Saturday, December 31, 2005

Mom, 13, is ruled a sex crime offender

I was shocked when I read this. I nearly choked on a Pepsi.

It appears that this 13 year old infant who became pregnant by a twelve year old is now a child sex offender for having intercouse with the afore mentioned infant. I don't know what to make of it. It is incredibly ridiculous to me that children this young are engaging in sexual activity, and even more ridiculous is that the government is actually holding one of these children out as being a perpetrator.

If the courts were to charge anyone of a crime it should be the children's parents -- charge them with being incredibly lousy parents. My heavens, 12- 13 year olds should still be playing with dolls and avoiding the other sexes cooties.

This is one of those cases that make me long for the past. Kids could be kids for more than 11 years.

3 comments:

Matt, Rach, Samus, Little-O, & Hank the Tank said...

GJ, you should know that a juvenile adjudication is much diffeent than a criminal conviction. The girl in this case wasn't convicted of anything and is not a "sex offender" under Utah's laws. Juvenile court proceedings are civil proceedings. Violation of the sexual abuse of a child statute is alleged in the juvenile delinquency petition merely to show that the girl has engaged in conduct that requires the attention of the juvenile court. Once hse's under the court's jurisdiction, the court can provide her with services and assistance she needs to cope with her pregnancy. As the court of appeals noted:

"The juvenile court's main objective is to inquire into the bad behavior and its causes and to seek remedies and adjustments in the child, rather than merely to accuse convict and punish."

I agree that its crazy that children are having sex. And saying they sexually abused each other is ironic. But the system, strange as it is, has a purpose. To protect the welfare of these kids who, obviously, don't know how badly they are screwing up their lives.

pramahaphil said...

Thank you citizen 451.

I'll admit I don't know much about the differnece between juvenile proceedings and criminal proceedings. As far as I understood the girl was being held out as a sexual perpetrator, but I see that isn't necessarily the case. I gues my main concern in this case is, age isn't much of a factor here and both should have simply been charged in a equal manner.

Matt, Rach, Samus, Little-O, & Hank the Tank said...

Both were adjudicated delinquent for sexual abuse of a child. The boy's case didn't get any attention, however, because he didn't appeal.