Marked for Life

Before making any judgments against me or forming any conclusions, I do not condone or advocate sexual offenses in anyway but sometimes you have to wonder are we mad or what?  And what happened to parental duties, obligations and responsibility?  When one hears about such things as 'shoving' kids outside so the parents can have sex without interruption, you really have to wonder where parental responsibility has gone.

Imagine, you are sitting at work and you get a call from the police telling you, your child has been arrested.  Not for anything you might expect though, you are told that your child is a sexual pervert and there is nothing you can do to help them!  

In many, maybe all(?), cases of sexual offender this is a 'mark' carried for life and in most all cases a sexual offender is a list for life and subject to numerous things they cannot do.  The cases of juvenile sex offenders cannot be sealed in most cases and the only hope of having such a record removed is a pardon from the governor.   Limiting a teenager, or younger, for life seems a far cry from rehabilitation.  To be limited where one can live, or what kind of job a person can have seems extreme.  Not to mention putting a juvenile in prison with adults!  Now how the hell is that rehabilitation?  It is an even bigger tragedy that in many cases, KIDS are treated as adults.  The same assessment tools, rehabilitation and punishment used for all ages. 

In just one states, between the years of 1997 and 2008. more than 3500 CHILDREN, were convicted as felony sex offenders some being as young as 10, the average being 14. Often times child sex offenders are average kids, geeky,  nerdy, and socially immature according to some therapists.  They go on to say, often times major factors are where they live or how their families work.

The Adam Walsh Ac, also known as  also known as the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), which all states were to adhere to by 2009, or risk losing federal money.  States are adapting their own laws and adopting laws with less of a hard line against juveniles, realizing treatment is often times the best approach to resolving the problem especially with non-adults.