Genius Legislators Pass A Bill That Could Have Your Kid Locked Up For 15 Years As A Sex Offender
It's H.R. 1761, the Protecting Against Child Exploitation Act of 2017 -- called the PACE act.
Easton Randall writes at R Street:
While society needs to make sure it protects children from sexual abuse, recent legislation passed by the U.S. House could cause more problems than it solves - hurting minors, expanding minatory minimums and creating redundant federal authority where there already are similar laws at the state level.By a 368-51 margin, the House voted May 25 to approve H.R. 1761, the Protecting Against Child Exploitation (PACE) Act of 2017. The bill is intended to strengthen federal laws dealing with the production and distribution of child pornography by making the transmission of sexual images of minors a federal crime. The measure has moved on to the upper chamber, where it will be considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
While the bill's purpose is to punish child predators, its unintended consequence will be to create more criminals out of teenagers whose main crime is simply lacking common sense.
As written, the law could apply to minors who send sexual images to other minors, or what is commonly referred to as "sexting." The House-passed bill provides no exemption or provision to deal with minors who engage in sexting, meaning they could be subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and lifetime registration as a sex offender. Because of how broadly the text is written, even a teenager who merely views a sexual image or requests that one be sent could be subject to the mandatory minimum.
Sexting among teenagers increasingly has become the norm. While the phenomenon is worth a larger discussion, most would agree that locking teenagers up for 15 years is not the best way to handle the situation. Few believe these minors are committing crimes on a par with actual child predators. They should not be treated the same way under the law.
Teenagers are still minors in the eyes of the court. By creating an inflexible law that cannot take into account the ages of those involved, the law will force the courts to punish minors for having poor judgment.
Just as crazy -- check out what's in store for parents. Rachel Blevins writes at Free Thought Project:
The bill also states that "any parent, legal guardian, or person having custody or control of a minor" who "knowingly permits such minor to engage in, or to assist any other person to engage in, sexually explicit conduct knowing that a visual depiction of such conduct will be produced or transmitted shall be punished."...If this bill becomes law, and it includes a 15-year, mandatory minimum sentence, it will set a troubling precedent for both teenagers, and their parents. It also serves as a reminder that making something "illegal" won't scare teenagers out of doing it--instead, it will just create another way for the government to meddle in the personal lives of citizens, and it will do so by punishing only the ones who are caught.
Typically, to borrow from the "every time you X, a kitten dies of leukemia" or whatever, people should understand that -- very often -- when laws are passed, a bit of our ability to remain unprosecuted for things that few of us would consider criminal acts dies.
Just as -- depressingly, in my experience -- doctors aren't very good at the rational thought it would take to diagnose you (like identifying patterns, knowing that patterns we believe are there aren't always meaningful, etc.) legislators have their own brand of not-all-that-smart-ness, and it's passing laws without thinking through all the possible consequences.
No 15-year-old should be prosecuted for sexting their romantic partner and no parent should be prosecuted because their teen was sexting.
It's unfair to slut-shame underage sluts, so let's imprison them with the other underage sluts and put them under the control of America's most trustworthy and moral folk: police and prison guards.
That'll stop the texting.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at June 16, 2017 1:20 PM
"Teenagers are still minors in the eyes of the court."
Really? Amazing, huh?
Radwaste at June 17, 2017 8:26 PM
More ridiculousness from society. I'm just going to call it the mistakes humans make whilst trying to evolve. What kind of example is society teaching our children? We are supposed to be teaching our children, not waiting for the moment they mess up so we can incarcerate them into adulthood.
My conspiracytheoryitis tells me that this is not even about some misguided overly moralistic people trying to "do the right thing". I think this is more about having even more excuses to own your children and eventually being able to treat all of society at any age as children so we will be much easier to control. Just saying.
Becky at June 23, 2017 2:48 PM
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