What is this Judge really saying about the sex offender registry?

[Glass]

What do you think this judge is saying about the sex offender registry? I'd like to hear your thoughts.


Judge laments rigid sex-register laws

A judge has described the inevitable registration of a young man on the sex offender's register as "a travesty".

Judge Lisa Hannan said today that because of a lack of judicial discretion in the relevant act, she would be forced make an order which was unjust.

The County Court judge made the comments during the plea hearing of 20-year-old Mitchell John Neville Blake, an army soldier, who pleaded guilty to four counts of sexual penetration of a child under 16.

Prosecutor Diana Manova told the court that Blake, then 19, and an army colleague went from the Puckapunyal army base, where they were stationed, to a party in Malmsbury in April last year.

She said Blake met two girls, aged 15 and 14, there and the three of them joined a group that went back to a friend's house in Castlemaine.

While Blake and the two victims lay on a mattress, he twice sexually penetrated each.

Ms Manova said that only one of the girls had made a statement to police - the other, she said, had refused.

The court was told that both victims were willing participants in the sexual activity.

Blake was co-operative with police and made full admissions when interviewed days after the party, she said.
Full article @ the Age (http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/judge-laments-rigid-sexregister-laws-20110819-1j1d2.html#ixzz1VRtKNDYu)

[vacuum]

I guess that guy is pretty much screwed over for the rest of his life for doing something that was almost legal in the country he did it in.

[Glass]

children cannot consent to anything. If they are 14, 15, 16, 17 they can't consent. At 18 they can. Neither were consenting. One was apparently willing. The others attitude will remain unknown.

Perhaps I should have made the title "What is this Judge really saying about sex offending against minors?"

[vacuum]

I still think the country and culture that this type of thing occurs in cannot be ignored. A "child" in one country or culture may be an "adult" in another one. And it may really be true - people grow up faster in certain cultures for various reasons. Those specific ages you reference may apply to American culture and law, but this occurred in another country.

So your definition on ages is either determined by you, by the government, by culture, or by nature. Three out of four of those things don't support the 18 number you reference here.

And no, I don't necessarily agree with what happened here. But what if it was normal for them to engage in this activity?

[vacuum]

I admit though, it would have to be a pretty corrupt culture for this to be normal.

[Nomoss]

I admit though, it would have to be a pretty corrupt culture for this to be normal.

If I may ask.. WHY do you say what you say?

[vacuum]

If I may ask.. WHY do you say what you say?
Because 14 is too young to be having one-night stands. Its not an "equitable" thing for the girl in this case (what's being given up vs what is being received). And my comment meant that if this was equitable, then that would mean what she would be giving up would be considered to be worth almost nothing - hence the conclusion of corrupt society.

[Joe King]

What do you think this judge is saying about the sex offender registry? I'd like to hear your thoughts.

I think that the Judge is saying that she believes those two girls got exactly what they'd bargained for.

[iOWNme]

Judge Lisa Hannan said today that because of a lack of judicial discretion in the relevant act, she would be forced make an order which was unjust.CLASSIC.

Who is forcing you? Justice is defined by the Government being restricted to doing only what we would allow another citizen to do. Would we allow a random citizen to do this? NO.

To convict takes an injury to a person. There was NO INJURED party here, except for the Communist STATE that this Judge decided to work for.

The Communist STATE has somehow suffered an injury here.

If she TRULY knew the right thing to do, she would have dropped the case.

[Son-of-Liberty]

If the judge has a problem with it she should cut the guy some slack. If he was 35 and not 19 this would be a different situation.

[Cebu_4_2]

Age of consent in most states is 16 if they drive to you. 15 is age in the south with parental permission. The laws are pretty gray and leaves it up to interpretation. Sodomy is illegal in a lot of states and so is spitting on the sidewalk. No clue what the laws are in the country they targeted here.

[7th trump]

I have to say something about this issue of under age consent.
The guy is innnocent, no wrong doing as far as I'm concerned.
Just because the "state" says 18 is the legal age....................legal age of what, where and why?
It used to be in the early days of this country there was no legal age of 18.
It used to be a girl became a women when her body became capable of child birth (Gods natural law). Back in the 1800's what we call a girl today were married and started to have children at age 16 and younger at a time man didnt intervene to replace Gods law with mans law.

As for mans law, if this guy is punished then so should the under age consenting "girls".

[dys]

I have to say something about this issue of under age consent.
The guy is innnocent, no wrong doing as far as I'm concerned.
Just because the "state" says 18 is the legal age....................legal age of what, where and why?
It used to be in the early days of this country there was no legal age of 18.
It used to be a girl became a women when her body became capable of child birth (Gods natural law). Back in the 1800's what we call a girl today were married and started to have children at age 16 and younger at a time man didnt intervene to replace Gods law with mans law.

As for mans law, if this guy is punished then so should the under age consenting "girls".

Wow, the world must really be ending because I actually agree with you on this.

dys

[Santa]

It's amazing to think it's perfectly acceptable for that same 19 year old to shoot, blow up or slit the throats of 14 and 15 year old girls in foreign lands, but it's a crime to have consensual sex with them.

[midnight rambler]

A girl I used to date (when she was 20 and divorced) got married at 14 and had a baby in that marriage at 16 (as in she didn't 'have' to get married). When she got married at 14 her father had been a Sheriff of a west Texas county for 21 years.

[Twisted Titan]

The Babelonian Talmud teaches that young girls under the age of Three can be used for sexual pleasure because after each assualt her virginity returns to her.

True Story

[TheNocturnalEgyptian]

children cannot consent to anything. If they are 14, 15, 16, 17 they can't consent. At 18 they can. Neither were consenting. One was apparently willing. The others attitude will remain unknown.

Perhaps I should have made the title "What is this Judge really saying about sex offending against minors?"


By that same logic, consent is merely a matter of law and not morality.

[k-os]

I have to say something about this issue of under age consent.
The guy is innnocent, no wrong doing as far as I'm concerned.
Just because the "state" says 18 is the legal age....................legal age of what, where and why?
It used to be in the early days of this country there was no legal age of 18.
It used to be a girl became a women when her body became capable of child birth (Gods natural law). Back in the 1800's what we call a girl today were married and started to have children at age 16 and younger at a time man didnt intervene to replace Gods law with mans law.

As for mans law, if this guy is punished then so should the under age consenting "girls".

I agree. The strict dividing lines is the problem with some of our laws.

You can be deemed a sexual offender for life, with all the hassles (and possible danger) that brings with it, for urinating in a public space. Can you imagine? I am not an advocate for public urination, but I've done it when necessary.

I also messed with a 19 year old boy when I was 15. It may not have been the wisest thing to do, when conveniently looking back with my mature eyes, but I was not a "victim" either. I will say, though, that I have met very "young" 15 year old kids, even 19 year kids that should/would not be engaging in sexual activities.

If the judge does not have discretion to consider the intent of the girls, or whether anyone was harmed, then what is the judge for in this case?