Criminalizing Normalcy

It's something we've done as a reflex in this country for way too long. Here's an extraordinary post on just what our idea of "sex offender" includes.

The whole idea of sex offender registries has bothered me for a long time, particularly considering the kinds of things that people get registered for -- as in these cases, experimenting with sex between age-mates. Until Lawrence vs. Texas, having sex with his boyfriend meant a man would have to register as a sex offender in any number of states.

I would find it hard to believe that this actually happens, but given the tenor of this country, and the sorts of people who drive these efforts -- the small-minded and mean-spirited on both the right and the left who can't stand the idea that other people are doing things without their permission -- it's not so surprising. The impulse might be benign, at least in its broadest outlines: given the high rate of recidivism among, for example, child molesters, it makes sense to keep tabs on them. But too often, the "criminals" are the real victims:

These kids are criminals, not necessarily because they violated the life, liberty or property of another person. They are criminals because the politicians defined them as criminals. These damned “family values” conservatives, and compassionate feminist Leftists, who banded together to “save the children,” turned America’s kids into sex offenders by fiat. And they feel good about it. They are satisfied by it and only wish more had been rounded up earlier. The Left wants everyone in therapy and under the perpetual care of the state, and the Right wants everyone in prison, or in fear of the law, and under the thumb of the police. And that is what is happening.

The implementation is too often hamhanded and stupid and partakes too much of a neo-Puritan desire for punishment for punishment's sake. It's like the death penalty -- if you can't do it right, best just not to do it.

(Frankly, if I had the money, I'd take these kids in hand and start filing suits against the states for violation of Constitutional prohibitions of cruel and unusual punishment. I get really furious about stuff like this.)

The people who push for this are beyond disgusting.

Via Von at Obsidian Wings, who has some comments. He raises the race issue, which I see as a sidebar. At this point, I'm not so much worried about who is being victimized most as I am furious that kids are being victimized at all.