June 7th, 2011
A new law has just been passed in Texas that is sure to ruffle some feathers, particularly for social conservatives. Really it’s more of an amendment to existing law and I’m not sure where I stand on this one. It’s been nicknamed the Romeo and Juliet law. It basically lowers the age of consent for teenagers from eighteen to fifteen and protects the consensual partner from prosecution on statutory rape charges, through the age of nineteen. Here’s the upside: under the current law, anyone who had sex in high school or immediately out of school who happened to be at least eighteen and had sex with a younger student could be prosecuted and wind up on the state sex offender list indefinitely. Obviously, this precludes him or her from all kinds of work, and will follow the offender where ever they go. It also inflates the sex offender numbers making it difficult to distinguish a potential threat from someone who merely made a mistake as an adolescent.
We’ve all heard horror stories about young people being put on the state’s list, despite eventually marrying their “victims.” I don’t know how often that kind of thing happens, but I don’t deem anyone who had sex as an adolescent to be a threat to my loved ones. Of course many social conservatives (with whom I often agree mind you), will argue that this merely continues to make society more permissive. Now, I’m willing to be taken to task on this but, I really don’t think this legal change is going to result in increased promiscuity. How many teens are really holding off on sex due to the threat of prosecution? All the new law really does is highlight the unfortunate lais·sez-faireapproach to sexuality that is predominate in our society. It’s not government’s job to inculcate values into our families. An old governmental principle states that a leader should never make a law he is unable to enforce. That’s what the statutory rape laws had become, largely unenforceable. As I see it, all the state of Texas did, was make the law enforceable.
Tags: Adolescent, Age Of Consent, Feathers, Horror Stories, Lais, Mistake, Principle States, Promiscuity, Prosecution, Rape Charges, Romeo And Juliet, Romeo And Juliet Law, Romeo Juliet, Sex Numbers, Sex Offender List, Sex School, Sexuality, Social Conservatives, Statutory Rape Laws, Teenagers, Texas romeo and juliet law, Tyler Texas
Posted in Socio-Political Commentary | 2 Comments »
June 2nd, 2011
There really is no justice, even in East Texas. I’m referring of course to the guilty plea that allowed the rest of the Mineola pedophiles to be released on the grounds of time served. Excuse me but, there isn’t enough time! The report I read stated that judge Skeen and the prosecution didn’t have the heart to put the child victims through another round of excruciating testimony. This is a compelling argument to me. I can’t imagine having sit through the account myself, let alone live through it! What really sticks in my craw is that these worthless defendants are actually profiting by their horrific actions by holding the threat of telling their story over the heads of the children and their families, thereby abusing them all over again! I was not one of the Tylerites upset when the court brought rather severe sentences for the church arsonists last year. But it seems now that they were condemned by their defense’s inability to black mail the victims and their families with the threat of making them repeatedly relive their crimes. As I say, I understand the judge’s reasoning in this case, but it doesn’t make the result any easier to take.
The sickies who were released this past week, each pled guilty to third degree felony injury to a child in exchange for time served. The most recent releases were of Jamie Pittman, Patrick Kelly, and Rebecca Pittman on Friday, May 27th. As I understand it Shauntel Mayo and Jimmy Sones remain in Jail and Sheila Sones was released the day before the others. Only Dennis Pittman is serving time for his conviction, but of course he has appealed his decision. Check out the mug shots and remember the faces parents, once a pedophile always a pedophile. For their sakes, I certainly hope these defendants remain friends, because they’re not going to find any new ones in Tyler or East Texas.
Tags: Black Mail, Conviction, Craw, East Texas, Guilty Plea, Jamie Pittman, Mineola, Mineola sex ring, Mineola TX sex ring, Mug Shots, Patrick Kelly, Pedophile, Pedophiles, Prosecution, Sakes, Sentences, Serving Time, Sex Ring, Sheila, Sickies, Skeen, Third Degree Felony, Tyler Texas
Posted in Newspaper | No Comments »
The New “Romeo and Juliet” Law in Texas
June 7th, 2011A new law has just been passed in Texas that is sure to ruffle some feathers, particularly for social conservatives. Really it’s more of an amendment to existing law and I’m not sure where I stand on this one. It’s been nicknamed the Romeo and Juliet law. It basically lowers the age of consent for teenagers from eighteen to fifteen and protects the consensual partner from prosecution on statutory rape charges, through the age of nineteen. Here’s the upside: under the current law, anyone who had sex in high school or immediately out of school who happened to be at least eighteen and had sex with a younger student could be prosecuted and wind up on the state sex offender list indefinitely. Obviously, this precludes him or her from all kinds of work, and will follow the offender where ever they go. It also inflates the sex offender numbers making it difficult to distinguish a potential threat from someone who merely made a mistake as an adolescent.
We’ve all heard horror stories about young people being put on the state’s list, despite eventually marrying their “victims.” I don’t know how often that kind of thing happens, but I don’t deem anyone who had sex as an adolescent to be a threat to my loved ones. Of course many social conservatives (with whom I often agree mind you), will argue that this merely continues to make society more permissive. Now, I’m willing to be taken to task on this but, I really don’t think this legal change is going to result in increased promiscuity. How many teens are really holding off on sex due to the threat of prosecution? All the new law really does is highlight the unfortunate lais·sez-faireapproach to sexuality that is predominate in our society. It’s not government’s job to inculcate values into our families. An old governmental principle states that a leader should never make a law he is unable to enforce. That’s what the statutory rape laws had become, largely unenforceable. As I see it, all the state of Texas did, was make the law enforceable.
Tags: Adolescent, Age Of Consent, Feathers, Horror Stories, Lais, Mistake, Principle States, Promiscuity, Prosecution, Rape Charges, Romeo And Juliet, Romeo And Juliet Law, Romeo Juliet, Sex Numbers, Sex Offender List, Sex School, Sexuality, Social Conservatives, Statutory Rape Laws, Teenagers, Texas romeo and juliet law, Tyler Texas
Posted in Socio-Political Commentary | 2 Comments »