I live in a Neighborhood of pervs, apparently:

[mtmynd]

wine heals all tunes

[Doreen Peri]

hest -

The penalty is the sentence. The state dictates what sentence a convicted criminal has to serve.

If they say that 3 years, 5 years, 10 years, whatever... is an appropriate time to go to prison for whatever particular crime and then they release the prisoner into society, in the state's opinion, the person who commited the crime is ready to re-enter society.

Of course it doesn't bring back the murdered, it doesn't take the scars away from the assaulted, and it doesn't give back an unviolated body to the rape victim or child who was abused.

To me, it does say that there was ample time for the criminal to "pay for his crime" (penalty) and hopefully experience some remorse along with rehabilitation.

Should every criminal carry a life sentence?

Clay was trying to be funny with his t-shirt post, but really, when you come to think of it, if everybody had to wear t-shirts which listed all their "crimes," we'd all have t-shirts which were so full of text covered with small print that you'd have to get two inches away from them to read them. Think about it. Examples?

"I stole some money"
"I cheated on my taxes"
"I lied on my employment application"
"I cheated on my spouse"
"I commited murder"
"I beat somebody up"
"I went to prison for a drug charge"

..... and so on

All I'm saying is if a person is charged with a crime, gets convicted of that crime, does his prison time, serves his sentence (the penalty), and then is released back into society, the state clearly thinks he is ready to re-enter society after serving the sentence they imposed which they have deemed appropriate for the crime.

And if you want all sex offenders to serve life sentences in the public eye, then all convicted criminals should also serve life sentences in the public eye.

That's just my opinion. (And it's not all that easy to say it, as much as I hate rape and child sexual abuse.)

[mtmynd]

good point(s), Dor'... but don't the stats show that pedophiles can not be rehabilitated? whereas in murder, many times killing is an act of passion that temporarily flipped out the one doing the act. other than a serial killer, i think the majority do not repeat the act.

[Doreen Peri]

Statistics say that, yes. Or so I've heard.

Statistics also show that the prisons are full with prisoners who have committed other crimes over and over and over.

If they want to give sex offenders life sentences, then they need to change the penalties so they get life sentences.

[mtmynd]

there's that 'sex offenders' thing again... i think you mean pedophiles and (many times) killers, i.e., those that kill the child after committing sexual acts with them. No doubt those need to have life sentences.

"Sex offenders" altho it implies those that have sex with minors, is not an adequate definition... have you ever been offended by or thru sex? A small thing, but ... anyhoo. Pedophiles, the word, is just what it implies. I think if one were to be labeled a pedophile, not sex offender, that is a more accurate definition of their behavior. If our penal systems are full now, jailing all pedophiles for life would certainly increase the population, unless we (society) took a more realistic look a drug users... that would release many innocents and make more room for pedo's and other such anti-social folks.

[Doreen Peri]

The state registers are for "sex offenders" not "pedophiles."

They have those who have been convicted of a "sex offense" register their names with the state to tell the state where they live. These lists are shared publically on the internet.

They don't label those who have committed sex acts with children as "pedophiles." That's a psychological term (I believe,) not a legal one.

They're using the term "sex offenders" for those who have been convicted of offenses like rape and indecent exposure, in addition to those who have been convicted of crimes like having sex with a minor.

[Glorious Amok]

sexual offenders must be the term used to refer to those who commit sexual crimes against adults. rape, molestation, and what's that other one...another weird word ... frottage?

sexual offences are many and varied. i had a roommate who was once raped with the handle of a hockey stick. and yeah, i would say she was somewhat offended.

[Doreen Peri]

K
I'm pretty sure the registry is for sex crimes against adults or children.

Sorry to hear about your friend.

[mtmynd]

is there a difference between a psychological word and a legal word..? i would think if the word describes the behavior and the behavior is il-legal then that is the same thing.

but indecent exposure... now that's a touchy one! a man/woman showing their bare buttocks (mooning) could be convicted of indecent exposure which (i presume) would be defined as showing one's private body parts to those that did not want to see it/them...

you know, Dor'... i think we'll have to make more clear the definitions of the legal systems. terms that aren't so vague... eh?

[Doreen Peri]

You're right. And if the man who bared his buttocks to moon his friends was found guilty of indecent exposure and went to prison for it and was released, he would be listed on the state's registry, would have to be found guilty over and over again by society, and in the neighborhood where he lives, people will have a difficult time selling their real estate because a "sex offender" lives down the block. And kids will be scared to walk down such-in-such street because a "sex offender" lives there.

See how ridiculous that is?

I don't know how they come up with pschological words or legal words, Cecil.

But the legal term for those who commit crimes like rape or indecent exposure or having sex with a minor is "sex offender."

I'm late.

I have to go to the memorial service.

[izeveryboyin]

Well Jesus, God. go away for a day and they're having a full-blooded discussion behind your back. Heh. I'm glad I sparked this. It's important that we as artists and writers get to talk about issues like this, it really is. But I retreat back to my last comment yesterday. Everyone's right, and everyone's wrong... to a certain degree. I believe that's it's only fair that if you commit that sort of crime, you have to pay for it. Plain and simple. Nine times out of ten the justice system just doesn't seem to give them what for as far as prison sentences are concerned. The psychological damage that sort of thing can do to a person is worth so much more than a coupla years in prison, but such is simply my opinion. I'm just glad I can come here and say that without getting backhanded by the FCC. tee hee.

--k

[hester_prynne]

I still think that wearing a button proclaiming your illegal or "sex offender" crime isn't a bad idea. I don't think it hurts the person wearing it either, really, seems to me it would be freeing, maybe even healing!
I've always liked things out on the table.

But i'm also thinking that our system is pretty shoddy if all it can do is lump the entire lot under sex offender and charge everyone equal under it...a mooner or a pedophile....
The system is so damn overpaid and lazy!
(Christ, weren't they (medicare) unwittingly giving viagra to sex offenders or something by mistake and then two or three days later didnt' they say that viagra could make you go blind?)
I wonder who's the moron sometimes.....

I've never really thought of a mooner as a sex offender! I got mooned myself once, by a co-diva when we were rehearsing for a blues show. She was drunk and giving another co-diva in the show a hard time because she wouldn't get it on with her. So I started sticking up for the diva she was hassling, told her to knock it off, and she mooned me! (It was quite a sight!)

(Hell, I wanted to keep it in the show!)
Heh.

How can they lump it all under one penalty like that?
We're all being run by a bunch of money powered morons!
H

[Glorious Amok]

i read an article in the paper today about a guy whose name i forget, but surely someone will know it... he wrote a few crime novels while he was in prison and one was made into a movie starring Dustin Hoffman... then he had a small role as Mr. Blue in Reservoir Dogs... and then Steve Buschemi made another one of his books into another film ... anyone? Edward something, isn't it?

well, he was interviewed in the Globe & Mail today. and he has another book called The Animal Factory. he talked about how prison just makes people into animals and how whatever you get out of a prison will be worse than what you put in it.

i hear you knocking about the system, Hesty. loud and clear. maybe mooners should just have their bottoms publicly spanked, that's what they're hoping for anyway, isn't it?!!

things will be different when i become King. different indeed.

** Edward Bunker.
http://www.noexit.co.uk/bunker.htm

[izeveryboyin]

I agree with ya, GA. Public spanking seems very much in order. Tee hee.


--k

[jimboloco]

http://lifelinepcs.home.att.net/EMDR_Therapy.htm
What i am doing, I saw my own country rape Southeast Asia, with the collusion of Thailand, Australia, South Korea. still in shock, but a controlled burn, usualy.

When I was down and out in Houston, 1976-77, I had worked the oil rigs, then got a land job nites in a factory, was drawing at the Houston Art League and the Museum School of Fine Arts. My Montrose bum apartment had been burglarized three times while I was working. I was stressed. One morning after work, I smoked some pot at a co-workers pad, walked to a bar, bought a fiifth of Jack Daniels and got shit faced drunk. Mind you, I was an old man of thirty at the time, walked or rather staggered home.

What happened after was unreal. I took off all my clothes, stood in the front door looking out and started laughing. My neighbor said that I was laughing just as hard as I could. I also had a hard on. The cops drove up and hauled me off to jail, it was a Thursday about hign noon. The cops asked me if I was masturbating, I said no, I was laughing. Naked as a jaybird, laughing at the world, my kundalini hysteria.

The next day the judge gave me the evil eye. I said something, was it "no-contest?" He returned me to the tank without judgement. I spent the weekend in there, went back to the court on Monday, mind you, only had my pants, no shirt or shoes. When the judge asked me something, I said,, "I came to Houston to study art." He muttered something to the cop, who took me away and released me on my own recognisance, a $100 dollar fine for public drunk and indecent exposure. Pay within 30 days. I walked home from downtown in my pants and barefoot.

Next day the neighbor told me about the laughing, he also told me the other neighbors the speed freaks were the burglars. He saw my stuff, my bronzeware from Chang Mai, etc.I called the cops. They came for a report, "we may dose, but we never close", the speed freaks had moved out, I got a threatening and ominous warning from a neighborhood hood, another neighborhood kid came by, said he had taken some money from the gas station where he worked, wanted to sell me a radio. I was broke, had $100 dollars in the bank, emptied it out, I wrote a bum check to the vet for some medicine for my dog's skin condition, got with the kid and hightailed it to his daddie's house in Missiissippi, where we spent the summer saving money doing construction, then split . never paid the money to Houston.
The kid was wanted for statuatory rape in Mississippi for making it as a teen ager with a girl his own age.
Years later, I had to write the county clerk of Bexar or Harris County, Houston, as I was applying for my first nursing license in Florida. No record, 1992.

Thankyou Houston!