Treating a teenager having consensual sex with another as if they were unchangeable predatory sex perverts is soul destroying, self defeating and simply cruel. Saying what their hormone overproducing bodies is telling them they should do is criminal is nearly on the level of Islamic courts sentencing a girl to death because was raped. She had sex with someone other than her husband, so no matter the circumstances, max penalty time. Sex is good and healthy. But we treat it as if it’s evil and want to punish it even when no malice is present as you have in the true pedophile. How middle ages.
The problem, of course, is determining if it is consensual, overcoming the conservative’s urge to fight against pleasure, and doing things to discourage unwanted babies and STDs. Proper punishments or lessons become impossible when mandatory sentencing laws take discretion out of the court’s hands.
After teen sex ruling, he’s a free man
Genarlow Wilson — the young man imprisoned for committing a consensual sex act who became, for many, an example of an inequitable criminal justice system — was released from prison Friday after his conviction was overturned by Georgia’s Supreme Court.
In 2005, Wilson was convicted of aggravated child molestation for having oral sex with a 15-year-old girl when he was 17. He was sentenced to 10 years without parole, the mandatory minimum under Georgia law at the time.
But the state’s high court, in a 4-3 decision, found that the sentence amounted to “cruel and unusual punishment.”
Wilson’s case also highlighted the increasingly strict sex-offender laws that have become common in Georgia and other states. If his conviction had been upheld, Wilson would have had to register as a sex offender upon his release.
[…]
Wilson’s release gave hope to critics of such laws that legislators across the country will be more careful about enacting sex-crime laws.
Sears added that Wilson’s case “does not rise to the level of culpability of adults who prey on children and that, for the law to punish Wilson as it would an adult, with the extraordinarily harsh punishment of 10 years in prison without the possibility of probation or parole, appears to be grossly disproportionate to his crime.”
“does not rise to the level of culpability of adults who prey on children and that, for the law to punish Wilson as it would an adult, with the extraordinarily harsh punishment of 10 years in prison without the possibility of probation or parole, appears to be grossly disproportionate to his crime.”
Not that I’m not celebrating some form of sanity finally coming into this case – I am – but with Genarlow having been only months away from being considered an adult in the eyes of the law, it would have been that much worse had he been 18? It’s not like they punish an adult as a juvenile under any circumstances I’ve heard of. I realize that’s only my gloomy interpretation, and not necessarily the intent of the Chief Justice when she made that statement. That, and I find the fact that 3 judges were perfectly willing to uphold the prior judgment discouraging.
That, and I find the fact that 3 judges were perfectly willing to uphold the prior judgment discouraging.
What, you want them to legislate from the bench? 🙂 More seriously, for them to do otherwise would have been a classic case of doing just that.
The sick part in this is that in most cases the girl is just as guilty, in some cases she is the aggressor…yet the girl’s parents are almost always the ones who call law enforcement.
FWIW I was on a committee at my kids’ school who located a video that explains our state laws to all 8th graders (to get at the girls in most of these cases) as well as all 10th graders (to get the 16 year-old boys in most of these cases). It’s an in-you-face video with real kids as actors…so far there have been no cases such as this one in our community since we started showing the video. I hope that means they are having sex less, but there’s no way to really know.
Wilson’s release gave hope to critics of such laws that legislators across the country will be more careful about enacting sex-crime laws.
I seriously doubt that will happen. As has been shown so often just on this blog, fear of criminals and exacting revenge is way too rampant for politicians to ignore. I am more than confident they will continue to pass stricter and stricter laws with more severe punishments as time goes on. Anyone remember Willie Horton?
“More seriously, for them to do otherwise would have been a classic case of doing just that.”
Olo,
Is it not possible to throw out the specific law as unconstitutional? If the law resulted in a punishment that was “cruel and unusual punishment,” then the state supreme court does still have that ability, right? This would then force the state legislature to put forth a new law? And the 3 judges upholding the earlier judgment is still discouraging – as they don’t consider it “cruel and unusual punishment.” I could have that totally wrong – as law isn’t my strong point.
Georgia has one of the most corrupt court systems in the USA ( And that’s going a bit! ) and Douglas County where the case started, is filled with the kind of lead headed, fascist pricks that would make Boss Hogg and Hazard County look like commie pinkos. This state sucks the galactic core. I’m a native, and for the last half century I’ve watched it go down hill. I’m astounded that they let him out. I figured those good ole boy judges would have slammed the door and threw away the key on this kid. oh, well, the other 99% of these kind of cases that don’t get any of the spotlight shown glaringly on them will make up for it I guess. The rule of thumb for Georgia, is DON’T move to a county that just built a new big jail that they need to fill if you have any minor illegal vices.
“The problem, of course, is determining if it is consensual, overcoming the conservative’s urge to fight against pleasure, and doing things to discourage unwanted babies and STDs.”
It’s those wanted STDs you have to look out for.
Jamie…I’m not a lawyer nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, so you may be correct. And, or, maybe #5 is right too: they’re just a bunch of pricks avoiding controversy.
As someone who used to live next to Georgia, I can say without doubt that if this young man had been white, this would have never happened. I’m not one to point towards racism in everything, not hardly, but Georgia and Mississippi are the dark, twisted exceptions. Otherwise, sex offender laws are getting pretty stupid in general; public urination is enough to ruin your life with these laws in many states, and while that might be crude it is ridiculous (not to mention cruel) to force people to live in very limited places and be monitored continuously for relieving themselves in the way that all of their ancestors did before them. People should be freed after they have paid their price to society, period; if you believe these people should be punished forever, then rail for life imprisonment or the death penalty; at least then you would be honest, and we would avoid the creation of third class citizens.
#2, Oh, they’re still having sex. They’re just making sure that absolutely nobody (including family doctors) knows about it.
The legislature passed a law changing the punishment, and said specifically that this did not apply to previous cases already in the courts. The court decided to ignore that and let him free. By the way, the consensual part is somewhat in dispute.
They have the same idiocy in Wisconsin.
Anyone under what the law calls legal age of consent having any kind of consent is literally referred to as a rapist. Having sex with your girlfriend? You’re raping her and she’s also raping you for allowing it to happen.
Boy of 17 had sex *before* the law went into effect and when he turned 18 and she was still 17 and they were at the obstetrician, they were charged. The DA in another county claimed on TV that the law was just, and it was great that both would be acknowledged publically, for all time, as sexual predators wherever in the US they went.
Interesting thought…
99.99% of babies born DONT have a STD.
If 2 willing persons, in their teens, wish to have sex…And an STD infects 1 or both…doesnt that SAY, that an ADULT did something to a younger person?? THATS the person you wish to trace…back to the OLD man that DID it in the first place.
While I certainly don’t agree with the sentence, reading this story reminds me that the phrase “cruel and unusual” has become trite.
#13 – Underage guy gets 10 years for sharing a consensual sex act with an underage girl.
What is “kind and typical” about that?
#10 Mental MikeN
The legislature passed a law changing the punishment, and said specifically that this did not apply to previous cases already in the courts.
Bull.
The legislature enacted a new law making it a misdemeanor. They did not make it retroactive though. That is far different than specifically barring or excluding a case.
It is because the new law is not retroactive the Georgia Supreme Court found it to be “cruel and unusual punishment”.
#10, Mental MikeN,
By the way, the consensual part is somewhat in dispute.
More bull
The consensual part was NEVER in dispute. The girl’s mother in fact backed the appeal and never asked for the charges to be brought in the first place. Someone had video taped the encounter and that was used as evidence.
Good phuk mental midget. Don’t you ever get your information from someone other than Bumsrush Limberger or Bullshit O’Reilly?
CHILDREN ARE STUPID, DUMBASS, CAN’T WIPE THEIR OWN ASSES, EASY TO MANIPULATE, VULNERABLE LUMPS OF FLESH!!! That’s why we have to make sure the goverment implement all these draconian laws so the parent won’t have to bother raising their kids and then pretend they are the parents of the century so everyone will praise how good are they at “taking care” of their children.
#14, Whether or not you feel the period of the penalty was excessive, this is absolutely no comparison to being drawn and quartered, or tarred and feathered, or any of the punishments that actually would have been considered “cruel and unusual” when the Constitution was written… since it’s in reference to that document that we like to throw the phrase out.
If the Flying Spaghetti Monster ever decides to reincarnate me and someone names me Genarlow, you all have my permission to take my life? BTW, where was Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson? They should have been all over this.
In England, drawing and quartering was a punishment for treason, not a blowjob.
That sucked.
#20, and here you can still be executed for it. The difference is that we aren’t going to chop up your body and put the pieces on display around the country as a warning to others. That’s where the distinction of “cruel and unusual” lies. Being put placed in confinement bears absolutely no comparison.
Mr Ketchup,
They didn’t make the law retroactive. Now they’re passing this law in response to this case is not in dispute, and then not making it retroactive would of course mean they are excluding this case. The issue came up, and they even tried to make it retroactive later on, but it didn’t pass. Part of this has to do with the DA distributing evidence to reporters, particaularly a videotape taken of the acts in question.
Let me be clearer about the consent being in dispute. There were two charges against Wilson, and a number of guys involved. There was another girl involved, who was drunk or drugged and Wilson had sex with her. She woke up later and afterwards claimed rape. Wilson was acquitted on this rape charge.
It was this tape that basically set the tone for the jury throwing the book at him. The other guys all took plea deals.