Man sentenced to life in prison for sex with 13 year old

Yes it was and I have as much information as you do

The child was groomed - just because they were not physically restrained does not mean it was not rape

 

No not always

 

Ever heard of grooming?
https://www.theage.com.au/national/...hile-before-its-too-late-20170228-gumyd4.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_grooming

 

Yeah I agree but I still don't feel sorry for him.

 

I may have misread the study but the vast majority of children interviewed seem to be reporting sexual incidents involving other children at or near their own age. Not sex with adults in their twenties or above.

Kaz, its impossible to judge the 'merits' of the sentence without knowing all the circumstances around it. In particular the extent and nature of any conduct, particularly 'grooming' engaged in by the offender. And we don't have that information in this particular case.

Grooming by pedophiles is a classic course of conduct. Its insidious, premeditated and generally requires a high degree of planning, effort and subterfuge by the offender. Generally the offender has to spend a considerable amount of time worming their way into the confidence of the family concerned (albeit often less in dysfunctional or financially destitute families) and work very hard at gaining the trust of the child in question.

In this case the offender apparently claimed he made a mistake. Well sorry, firstly pedophiles routinely make similar claims - once caught. Secondly if there was a significant degree of grooming involved in this offense then claiming to have made a 'mistake' is akin to killer claiming he or she made a 'mistake' after purchasing a firearm, ammunition, shovel, tarp and rope, putting on a disguise, committing the crime and then driving a car with false plates 50 miles away to bury the body before returning to clean up the crime scene with bleach!

You want can argue that 'life' is to long a term for this guy, fine. But he was going inside for years regardless. As a registered child sex offender! And he's never going to get better, not in prison anyway. Stats on the rehabilitation of sex offenders in jail are woeful. Even in expensive, specialist programs outside of a normal prison environment they generally make depressing reading.

Edit: The only real mitigating factor in his defense (and again as far as I can tell its not mentioned in the article) would be the degree to which he suffers from any form of developmental delay disorder or other related form of physical/mental/emotional/handicap. But if this was an issue you'd think it would have been mentioned.

I can see where there is an argument that Georgia's statutes on this kind of offense are too harsh. But sans any other information on the case the most likely outcome is even with a shorter sentence is more offending once released.

The real question out of all this? Would significant investment in rehabilitation or a least permanent monitoring services be a effective alternative. I have insufficient information/expertise to judge.

 

Agree with the last post. He's not going to stop so behind bars he must stay.

 

You will probably see this more often now that there is push back against the indefinite civil detention of sex offenders once their prison sentence is over.

 

Don't do the crime if you can't do the time.

 

I can see how you could see this as grooming. But it seems much closer to statutory rape (due to age) than grooming.

I mean it might maybe be something like 15% grooming and 85% "statutory rape".

13 seems to be a very borderline age, related to this issue.
I don't think you're going to be able to convince a 13 year old to have sex with you if they really don't want it.

Unless there are some unique developmental issues (or maybe power issues or coercion) I don't think it's really possible to "groom" teenagers.

For it to be grooming the child would have to be a little bit younger.

I am thinking maybe people do not really have a good idea of what a typical 13 year old is actually like. That might be what is resulting in divergent views on this.

 

That's a very weak argument, and is actually mostly logically irrelevant.

That argument can be used to justify evil things.

 

If this was an actual rape, or actual physical harm were caused, you would probably be right.
But don't you think it's maybe just a little premature to believe that if an individual does something like this twice, they are probably going to do it again?
Maybe three times would establish more of a pattern.

You just seem to be using overly black and white thinking.
This doesn't exactly seem like the type of thing society can't risk happening again.
It wasn't exactly rape or molestation.

 

It's about taking responsibility for one's actions.

 

WOW...the defense of child rape....the stench permeates throughout the thread

 

Are you joking?

Consensual?

Yeah, no. Let him never experience the sun on his face again.

 

Yes, the article is just about it being more likely for poor children to be sexually active at a younger age. I did not read it as attributing that activity to adult predators, either (though that would be an interesting point of comparison, as well).

 

Well, as far as I'm aware its been pretty well established that many children engage in a small amount of what in an adult would be regarded sexual exploration out of simple curiosity as part of other play. So its the extent and nature of that 'exploration' that's the issue. Children demonstrating persistent interest in such things would set of alarm bells across a whole range of professions if reported.

As for the people in the study group? In poorer communities with a higher number of people of various ages living under one roof the chances of a child becoming aware of sexual activity at an early age is probably higher. So in many cases it might just be a case of 'monkey see, monkey do'. But that's only my best guess, I certainly not qualified in the field.

 

I would imagine that there are numerous factors; but your insight seems as if it would be among them. Unfortunately, I think the adult exploitation element probably plays some part, as well-- perhaps because of less strict adult supervision (if parents are out, working multiple jobs, etc.).

 

Good point about the parental supervision. Often there's a chronic need for child minding services and poorer families end up having to rely on 'free' supervision by other adults they know.

 

O.M.G

 

If they're too poor to both provide for AND supervise their children, why are they having children?

 

I totally believe in justice. This wasn't serious enough to warrant anywhere near life in prison.

Do you actually believe that child was heavily traumatized by the experience?
I mean considering all the surrounding details of this particular case.

Was it healthy for this child? No, I believe we can all agree of course not. But was it really anything like rape or molestation in terms of what the victim experienced? No.

 

Easily said, not so easily done. There's a notable inverse relationship between wealth and procreativity. And its the main reason the global birthrate has been going down the past 40 years. Fewer and fewer people living in extreme poverty equals fewer children.

 

I completely disagree with this. It is a little more complicated than that. But this is another topic.

If you want to discuss that more, we can do so here:
factors that affect fertility rates

 

I never said it was the only variable at play when considering the fall in global fertility but it is universally recognized as being one of the important ones. That is just fact.

 

He was a repeat offender who received a sentence allowed by law. Case closed.