<p>That’s a sobering statistic mini. It’s hard to believe that the study is from Washington state. </p>
<p>I do hope that bringing this case to light helps this young man in some way. I’m very glad ESPN ran this story. </p>
<p>Thanks to ldmom’s suggestion, I’ve already gotten email replies from friends who have signed the petition and are sending the message on to their friends as well. If nothing else, getting the petition signed by prople from around the country will let GA know we’re watching and aware.</p>
<p>Thanks for starting this thread. I had just read the ESPN story because it was linked to a Duke LAX blog. I am hoping that the bloggers that so intelligently brought out the hoax in Durham will jump on this case of injustice and bring this boy’s incarceration to an end! </p>
<p>I signed the petition and will also send the link to my friends.</p>
<p>And people wonder why black people haven’t just “gotten over slavery”. If only it had ended with slavery… Cases like this outline in bold relief just how far America still has to come. </p>
<p>I signed the petition, but I’m not holding my breath over the outcome of this travesty. The powers-that-be, in both the legislature and the justice system. don’t seem in the least bit affected by mounting public outcry or widespread media attention. Mike Nifong will more than likely loose his license to practice law over the Duke LAX case, but who’s calling for the disbarment of the prosecutor in the Genarlow Wilson case? The outrage being expressed over the handling of the respective cases seems tellingly disproportionate to me. Want to bet this thread won’t stretch into the thousands of posts?</p>
<p>as a teenager, if your child is at least a junior in high school and has had a boyfriend or girlfirend,i am quite positive their have given or recieved oral sex by this point.</p>
<p>coronax: My mom saw this CNN report and just im’d me about it. It seems as though they may retroactively apply the law to Genarlow; but will that spare him the child molester label and the requirements to register as a sex offender? If not, I wonder if the Governor of GA couldn’t step in and pardon him? Maybe our CC attorneys will weigh in on how this is done.</p>
<p>I was wondering about this too, why the governor wouldn’t at least do something to allow him to be paroled. I know some state governors can do this.</p>
<p>I think I read that the GA governor doesn’t have the constitutional right to grant pardons anymore. I was also curious if the law was made retroactive to apply to Genarlow, if it would take away the the sex offender status. I certainly hope it would.</p>
<p>Wow. And I guess there’s nothing the President could (theoretically) do either, because it’s a states’ right thing? Can Genarlow at least take this to the U.S. Supreme court as a case of cruel and unusual punishment? Or unequal justice if he can show that others who commit the same crime aren’t prosecuted?</p>
<p>I think it’s a bad idea to throw the “sex offender” label around so casually. It takes away from what sex offender notification laws were intended to do: warn the community about really dangerous people. If every third person on your block gets labelled a sex offender, pretty soon it’s not going to raise any alarm bells at all.</p>
<p>Does everyone know what the law says in their own state about this circumstance? Do you know enough to warn your kids?</p>
<p>The article, which I skimmed, seems to be saying that the D.A. (as bad as Nifong IMO) is saying that the sentence can be vacated if the young man pleads guilty to child molestation, something he has been unwilling to do (since it’s not true.) He seems to be caught in such a legal quagmire that I almost think he should do this to get out of jail and get on with his life. What are the chances that the GA legislature will do the right thing and pass a law to get him out?
I hope pressure will build to right the injustice done to this kid. And I hope Hollywood gets wind of this unbelievable story. Perhaps he will at least get some monetary compensation by selling his story.</p>
<p>In Louisiana, there has to be a wider age difference than two years for prosecution under age of consent laws. But the laws are odd in some places. I have even heard of a boy being accused of child molestation for a presumably consensual act with a female who was older he was! (I think that one may have come from Arizona. It was an odd thing in the law that boys were treated differently than girls, so only he could be prosecuted).</p>
<p>It’s not just kids who need to worry. At least one state still has laws on the books that say adults can be prosecuted as sex offenders for consenting acts in their own homes, such as adultery.</p>
<p>I don’t like to rely on stereotypes, but we’re talking about the Georgia legislature, which has never been called “enlightened” despite being situated in the “modern environment” of Atlanta. Remember the middle-aged Georgia woman who married a under-aged boy (paramour) last year to avoid being charged with child-molestation? Perfectly legal in Georgia. And what about the minister of that somewhat odd Atlanta denomination who married under-age girls to middle-aged and elderly men. Did he break any Georgia law?</p>
<p>Suburban residents in Georgia are just beginning to show political influence. City dwellers, i.e. Atlantans, are particulary despised by the lawmakers. The legislature remains dominated by small thinkers, non-thinkers and folks who simply don’t care because they are in office to promote and enrich themselves (among other biases).</p>
<p>This is such good news (finally) for this young man and his family. I can’t imagine why the state attorney general would chose to appeal the judge’s order.</p>
<p>If the state attorney general tries to get this decision reversed, I just will not know what to think of justice in the State of Georgia (where yes…I do have family.)</p>
<p>This is fantastic! This is what should happen now. And when the law was changed, it should have happened immediately then too. Can you imagine every teen who has had consensual oral sex locked up in prison? There would not be enough prisons! This young man suffered a grave injustice. I am so glad that his case got publicity and that he had a lawyer working tirelessly on his appeals. It is hard to imagine the state AG trying to get the judge to reverse this decision, particularly in light of the fact that there is overriding support for this decision, that the law now makes this a misdeamnor and the girl even said it was consensual. His family must be so elated. They deserve some happiness after all they have endured.</p>
<p>PS, another very odd thing about his case was that had he had intercourse with the consenting teen girl, it would have been a misdemeanor, but because it was oral sex, it was a felony. Interesting these distinctions. With Clinton, oral sex was defined as “I did not have sex with that woman.” In Genarlow’s case, oral sex between consenting teens had a much more severe consequence than intercourse between consenting teens. These cases are not the same of course, but just referring to what is considered sex or not or which act carries more serious consequences.</p>
Cases like this outline in bold relief just how far America still has to come. </p>