Child sex offenders! Has the world gone crazy?

Question

In a case from Oregon, two 13 year old boys who engaged in slapping other students' butts are being charged with sex crimes which would require them to register as sex offenders.

Below is the link to the really long story, if you wish to read all or part of it.

My question: what kind of nonsense is this society engaging in that what was once a school matter now a criminal matter that can affect these young teens the rest of their lives? I just shake my head.

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1185040507206380.xml&coll=7&thispage=6

The DA, innundated by media calls, backtracked Monday and said the boys will not do jail time or have to register. Still the case exists.

A list of the media that has come calling is long and reputable, including CNN, USA Today (which has already done a story) and other media outlets.

Answer 1

That's the problem with the "sex offender" label.

It's a huge broad category of offenses, including the ones you list above, and things like urinating in public or getting caught skinnydipping.

Answer 2

Do I think it’s a shame that these kids are going to be ‘marked’ for life because of this and that their parents may go broke paying legal expenses? Absolutely. I think they are taking it to the extreme.

However, I can’t help but wonder this---how were these children raised that they thought it was okay to slap girls’ butts and ‘poke them in the breast’?

I have a 13-year-old son and you darn well better believe he knows better than that. Any 13-year-old knows better, or at least they should. This is not a case of an ‘accident’, they deliberately did it. Numerous times.

But again, I do think there was a better way of dealing with this. And I don't mean a simple 'talking to'. I mean being suspended from school (I wouldn't want my 13-year-old daughter in the room with them), be ordered to obtain counseling, being closely monitored, etc.

Answer 3

While this is a grey area, the extreme cases where this was done cross some serious societal boundaries... These are not 'children' misbehaving on the playground. Read the entire article. It's unlikely these boys will get the stiffest penalty available, but obviously it was a much more complicated issue then the usual.

Answer 4

I know what would have happened if they slapped my daughters butt like that. She would have knocked them out! I think the courts up there need to realize that this was stupid kid behavior, and at this point, a good talking to those boys about why what they did was wrong would be enough. They should be monitored, though. Charging them with a sex crime is far too severe a punishment.

Answer 5

If the parents pressed charges then the boys have more choice but to accept it and deal with it. What they did was offensive and the laws are strict but the like that so they don't rape anyone when they get older. There was a boy in MD who was 17 raped three boys when was 16 and only served 6 months and got out. He doesn't have to register and that's crazy. It isn't right especially since he was their babysitter. That is crazy but the laws are ifferent here.

Answer 6

this is just another absurd deal we will haft to learn to live with as out nation becomes a police state, it has become so rigid and unrelenting that we will all see the time we won't have any freedom period, I am not saying it is something I would want to do,run down a hall hitting girls on the butt, but just how much harm did it do? did it do enough harm to compensate ruining 2 boys lives? I know it was kind of dumb, but, have we not all did dumb things? I read one part where some of the girls needed counseling because of this? it would seem they needed counseling before this, just how fragile are we to make our kids ?don't we need to teach them to live and let live? and to roll with the punches? maybe we need to have the police and some parents seek counseling, how long will it be before we come to the point where it will be a sexual crime to smile at the oppisite sex? don't you people see what is happening we are going to lose every freedom our forefathers fought for, and we are doing it to our selves,

Answer 7

I think it's ridiculous to treat these kids as sex offenders. It takes away from the seriousness of the real sex crimes committed against children. Such a registry should be for the true offenders, these kids need discipline, not their lives ruined forever.

Answer 8

What a lot of BS they should be punished for swatting/hitting but this punishment is extreme. I remember about 14 years ago when a first grader was punished for sexual harassment when he kissed a little girl on the cheek.

Answer 9

Well, if it is treated as a school matter, and then they grow up and think that what they have done is not illegal, then the school system has failed them.

Those two boys committed a crime. In this day and age, the law is pretty definite on what is considered breaking the law. My parents would have killed me if I had done something even remotely close to this. Where were their parents? Where was the teaching of respecting others? What they did was not respect - it was errogance.

They deserve what they get. Sorry if you don't agree. These two boys, if they are not held accountable, will grow up to be rapists, abusive, or even sexual harrassers in the workplace. They need to be stopped, and the earlier, the better.

Answer 10

hahahaha... That's messed up.


..And they let child molesters out of prison on parole, yet they freak out at kids just horsing around. The world is going to Hell and no one's paying attention because they're too wrapped up in the "appropriate behavior" of children, that's what's happening :)