Obsidian Potency 3.0
The New Hurricane?
posted Tuesday, 12 June 2007
OP has been tracking this case privately for some time, but it is good to hear that a judge saw the light and commuted Genarlow Wilson's sentence. Unfortunately, the state's attorney's office in Georgia has filed an appeal, so the young man continues to sit in prison -- and probably will be there for at least 6 more months.
In case you don't know this story, you should read this article. That will tell you everything you need to know about the principles in this case, and why this whole episode has been such a travesty.
It highlights the clash in American society between old-school moral fundamentalism, legal gamesmanship and the true definition of justice. Nobody would deny that this kid did some REALLY stupid things. But few would agree that he deserved a minimum 10-year jail sentence for them. Rapists and murderers have received lighter sentences. Had he had sexual intercourse with the girl instead of oral sex, he could only have been charged with a misdemeanor.
A few other things jump out when reading the accounts of this case. Clearly, the prosecutor was a prick who was literally playing legal games with this kids' life. The law he violated was poorly-written, intended to apply to pedophiles, and was so awful that this case helped inspire Georgial lawmakers to re-write the law after Wilson was convicted. In a truly just system, prosecutors shouldn't take great pains to twist the law into discovering new and creative ways to put people in jail. Yet that's exactly what happened here. From a technical standpoint, you can understand the reason for the state's appeal...but does the state's attorney's office really want to appeal THIS case, of all cases? You'd think they'd want to put this case in the rear view as soon as possible.
This case also should challenge certain notions that adults inexplicably acquire once they have kids. It simply should not be illegal for high-school-aged teens to have consentual sex with other high-school-aged teens -- especially when the teens attend the same school. Moral codes are determined by upbringing, surroundings and families - not by he legal system. The legal system is intended to discipline those who come violate laws intended to protect people - yet there was no victim in this case.
The girl consented, and told police that she consented. The girl's mother said her daughter consented. None of this was enough to satisfy the prosecutors. Why? Because according to Georgia law, a 15-year-old cannot consent to have sex with someone over the age of 16 (17, in this case).
And because much of our legal system is extremely patronizing towards women -- and absurdly overprotective of so-called children.
It's time grownups stopped pretending that teenagers are innocent little children that cannot handle adult situations. It's a grey area, but it's not nearly as cut-and-dried as many adults would like it to be. I'm sure many of these same lawmakers and lawyers lost their virginity in high school to other high-schoolers...I wonder which ones did so in situations that could have been classified as 'statutory rape' or "aggravated child molestation."
How quickly these adults forget that not all sex acts involving people under a certain age are crimes involving a victim (usually female, of course) and a predator (usually a caricatured, ravenous male). Young people should be watched out for. They should also learn to make decisions, recover from mistakes, deal with emotional trauma and move on with their lives. And they should live in a society where the punishment fits the crime.
Wilson's case reminds OP a bit of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter's case. Actually, Carter's case wasn't even as cut-and-dried as Wilson's case. Carter might have been guilty of a much more heinous crime; Wilson was technically guilty of what should have been a relatively insignificant one. Both tried one last-ditch attempt to appeal for freedom, and both (for now) succeeded. Hopefully, Wilson will eventually be let free -- and will be able to salvage his life by becoming a better, more responsible person than he was destined to be in the first place.
In case you don't know this story, you should read this article. That will tell you everything you need to know about the principles in this case, and why this whole episode has been such a travesty.
It highlights the clash in American society between old-school moral fundamentalism, legal gamesmanship and the true definition of justice. Nobody would deny that this kid did some REALLY stupid things. But few would agree that he deserved a minimum 10-year jail sentence for them. Rapists and murderers have received lighter sentences. Had he had sexual intercourse with the girl instead of oral sex, he could only have been charged with a misdemeanor.
A few other things jump out when reading the accounts of this case. Clearly, the prosecutor was a prick who was literally playing legal games with this kids' life. The law he violated was poorly-written, intended to apply to pedophiles, and was so awful that this case helped inspire Georgial lawmakers to re-write the law after Wilson was convicted. In a truly just system, prosecutors shouldn't take great pains to twist the law into discovering new and creative ways to put people in jail. Yet that's exactly what happened here. From a technical standpoint, you can understand the reason for the state's appeal...but does the state's attorney's office really want to appeal THIS case, of all cases? You'd think they'd want to put this case in the rear view as soon as possible.
This case also should challenge certain notions that adults inexplicably acquire once they have kids. It simply should not be illegal for high-school-aged teens to have consentual sex with other high-school-aged teens -- especially when the teens attend the same school. Moral codes are determined by upbringing, surroundings and families - not by he legal system. The legal system is intended to discipline those who come violate laws intended to protect people - yet there was no victim in this case.
The girl consented, and told police that she consented. The girl's mother said her daughter consented. None of this was enough to satisfy the prosecutors. Why? Because according to Georgia law, a 15-year-old cannot consent to have sex with someone over the age of 16 (17, in this case).
And because much of our legal system is extremely patronizing towards women -- and absurdly overprotective of so-called children.
It's time grownups stopped pretending that teenagers are innocent little children that cannot handle adult situations. It's a grey area, but it's not nearly as cut-and-dried as many adults would like it to be. I'm sure many of these same lawmakers and lawyers lost their virginity in high school to other high-schoolers...I wonder which ones did so in situations that could have been classified as 'statutory rape' or "aggravated child molestation."
How quickly these adults forget that not all sex acts involving people under a certain age are crimes involving a victim (usually female, of course) and a predator (usually a caricatured, ravenous male). Young people should be watched out for. They should also learn to make decisions, recover from mistakes, deal with emotional trauma and move on with their lives. And they should live in a society where the punishment fits the crime.
Wilson's case reminds OP a bit of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter's case. Actually, Carter's case wasn't even as cut-and-dried as Wilson's case. Carter might have been guilty of a much more heinous crime; Wilson was technically guilty of what should have been a relatively insignificant one. Both tried one last-ditch attempt to appeal for freedom, and both (for now) succeeded. Hopefully, Wilson will eventually be let free -- and will be able to salvage his life by becoming a better, more responsible person than he was destined to be in the first place.
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