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To: ZGuy

"Foulston testified that any underage sexual contact between minors, such as the fondling of a girl's breasts, needs to reported. "

Oh, please! Two high school kids groping each other in a car is a crime, now? My word!

I guess most of us were criminals, then, when we were teenagers.

That's the trouble with such laws. While they mean well, they fail in their purpose if they are this inclusive. Yes, cases of sexual abuse of minors should always be a criminal act.

Getting felt up in a car by your boyfriend, however, doesn't fit the description.

When will lawmakers learn that laws need to be specific? Laws that overgeneralize the description of an act are always subject to being thrown out. Describe what you want to be against the law, and in detail, or risk the entire law being tossed.


13 posted on 02/10/2006 7:02:34 AM PST by MineralMan (godless atheist)
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To: MineralMan
That's the trouble with such laws. While they mean well, they fail in their purpose if they are this inclusive. Yes, cases of sexual abuse of minors should always be a criminal act.

I'm not sure it's possible to write a law that is narrow enough to protect kids and teens and yet leave them some privacy. If my 13 year old son told a coach that he was having sex with anyone, I think I should be told. I wouldn't classify it as a criminal matter.

If my child reported being coerced (but not necessarily forced) into sex by anyone of any age, I should be told, and it may be a crime depending upon the age of the other person.

If, at 16, my son tells a coach he's having sex with a 16 year old girl, as long as there is no disease or pregnancy involved, I think it isn't something I need to know. If he were having sex with a 16 year old boy, I would want to know. I wouldn't classify this as a crime either, but I would be concerned for my son and I'd want to talk about it.

38 posted on 02/10/2006 7:30:32 AM PST by Dianna
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To: MineralMan

I was thinking the same thing. If groping a girl could get you sent to jail a lot of teenage boys would become suicidal thinking they have nothing to live for.


50 posted on 02/10/2006 7:38:54 AM PST by Mr. Blonde (You know, Happy Time Harry, just being around you kinda makes me want to die.)
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To: MineralMan
This was the problem that Massachusetts faced in Eisenstadt v. Baird. The Court ended up chucking a statute requiring drugs to be issued only by licensed professionals when it struck down the ban on issuing contraceptives to single individuals.
54 posted on 02/10/2006 7:41:39 AM PST by rzeznikj at stout (This is a darkroom. Keep the door closed or you'll let all the dark out...)
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To: MineralMan
I guess most of us were criminals, then, when we were teenagers.

Not me! As hard as I tried my record stayed clean. Well, there was this one time when three older girls MADE me do things but that shouldn't count.

62 posted on 02/10/2006 7:48:28 AM PST by Mind-numbed Robot (Not all that needs to be done, needs to be done by the government.)
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