AL: SPLC sues Alabama officials for overly severe sex-offender law that punishes children for life

Admin

____ ____ met ____ ____ when their mutual friends introduced them at a local skating rink. He was 14 and she was 12.

Over time, the two became a young couple, going out on movie dates, hanging out with friends at each other’s houses, and attending school dances together.

Eventually, the high school sweethearts got married, bought a house, and had three children. They’ve been married now for 20 years.

But this otherwise happy love story has a sad twist: When Herbert was 17 and Candi was 15, her mother – on the advice of her stepfather, who did not approve of the budding relationship – called police and had Herbert arrested for statutory rape.

Under an extremely restrictive Alabama state law that does not recognize the teen romance, Herbert was tried and convicted – as an adult – of second-degree rape because Candi was also a minor.

The arrest led Herbert down a spiral of legal consequences that landed him in prison for over 15 years and forced him to register as a sex offender. Full Article

Related

Alabama Sex Offender Registry Is Cruel and Unusual Punishment for Teenagers, Lawsuit Argues

https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/2019/09/19/splc-challenges-alabama-sex-offender-registry-law-southern-poverty-law-center/2356232001/

Related posts

Subscribe
Notify of

We welcome a lively discussion with all view points - keeping in mind...

 

  1. Your submission will be reviewed by one of our volunteer moderators. Moderating decisions may be subjective.
  2. Please keep the tone of your comment civil and courteous. This is a public forum.
  3. Swear words should be starred out such as f*k and s*t and a**
  4. Please avoid the use of derogatory labels.  Use person-first language.
  5. Please stay on topic - both in terms of the organization in general and this post in particular.
  6. Please refrain from general political statements in (dis)favor of one of the major parties or their representatives.
  7. Please take personal conversations off this forum.
  8. We will not publish any comments advocating for violent or any illegal action.
  9. We cannot connect participants privately - feel free to leave your contact info here. You may want to create a new / free, readily available email address that are not personally identifiable.
  10. Please refrain from copying and pasting repetitive and lengthy amounts of text.
  11. Please do not post in all Caps.
  12. If you wish to link to a serious and relevant media article, legitimate advocacy group or other pertinent web site / document, please provide the full link. No abbreviated / obfuscated links. Posts that include a URL may take considerably longer to be approved.
  13. We suggest to compose lengthy comments in a desktop text editor and copy and paste them into the comment form
  14. We will not publish any posts containing any names not mentioned in the original article.
  15. Please choose a short user name that does not contain links to other web sites or identify real people.  Do not use your real name.
  16. Please do not solicit funds
  17. No discussions about weapons
  18. If you use any abbreviation such as Failure To Register (FTR), Person Forced to Register (PFR) or any others, the first time you use it in a thread, please expand it for new people to better understand.
  19. All commenters are required to provide a real email address where we can contact them.  It will not be displayed on the site.
  20. Please send any input regarding moderation or other website issues via email to moderator [at] all4consolaws [dot] org
  21. We no longer post articles about arrests or accusations, only selected convictions. If your comment contains a link to an arrest or accusation article we will not approve your comment.
  22. If addressing another commenter, please address them by exactly their full display name, do not modify their name. 
ACSOL, including but not limited to its board members and agents, does not provide legal advice on this website.  In addition, ACSOL warns that those who provide comments on this website may or may not be legal professionals on whose advice one can reasonably rely.  
 

10 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

We all know who runs that state and passes those outrageously unconstitutional laws. Just the latest example of white, conservative, evangelical “christian” assho**s and their vindictive social policy based purely on fear, racism, and homophobia. Nothing worse than right-wing self-righteous “christian” assholes in places like Alabama!

I am very grateful that the SPLC has filed suit. They are a high-powered group with resources and very savvy lawyers. I wish them great success.

0
Reply
View Replies (6)

It was the stepfather who encouraged this on the mother…. Encouraged how? Tried the kid as an adult but “By law, children are unable to vote, drive, buy alcohol or purchase cigarettes because they are not psychologically developed enough to understand the consequences of their decisions.” So, was he mentally competent to stand trial as an adult while a child at 17? This goes to what @Will Allen said earlier about tried as an adult while a child…. Cake and eat it.

0
Reply

What I would like to know, if Alabama does not recognize teen romance, then why were they not both culpable, and she also charged? This dude should of been suing Alabama into the ground on basis of the 14th Amendment equal protection clause, and demanding his conviction be overturned.

0
Reply

This story exemplifies how we life in INSANE times.

0
Reply