URBANA — A 24-year-old woman who admitted having sex with a teenage boy for whom she acted as a teaching assistant has been sentenced to four years of probation.
Judge Roger Webber said Friday he did not believe Allyssa Gustafson, who had no prior criminal convictions, was a danger to the public.
However, he said the requirement that she register as a sex offender for life — “the modern-day equivalent of the scarlet letter” — would serve to punish her.
It appears a judge in IL has finally called a spade a spade: in sentencing a woman, “he said the requirement that she register as a sex offender for life — “the modern-day equivalent of the scarlet letter” — would serve to punish her.” Ahh, there’s that word punishment thrown in for good measure, too.
“Not a danger to society,” but we are going to put you on a list that states you are a danger to society, because it will label you as such, scarlet letter, for the rest of your life. That is your punishment.
Instead we could give you a year in jail, with probation, mandate treatment, and give you 5 years on the list while on probation. When its all well and done, we will take you off the list because you have demonstrated that you are not a danger to society, as we already suspected.
1) Good on the judge for realizing this. Smart of them. Another one who can be referred to. Will they be non-selected for cases like this as others in IL have via the DA office?
2) They obviously read the assessment she provided and took that into account but I wonder if there’s more to the judgement given she’s a young mom of two. Given this judgement, will this be precedent for others who offend the same? A lot peeps have the same support networks at home.
3) Will teacher credentialing college programs now teach the legal ramifications to their students of misdeeds such as this (if they didnt)? Surely she is blacklisted from teaching ever again.
Something seems lenient about this case. Do I smell a double standard?
Probation for sexual activity where the female adult is considered culpable?
If the genders & ages were reversed between the two, probation would’ve been prison.
Here are some other links to similar crimes in the state of Illinois. I live right across Illinois’ northern border.
https://www.mystateline.com/news/local-news/rockford-diocese-names-6-priests-accused-of-sexual-abuse/
https://www.mystateline.com/news/local-news/rockford-man-sentenced-to-14-years-for-child-rape/
https://www.mystateline.com/news/local-news/machesney-park-man-sentenced-to-6-years-for-child-pornography/
WOW>>>>>>>> if this was a man he would be gone for years, or that judge would be recalled for the light sentence!!!!! I talked to a girl online I got 5 years in prison………
The ruling in this case is of keen interest to me on two levels: 1) The circular logical-double speak of the judge to declare that the person who is not a danger to society will be tarnished and punished for life on the registry fires up my fuel tanks even more than they were, which I didn’t deem possible; 2) I was a high school English teacher when my crime occurred. My gender is male and I dated a seventeen year old female student. The issue was not age, as she was of legal age in my former State. However, my role as an educator in the same district in which she was a student was at the crux of my conviction. Again, her age was not a discerning factor; had I been an educator in a different district from where she was a student, there would have been no crime committed regarding our relationship. That’s not my opinion, that’s pure fact. But, a crime was committed. I had never been at odds with the law and had a stellar twenty-year record as a teacher/coach. But, once the charges were formalized I became just another randy teacher whose existence was solely built upon my objective to groom victims. I took a plea deal and received a prison sentence of ten years suspended after three years; fifteen years of probation; and ten years on the registry. (My former State has a tiered system: ten years, twenty years, life.) I have little doubt that gender played a role in the overall sentencing, especially when I have examined a number of cases presided over by the same judge. In the end, my goal is to fight the injustices brought to all Registrants. However, it’s infuriating when the there is such a cavernous chasm between genders, regarding sentences. I have no ill-will towards the defendant in the case out of Illinois and wish her well towards reconstructing her life. Rulings like this one demonstrate the lunacy that we all face in trying to deconstruct senseless laws so that they can be replaced with reasonable justice. Thank you for listening (reading).
The judge’s determination that the defendant in this case is not a threat appears contrary to the legislature’s (politically motivated) determination that ALL individuals charged (not convicted, simply charged) with illegal sex acts are a graver threat to society than a nuclear attack. I’m surprised the state isn’t making a bigger deal out of this.
The gender difference is certainly clear. I’m sure the victim in this case is a victim only by legal definition. Likely, he was thrilled about the encounters, was praised by his friends, and certainly not “scarred for life” as victim advocates (who are/will be curiously silent on this particular case) would have people believe.
I think her sentence was perfectly appropriate, less inclusion on the registry which shouldn’t exist at all. I am still infuriated about men in similar circumstances – contact with willing though underage, POST-PUBESCENT partners – receive sentences that are grossly excessive. Absent violence or threats of it, confinement until a consenting “victim” reaches the age of consent is perfectly fair regardless of what parents think (speaking as a parent).
Apparently, the reasoning is that teenage boys are capable of deciding whether or not to have sex but teenage girls are not. I would think the women’s equality movement would have a problem with that line of thinking, but I’ve never seen any indication of it.
So, if the Judge himself says ““The public doesn’t need to be protected from her…”, then the purposes of her being required to register at the sex offender are, indeed, ENTIRELY punitive!
If a female sleeps with a 14 year old boy American Society eats it up like candy it’ll become a Lifetime movie or a crime series or a documentary called “sex lies and scandals” but If the situation was flipped and a male teacher was sleeping with the female student he would be label horrible monster a Predator manipulator narcissist a Satanist who is a threat to the community LMAO hypocrites
Good luck
I am thrilled at what the judge said about the registry being punishment.
But on the other hand if this were a male at this same age being the offender and he had a male or female victim we know he would have been sentenced to at least a decade in prison followed by some type of supervision.
Feminism goes out the window when it comes to sex crimes. Women can say a young boy looks cute and not a peep, while a guy could say the same to a young girl and he’s a creep. I know that genders aren’t equal biologically; yet they both are intimate human beings. Hypocrisy of the double standard of genders when it comes to sex in general. America the land of tyranny and run by insane self centered evil people. Good job Americans for looking out for future generations.
I too am happy regarding the judge’s reference to punishment and the cognitive dissonance required to claim someone is no danger and then place them on the registry. That just points to the absurdity in these laws, and may be of some small help in future legal fights.
There is a definite gender bias in society and the law regarding sexuality. I disagree with any distinctions explicitly in the law or implicitly in sentencing. Even though this legal distinction isn’t rational, there is a reason for it and for it being nearly universal through history and across societies. I’m making this observation as someone who is trained neither in psychology nor anthropology. So I suggest more than a grain of salt.
When a woman becomes pregnant, how certain is she that the child is hers? A man’s certainty can not be complete but depends on trust or chastity belts. Evolutionary, everyone is concerned with sending their genes forward. From that standpoint, energy spent raising a child that is not yours is genetically wasted. So the tendency to accept—even encourage— promiscuity among men but to value female virginity and chastity is not entirely unreasonable.
Since I’ve seriously veered off topic, I’ll just say that we need to use our much vaunted forebrains to craft legal systems that value equality in justice over our monkey-brain emotional reactions.
Veritas.
Good, this is very good. A judge that actually called out what the SOR is. A scarlet letter, punishment, and an offender who is NOT a threat to society. This, may be, perhaps the only way to hasten the destruction of the SOR…..call out what the SOR is in their sentencing. If I were a judge, and I believed that a law was a direct violation of the constitution, but could not voice my opinion for fear of retaliation from the public, this is what I would do also. Perhaps this is a strategy that this judge, and maybe other judges will hopefully use going forward.
How horrible it is to have to have my entire career threatened for going against public opinion, for the greater good of the public. I couldn’t imagine what the judges, prosecutors, police, and attorneys had to go through in order to start eliminating the Jim Crow laws back in the day. Fear of losing their careers, fear of public retaliation, for their families and personal safety. Terrible !!
Regardless if you pee standing up or sitting down we all should unite together. If we can’t support each other we don’t have a pot to piss in.
While I didn’t really want to comment on this article here goes.With this little article about this lady being ostrisize with this registry label it seems everybody on here wants to be the next Clarence Darrow in this monkey trial. One wonders were the data is on that?
Is this registry a men’s and boys club of punitive danage as David said or rotten tomattoes as your computer jargon goes. One even wonders if they even thought of a computer in “Death of a salesman or To kill a mockingbird. One wonders if the old saying “you reap what you sow” means anything today in this boys and girls club to catch a predator or who is perverting justice.
Now so far on here we haven’t heard from a woman’s view on this but I’m sure any mother wouldn’t approve of their daughter doing this or the mother of the boy wanting to sue the school. See when money is involved it changes the whole game in many ways. Even David with his punitive view is a bit dense. So who is abusing who in this tabloid news of shaming.
Hey does anyone see the main point of this whole issue. She confessed. In other words she fessed up to her wrong doing which was the right thing to do or are women just as bad as men.
While this is one form of a registry were the roles are reversed and the women is the agressor and not the man, is one back to square one in this registry type of justice or injustice as some on here view.
Yes this ordeal was a physical encounter. So are their more physical encounters in this sex registry than verbal internet encounters. Even ships warn other ships before they bomb them or who deceives who in much of these encounters and yes we all have laws and truth but who know’sthe though and intent of another. Look that up in yoru computer “Bible”i’m sure you”ll find the answer.
Now Janice has given this unusual example of this girl and the question is or should be who is abusing who or who is trying to cover up.
I’M a hypocrite because of the double standard? Oh really! It’s because of the “one size fits all approach” that has everyone in a mess to begin with! You don’t think there should be different standards that everyone should be individually assessed? You want to look at a hypocrite, take a long look in the mirror.
Yes I have some misandry because over the past 8 years I have been reading and commenting to this site, I’ve seen a heck of a lot of misogyny. So much that other female RCs were chased away from this forum due to one individual’s comment about how she was worse because she was a female. I’ve read a lot of hate towards women about the implementation of the registry. Yet you all forget WHO ARE THE ONES FIGHTING THE REGISTRY? Women are. I make no apologies for my statements and I stand by them.
As for your incorrect conclusions about my convictions, you have no idea what it entailed or what my status was. Yes I am female. Yes, I had to register. I was also NEVER publicly listed. I also have an expunged misdemeanor, and I was removed from the registry two weeks ago! So there really is no reason for me to make an excuse. Likewise, NOT ONCE had I ever judged anyone for their offenses. EVER.
My interest is in helping other women who are on the registry. Plenty of folks on here have a specific focus. Some focus on juveniles on the registry. Some focus on those with expunged records. Others focus on people with non-contact offenses. So how is my focus on helping women so bad.
If you think I’ve lost all credibility, fine, I don’t need to come back on here. I have already been relieved of the duty to register. I’m no longer an RC. However, I had refused to be one of those to just turn my back on those who are still struggling. But if that’s how you all feel about my opinion and my focus, then there’s no reason for me to make any more efforts to end the registry. You’re on your own.
@NPS
Don’t let these bitter people discouraged you everybody in America are entitled to their own opinion 75% of the people on here are teir3 sex offenders they’re very angry and bitter and dont want to see anyone go free because misery loves company they literally despise any registrant who has been relieved of their duty to register or will be relieved of their duty to register because they are lifers labeled SVP’S and I truly feel sorry for them .
Good luck
@ dm and all you guys chill out a bit thats enough ok or did many think before one got involved or even texted or send dirty pictures in all this? So who’s trying who’s spirit. Theirs your if a man thinkest senerio. NPS I’m glad you came out of the woods to speak up. Yes women are saved in childbirth. In a way one could say is this whole registry a double standard. Is it really a double standard or would one want to actually say who’s putting who in double jeapordy in many cases.
Actually since Janice brought this article to our attention there is something positive in this article that some should understand. I know this one size fits all seems to be the norm on here but we all have a thorn in the flesh as pointed out on here or whos’ playing with dolls.
NPS you are right and yes many can use a hypocrite stance of many that view women but the word hypocrite was used to say to authorities they are a bit above teaching with their double standards or double talk and thus…. I’m only doing my job. Sure one can get involved in much of this registry but how does this double standard show love in many of these situations of a deceptive nature. Yes we can all get stressed out and yes many are stressed out Even many on here couldn’t get or comprend the main point that she ( this lady) fessed up and told the truth which is commendable.
This women didn’t kill anyone as a Bonnie parker or Clyde duo in this virginity robbery if one may say that. Myself its even hard for me at times to understand many of these views on here and their is nothing wrong with a bit of christian understanding and yes forgiveness goes a long ways in this tresspassing endeavor in many of these vain operations.
I’ve even given a glimps of my story in text on here to help encourage others to take a stand and yes I have been slapped on the right cheek but we are to turn the other cheek. See we don’t wrestle with flesh and blood but against rulers, against authorities and the powers of this dark world and were are the principals in this one size fits all when that judge could be just as guilty. One even wonders about law today or is American justice getting so preverted that men and women don’t get a fair trial and most wind- up with a plea deal.
So why a plea deal? Usually they don’t have enough evidence in much of this cover up type of corruption. One even wonders who in power said.. Nobody tells me what to do? And Janice let me know if I’m wrong on this one. Remember everything has to be wittnessed by two or more, so what does that say about internet misgivings or how many go back and ask for a retrial, a redress of grivances or an appeal in many of these injustices. And yes its pretty tough to be your own lawyer when the procsecution labels you a tongue bearer of sexual language. Even ladies showing their undergarments may be some type of inducement to put one on the registry or probation. If sin is a sin than we are all guilty
One gets to the point where many at time doesn’t understand anything in this Valley of the Dolls jive talk’in “head games” in this liberty and justice for all.
You have no idea whats in a persons mind? Your right on that one worried. Seems we are all worried or did we all get a fair shake in all this registry ordeal. So worried who’s doing the evil in all these registry matter issues? So what is evil? This gal taking advantage of a 14 yr old or the woman taking the sexual liberties that had a different turn of events in her whole ordeal with this registry type involvement.
Sure one can get sour notes in life and try to out think the best or other person but things can get out of hand just like these devious sex registry schemes go. Are authorities playing a new game in this deceptive way. Sure each and every one of you on here should count your lucky stars just like this girl as it could of been worse. Thats why many of these registry ordeals should be put to a stop. Yes the heart is evil or who is inducing the evil in many ways. So we press on to help others and strive to eradicate much of this registry. Advocacy is good when the intent is good. So in many ways who is promoting the evil.