California Prop 83 passed

[WODIN]

and who did mark foley have sex with?
hmmm??

Probably Ted haggard....*RIMSHOT*

 

[javaguru]

You guys are hilarious making it sound like someone can just casually get convicted of a sex crime.

1) Even if you have the "drunk, unwelcome grab at the breast" or the "accidental underage hookup", those crimes almost always get pleaded-down to non-sexual crimes. It's not worth the prosecutors office running a sex crimes case till the bitter end when they can get you to plead a lesser crime and be done with the case.

2) So lets say they do want to go after someone over a grab at a breast or underage hookup. Most states (Tennessee sure does) will allow diversion for first time offenders. Here, when that 46 year old pervert decides he's in love with a 15 year old girl, he can divert his class "E" felony and have it completely eliminated from his record. Hence, in the eyes of the law it never even happened -- he didn't even need to enter a plea.

Now what if you already have a criminal history or riddled past and have blown your chance at diversion? Well then -- guess you better not be grabbing breasts or failing to check ID on that sweet young hookup.

It's easy to be convicted of a crime period. At least here in Toledo, I watched a guy get sentenced to a year in prison because he knocked a guy down as he was getting removed from a bar. The guy claimed he hurt his shoulder in the fall which meant the guy was charged with an F2, felonious assault(5-7 yrs in prison) and he plead to an F4 aggravated assault because it wasn't worth risking the prison time on a jury trial. The prosecutor will over charge you because he doesn't want a trial and over charging is the easiest way to arrange a plea. In one of our cases a guy didn't take a plea we offered to an F4, he took it to trial and put a dozen witnesses on the stand who all testified the three skinheads he beat up "started the fight." The jury must have felt it didn't meet the standard for provocation and convicted him of an F2 felonious assault and he got five years in prison for breaking a guy's nose who started the bar fight, he had no prior history of violent crimes. In the legal field there is something called the "trial tax," it means that if you exercise your constitutional right to a trial you will be penalized if you lose by being given a harsher sentence. God help you if it's an election year and your "case" is on the agenda of a canidate or your judge's. When I was at the prosecutor's office we were required to follow through with EVERY domestic violence case regardless if the victim was willing to cooperate or not. Now, do you follow through with charging the victim of a DV case with filing a false police report/perjury when they recant their story and make you look like a fool? What good is served by that? The legal system isn't as cut and dried as people like to portray it.

In Ohio, you could plead your rape/child molestation case down to jay walking (of course that would never happen) but every judge and prosecutor can look at your sheet and know what you have been charged with in the past regardless of the conviction or plea. You're crazy if you think that doesn't factor into the judge's or prosecutor's decision making on a case.

As a practical matter, tracking criminals has been a dismal failure in regard to informing the public or controlling repeat offenders. Our entire parole/probation system is set up to track convicted criminals and has no impact on preventing repeat offenders. When was the last time you checked the sex offender database? Do you check it weekly or even monthly?

 

[radarstoy]

try having your state spend 500 Million $$ year 1, and then 200 Million $$ a year of YOUR TAX MONEY on an law about as useful in stopping criminal action as a cock-flavored lollypop, not to mention sets the stage for other violations of our constitutional rights and throws due process out the window then come talk to me.

Now what flavor might that be?..orange..grape Personally I like chocolate

Peace

 

[patsfan1379]

It's easy to be convicted of a crime period. At least here in Toledo, I watched a guy get sentenced to a year in prison because he knocked a guy down as he was getting removed from a bar. The guy claimed he hurt his shoulder in the fall which meant the guy was charged with an F2, felonious assault(5-7 yrs in prison) and he plead to an F4 aggravated assault because it wasn't worth risking the prison time on a jury trial. The prosecutor will over charge you because he doesn't want a trial and over charging is the easiest way to arrange a plea. In one of our cases a guy didn't take a plea we offered to an F4, he took it to trial and put a dozen witnesses on the stand who all testified the three skinheads he beat up "started the fight." The jury must have felt it didn't meet the standard for provocation and convicted him of an F2 felonious assault and he got five years in prison for breaking a guy's nose who started the bar fight, he had no prior history of violent crimes. In the legal field there is something called the "trial tax," it means that if you exercise your constitutional right to a trial you will be penalized if you lose by being given a harsher sentence. God help you if it's an election year and your "case" is on the agenda of a canidate or your judge's. When I was at the prosecutor's office we were required to follow through with EVERY domestic violence case regardless if the victim was willing to cooperate or not. Now, do you follow through with charging the victim of a DV case with filing a false police report/perjury when they recant their story and make you look like a fool? What good is served by that? The legal system isn't as cut and dried as people like to portray it.

In Ohio, you could plead your rape/child molestation case down to jay walking (of course that would never happen) but every judge and prosecutor can look at your sheet and know what you have been charged with in the past regardless of the conviction or plea. You're crazy if you think that doesn't factor into the judge's or prosecutor's decision making on a case.

As a practical matter, tracking criminals has been a dismal failure in regard to informing the public or controlling repeat offenders. Our entire parole/probation system is set up to track convicted criminals and has no impact on preventing repeat offenders. When was the last time you checked the sex offender database? Do you check it weekly or even monthly?

holy fucking smart

 

[mrplunkey]

It's easy to be convicted of a crime period. At least here in Toledo, I watched a guy get sentenced to a year in prison because he knocked a guy down as he was getting removed from a bar. The guy claimed he hurt his shoulder in the fall which meant the guy was charged with an F2, felonious assault(5-7 yrs in prison) and he plead to an F4 aggravated assault because it wasn't worth risking the prison time on a jury trial. The prosecutor will over charge you because he doesn't want a trial and over charging is the easiest way to arrange a plea. In one of our cases a guy didn't take a plea we offered to an F4, he took it to trial and put a dozen witnesses on the stand who all testified the three skinheads he beat up "started the fight." The jury must have felt it didn't meet the standard for provocation and convicted him of an F2 felonious assault and he got five years in prison for breaking a guy's nose who started the bar fight, he had no prior history of violent crimes. In the legal field there is something called the "trial tax," it means that if you exercise your constitutional right to a trial you will be penalized if you lose by being given a harsher sentence. God help you if it's an election year and your "case" is on the agenda of a canidate or your judge's. When I was at the prosecutor's office we were required to follow through with EVERY domestic violence case regardless if the victim was willing to cooperate or not. Now, do you follow through with charging the victim of a DV case with filing a false police report/perjury when they recant their story and make you look like a fool? What good is served by that? The legal system isn't as cut and dried as people like to portray it.

In Ohio, you could plead your rape/child molestation case down to jay walking (of course that would never happen) but every judge and prosecutor can look at your sheet and know what you have been charged with in the past regardless of the conviction or plea. You're crazy if you think that doesn't factor into the judge's or prosecutor's decision making on a case.

As a practical matter, tracking criminals has been a dismal failure in regard to informing the public or controlling repeat offenders. Our entire parole/probation system is set up to track convicted criminals and has no impact on preventing repeat offenders. When was the last time you checked the sex offender database? Do you check it weekly or even monthly?

All interesting stuff, and you've obviously worked in the field for quite some time.

I guess i'm jaded by my visit to Randy Nichols office about 4 months ago. We had a meeting on another matter and he was going-off on how Statuatory Rape is a class "E" felony in the state of Tennessee and every single first-offender case gets diverted. Some of the examples where heinous too -- like 45 year old guys and 14 year old girls.

 

[jnevin]

All interesting stuff, and you've obviously worked in the field for quite some time.

I guess i'm jaded by my visit to Randy Nichols office about 4 months ago. We had a meeting on another matter and he was going-off on how Statuatory Rape is a class "E" felony in the state of Tennessee and every single first-offender case gets diverted. Some of the examples where heinous too -- like 45 year old guys and 14 year old girls.

That's more like child molestation than statuatory rape, imo.

 

[javaguru]

All interesting stuff, and you've obviously worked in the field for quite some time.

I guess i'm jaded by my visit to Randy Nichols office about 4 months ago. We had a meeting on another matter and he was going-off on how Statuatory Rape is a class "E" felony in the state of Tennessee and every single first-offender case gets diverted. Some of the examples where heinous too -- like 45 year old guys and 14 year old girls.

It's interesting you bring up statuatory rape. In most of the Western World the age of consent is under eighteen, it's quite common for a 40 year old man to be married to a girl under eighteen. You also have the double standard where females designated as a sex offender receive lighter sentences than their male counterparts but that is another thread. I always thought it ironic we entrust a sixteen year old with driving a car but they aren't mature enough to choose a sex partner? When I was in college my friend was nineteen when he had consensual sex with a fifteen year old, he missed the age difference exception by a year and was charged with statuatory rape. He plead to "corruption of a minor" and got a short jail sentence. He couldn't join the army because they will take people with a criminal past but not when it involves a minor...regardless of circumstance.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_consent#Statutory_rape