
jt,
They do if they go back to jail!
So, the end result for jailing someone for not paying their healthcare bill is, well, free healthcare at taxpayer’s expense plus the cost of putting the person in jail to begin with. Wow! We sure are smart. Just try and find someone else that can top THAT! hehehe
PM
September 30th, 2009
10:32 am
oh, anonymous person — hate your high and mighty attitude. So, while you address with compassion these problems, what about the island idea? I’m not seeing your tangible resolution here, Mr. Anonymous; just a superior attitude. And, Mr. anonymous, despite my island idea, and despite these people’s “problem”, actually I do have compassion for these people….
USinUK
September 30th, 2009
10:34 am
“they are paying inflated rates because of mammogram mandates”
tell you what, jt – you pay for my b00bs and I’ll pay for your balls …
deal?
KUHF
September 30th, 2009
10:36 am
BUT IT WASN’T RAPE- RAPE, RIGHT
Taxpayer
September 30th, 2009
10:36 am
PM,
The island idea was tried. It was called Alcatraz. One glaring problem with it was an insufficient number of sharks.
jt
September 30th, 2009
10:40 am
USinUK-
You don’t have the money to make me ask my wife for my balls back.
You can always fantasize.
Tax Payer funded option, NEVER
September 30th, 2009
10:40 am
First, there is a difference between a “sex offender” that has sex with a 8-10 year old and one that has sex with a 15 year old. I have seen plenty of 15 year olds that don’t look it.
Mrs. Godzilla
September 30th, 2009
10:41 am
UsinUK
we discussed pink and blue healthcare a few days ago…..
women live longer and are generally healthier…..men should pay more!
USinUK
September 30th, 2009
10:41 am
jt –
“You don’t have the money to make me ask my wife for my balls back.”
HA! thanks for that … you made me snort
USinUK
September 30th, 2009
10:42 am
Mrs G –
“we discussed pink and blue healthcare a few days ago”
that’s me … always late to the party …
Mrs. Godzilla
September 30th, 2009
10:42 am
see where Newsmax piece on military coup had to be taken down….
Taxpayer
September 30th, 2009
10:43 am
And, Viagra should not be covered by health insurance. You bunch of wimps.
Bosch
September 30th, 2009
10:43 am
Just a thought, kind of off-topic, but relevant:
If we believe in rehabilitation, should Michael Vick be forgiven as well?
TC6483
September 30th, 2009
10:45 am
I agree that all sex offenders are not the same. All are not sex offenders. I was very young once and wanted to have sex, so I lied about my age. And,, yes, I looked older. Then why don’t we take the 14 year olds, that lie about their age, and put them in some kind of category, that would make their life as unpleasant, as it makes the life of the “so called sexoffender”? I am not blogging about some sick person, that likes girls when their 9 or 10. They can never be helped, and need to be watched. I am blogging about someone maybe 19, with a girl about 14, lying about her age. What about our soldiers in Europe, where the girls can be in clubs at age 16, are they child molesters also?????? I think this law is not fair, because it does not distinquish between the severity of the crimes.
Ray Pugh
September 30th, 2009
10:51 am
Less than 30% of those on the Sex Offender registry are child molesters, fools.
Hef
September 30th, 2009
10:52 am
Bosch-Forgive M.Vick? Yes. Forget?No
stands for decibels
September 30th, 2009
10:53 am
I don’t think anybody anticipated that a guy posting under the handle of “Tax Payer funded option, NEVER” might contribute
I have seen plenty of 15 year olds that don’t look it.
to this discussion.
Bean-o
September 30th, 2009
10:54 am
( @ )( @ )
Doggone/GA
September 30th, 2009
10:54 am
“If we believe in rehabilitation, should Michael Vick be forgiven as well?”
Certainly…but I wouldn’t sell him a dog.
Morris
September 30th, 2009
10:55 am
For anybody out there that’s married to someone with a two year age difference. At one time you were a sex offender.
USinUK
September 30th, 2009
10:55 am
Hef –
10:52 –
well said!
jt
September 30th, 2009
10:55 am
Eventhough, I have nothing against paying for boobs.
Hef
September 30th, 2009
10:56 am
Ray-There should not be a registry for TRUE child molesters only prison ID numbers.
stands for decibels
September 30th, 2009
10:57 am
Eventhough, I have nothing against paying for boobs.
Indeed, every year I file my taxes, I check the Presidential election campaign checkoff.
nita
September 30th, 2009
10:59 am
the law is stupid. georgia has the worlds dumbest govenor and legislators.
Doggone/GA
September 30th, 2009
10:59 am
“For anybody out there that’s married to someone with a two year age difference. At one time you were a sex offender.”
I don’t think so.
RollerGirl
September 30th, 2009
11:00 am
Well this just sucks..for once and hopefully the last time, I agree with Cynthia Tucker..I feel so dirty..it won’t come off..it won’t come off!
Normal
September 30th, 2009
11:01 am
If a person has sex with a child that has not reached puberty, then that person should have his wanger nailed to the kitchen table. The throw a knife on the table and set the house on fire. Let him decide…But if kids who have reached puberty, are naturally curious, and have sex, well, that is no crime. Parents should prepare for that, because it will happen, with birth control. It’s the “Churches” that put an onus on a natural biological function. The “just say no” crowd, who try to lay guilt trips on wonderful, natural acts, and would put otherwise innocent boys and girls in an unfair live ending situation, is beyond contempt.
USinUK
September 30th, 2009
11:02 am
dB –
10:57
YAY!!!
Mrs. Godzilla
September 30th, 2009
11:03 am
The Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday night approved an amendment providing tens of millions of dollars to fund abstinence education programs for teens.
sheeesh
Normal
September 30th, 2009
11:04 am
stands for decibels
September 30th, 2009
10:57 am
More monitor cleaner, please!
Paul
September 30th, 2009
11:06 am
And the first politician who sponsors legislation to change this will be subjected to all sorts of hysterical ads at reelection. Which is why it won’t happen. Maybe thru the courts, but one would expect if that was the case, some group would have already tried.
Interesting how when people oppose something (health care reform) they want data after data to show, if not prove, what the steps are in the process and that they will lead to the desired outcome. But on an issue like this, emotion and sound bites suffice. Data to demonstrate the current system protects society? Likely nonexistent.
USinUK
September 30th, 2009
11:08 am
“Well this just sucks..for once and hopefully the last time, I agree with Cynthia Tucker..I feel so dirty..it won’t come off..it won’t come off!”
well, thank His Noodley Appendages you posted that here … on Jay’s page … and not on Cynthia’s
Taxpayer
September 30th, 2009
11:10 am
Anything that can get you a hallelujah doesn’t require proof.
Rob
September 30th, 2009
11:10 am
You all are a bunch of ho’z… The legislation that wrote the Ga sex offender law KNEW exactly what they were doing. They don’t care about categorization. They KNEW that when a 17 year old has sex with his/her 15 year old classmate it would still be a violation of the law. Their moniker… Get as many in the prison system as possible. Keeps us in business
stands for decibels
September 30th, 2009
11:11 am
And the first politician who sponsors legislation to change this will be subjected to all sorts of hysterical ads at reelection. Which is why it won’t happen. Maybe thru the courts, but one would expect if that was the case, some group would have already tried.
Eventually we will see the folly of our ways, Paul, but I don’t see it happening anytime soon.
And yeah, it’ll probably happen through the courts because ten, twenty years from now, still, our elected officials will still be too gutless to risk being called “soft on violent sex offenders” for acknowledging that everyone–everyone!–has rights to due process and that double jeopardy provisions apply to one and all, as well.
Agree too about your bit about emotion running this thing. It was really fueled by local TV news reports that’ve, in turn, fueled truly stupid helicopter-parenting over the past two-or-so decades. But that’s another topic.
Date the Save
September 30th, 2009
11:13 am
Normal
September 30th, 2009
11:01 am
You’re getting there but, the brush strokes are still too broad. What age do you think some of these girls reach puberty? 10,11,12? I don’t have any girls but I tell you what. If I had one that reached puberty at a young age and she let some much older guy talk her into sex, he wouldn’t be around for long. And… she would be wearing a lock on her hoo ha until she was 18!
Don’t take me too seriously.
Hef
September 30th, 2009
11:13 am
MSGodzilla-Did’nt I hear a report right after the one you spoke of in which the SFC also alotted X amount of dollars towards Sex education? Both were continuations of previous amendments.
stands for decibels
September 30th, 2009
11:13 am
the law is stupid. georgia has the worlds dumbest govenor and legislators.
I really wish that were Jay’s lede this morning. But nooo, he’s always gotta show off his fancy book-learnin’.
FinnMcCool
September 30th, 2009
11:15 am
I suppose the sexting teenagers are getting thrown in the woods with the other sex offenders?
I guess everyone is happy in the end? Jeez.
Taxpayer
September 30th, 2009
11:17 am
Well, if it weren’t for sex offenders, we wouldn’t have no illegitimate children or abortions. So, they are the root of all these evils. Can I get a hallelujah.
Gandalf, the Wise
September 30th, 2009
11:18 am
Gandalf, the Wise
September 30th, 2009
11:20 am
Brad Steel! KISS is one of the greatest Rock Band, don’t you appreciate thier tunes? PLEASE!
USinUK
September 30th, 2009
11:20 am
dB, Paul and Finneus –
“Eventually we will see the folly of our ways, Paul, but I don’t see it happening anytime soon” and “I suppose the sexting teenagers are getting thrown in the woods with the other sex offenders?”
what it’s going to take to change the law is another high-profile case like GA had with Genarlow Wilson. it’s going to take parents (acting as a bloc) speaking up on behalf of their kids who have been caught up in this nightmare to change the law. (and, yes, it’s going to take some high-profile lilly-white teenagers to tug the heart-strings)
Taxpayer
September 30th, 2009
11:21 am
KISS called that stuff Rock. I called it Screeching Clowns.
Date the Save
September 30th, 2009
11:22 am
Come on, KISS has it’s place.
I Report/ Vast White Wing Conspirator (-: You Whine )-:
September 30th, 2009
11:22 am
The Islamic lunatics rape thirteen year old boys during their off duty time of pushing brick walls over onto homosexuals, so yeah, let’s attack the evil State of Georgia that makes perverts sleep under a bridge.
The target that won’t chop your head off.
Bosch
September 30th, 2009
11:23 am
Hehehe – don’t sell Vick a dog.
Finn,
Ya’ know – I think back to my teenage days and lord have mercy if there were cell phones with cameras. Oh, the trouble I would have gotten into – hell, I should be glad I ain’t living in the woods in a van down by the river!!
Hey Paul! I really po-ed someone today – did ya’ hear? Apparently I’m a liar
Taxpayer
September 30th, 2009
11:23 am
The publicized exploitations of children of some prominent Republican Georgia Legislators might lead to change even quicker than anything else.
USinUK
September 30th, 2009
11:24 am
“Come on, KISS has it’s place.”
yep. in the sale bin at WalMart …
USinUK
September 30th, 2009
11:25 am
whiner -
you tell ‘em!! because if there are bad things going on in islamic countries, we don’t HAVE to fix anything that’s broken here!!!
Bosch
September 30th, 2009
11:25 am
KISS is awesome.
Tom
September 30th, 2009
11:25 am
Bizarre. The South is heading backwards. Fat, ugly bodies with equally fat, ugly heads. Yup.