After being arrested, I was suicidal and hopeless,” ____ ____, a 17-year-old from Superior, Wisconsin, recalls. “As of right now, I am just hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.”
The “worst” would be pretty bad. After discovering indecent photos of ____’s 15-year-old girlfriend on his cell phone—as well as a video of the couple having sex—authorities charged him with sexual assault of a child, sexual exploitation, and possession of child pornography. The sexual assault charge is considered a Class C felony, and carries a maximum (though unlikely) sentence of 40 years in prison. Full Article
The headline:
Romeo and Juliet and Sexting: 17-Year-Old Faces Child Porn, Assault Charges for Consensual Sex with Girlfriend
Fourth paragraph:
But Wisconsin’s sex offender laws contain a curious quirk: 17-year-olds can be charged as adults—even though the law considers them to be children and incapable of consenting to sex.
So they can or can not consent to sex? (I know the answer, just making an observation)
I believe in WI that the girl can also be charged with a sex crime. It is illegal for a minor to have sex with a minor (even the same age) in WI.
Can we finally drop the literary anology. The fifteen century ficticious couple was not in trouble for having sex, but for marrying outside their ethnic group. People then married at an early age and procreated as soon as purberty made it possible. But marrying out of class was the sin. They didn’t have the luxury of modern prenatal care. If you waited too long, you had a good chance of dying in child labor. Or just dying from sonething else. Now the concern on the left is unwanted teen pregnancies, and just plain groupthink of the religious right and control of everyone’s sex life. The solution is education and birth control and a dose of social libertarianism. Shakespeare was not such a prude. Read his plays. Sex was everywhere and all kinds, because he wrote about real humans and it had a George Carlin like rudeness. Because he is placed up there with our cultural icons, people think he shared our modern sexual mores.
Let’s compare this more accurately to the Nazi laws against child delinquency.
Although I disagree with much of their politics and ideology, I commend Reason Magazine for putting out some really good sympathetic articles regarding the struggles of registered offenders. The state I live in Wisconsin is a black eye on the nation. A once a rational forward thinking state which gave birth to great politicians like fighting Bob La Follette took a turn for the worst in 2010. Scott Walker & social conservatives took over all levels of state government including the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Laws and residency ordinances against sex offenders went on steroids. Truth & sentencing became the norm. Wisconsin as far as I’m aware is the only state with a mandatory minimum 3 year prison sentence for just viewing child pornography….let alone making or distributing it. This state sent my son (who once had a career & had been crime free for over 3 decades) to prison just for looking at some dirty underage pictures. Lives have been destroyed by Wisconsin lawmakers & prosecutors. For the first time, I’ve been thinking about moving back to my native California after 30 years before glaucoma robs me blind. I still have to wait until my son finishes his supervision but I live in fear that any little probation violation such as walking too close to a school yard, daycare center, or using “non-probation” approved internet accounts will get my son sent back to prison. It’s a shame I have to live in constant fear for my family because a group of politicians decided to turn this once great state into a police state.
@Timmr: Do you have a better or more recognizable couple that signifies teenage romance?? I don’t think there is an equivalent for quickly identifying the story’s subject matter. 💞