Thursday links.
Roman Polanski apologists suck. That is all I have to say on that particular topic.
Here I have two articles on different sex offenders that I think are a little bit less black-and-white.
This article outlines a view that I'd never even considered -- that Sex Offender Registries might not actually be such a good thing.
One woman in the article performed oral sex on a fellow student when she was in high school. She was 17 and he was 16, so she was tried, convicted and placed on the Sex Offender Registry
Ms Whitaker’s name, photograph and address are easily accessible online, along with the information that she was convicted of “sodomy”. The website does not explain what she actually did. But since it describes itself as a list of people who have “been convicted of a criminal offence against a victim who is a minor or any dangerous sexual offence”, it makes it sound as if she did something terrible to a helpless child. She sees people whispering, and parents pulling their children indoors when she walks by.
All that because of one stupid childhood mistake.
What Ms Whitaker did is no longer a crime in Georgia. The state’s sodomy laws, which in 1996 barred oral sex even between willing spouses, were struck down by court rulings in 1998 and 2003.
WHAAAAAAAAT.
So laws get harsher and harsher. But that does not necessarily mean they get better. If there are thousands of offenders on a registry, it is harder to keep track of the most dangerous ones.
Laws get harsher because nobody wants to be seen as "easy on sex offenders". Some of these laws are so unwieldy that they don't work, though, which sucks because a) in many places there's no distinction made between someone who got caught urinating in public and someone who preys on children and b) because it might actually not be technically feasible to stop the people on this burgeoning list from living near schools or what-have-you, so the law is a waste of time.
Don't get me wrong. I rate child molesters and abusers right up there on my "people I'd like to kick in the face" list. Chasing after people who pee in public and allocating less time to people who (in my eyes) really offend isn't such a priority.
Another article:
This relates to that case where two parents who took photos of their children in the bath were accused of being child pornographers.
Aren't the worse offenders the ones who are the least obvious? Is some kiddie porn kingpin really going to rock up to the Kodak shop to print their photos?
Mysterious Private Security Firm Gets Control Of Empty Jail In Small Montana Town
This is totally like something out of a movie starring Matt Damon (with Russell Crowe as a supporting actor).
Increase in sea levels due to global warming could lead to 'ghost states'
This evening I'm looking up ukulele covers on Youtube to listen to as I "work". (And I feel too tired and deadline-free to do anything very useful, so I'll probably edit some fic.
See also:
This really cool cover of "Sweet Child Of Mine", which AFAIK far surpasses the original in terms of head-bangin' awesome.
Another of "Rehab" by Amy Winehouse. This girl is so cute. Here she is doing "Harder, Better, Faster" by Daft Punk.
Amusing cover of Ring of Fire.
Here of course is the wonderful Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain doing "Smells Like Teen Spirit".
That's enough time-wasting for now.
Here I have two articles on different sex offenders that I think are a little bit less black-and-white.
This article outlines a view that I'd never even considered -- that Sex Offender Registries might not actually be such a good thing.
One woman in the article performed oral sex on a fellow student when she was in high school. She was 17 and he was 16, so she was tried, convicted and placed on the Sex Offender Registry
Ms Whitaker’s name, photograph and address are easily accessible online, along with the information that she was convicted of “sodomy”. The website does not explain what she actually did. But since it describes itself as a list of people who have “been convicted of a criminal offence against a victim who is a minor or any dangerous sexual offence”, it makes it sound as if she did something terrible to a helpless child. She sees people whispering, and parents pulling their children indoors when she walks by.
All that because of one stupid childhood mistake.
What Ms Whitaker did is no longer a crime in Georgia. The state’s sodomy laws, which in 1996 barred oral sex even between willing spouses, were struck down by court rulings in 1998 and 2003.
WHAAAAAAAAT.
So laws get harsher and harsher. But that does not necessarily mean they get better. If there are thousands of offenders on a registry, it is harder to keep track of the most dangerous ones.
Laws get harsher because nobody wants to be seen as "easy on sex offenders". Some of these laws are so unwieldy that they don't work, though, which sucks because a) in many places there's no distinction made between someone who got caught urinating in public and someone who preys on children and b) because it might actually not be technically feasible to stop the people on this burgeoning list from living near schools or what-have-you, so the law is a waste of time.
Don't get me wrong. I rate child molesters and abusers right up there on my "people I'd like to kick in the face" list. Chasing after people who pee in public and allocating less time to people who (in my eyes) really offend isn't such a priority.
Another article:
This relates to that case where two parents who took photos of their children in the bath were accused of being child pornographers.
Aren't the worse offenders the ones who are the least obvious? Is some kiddie porn kingpin really going to rock up to the Kodak shop to print their photos?
Mysterious Private Security Firm Gets Control Of Empty Jail In Small Montana Town
This is totally like something out of a movie starring Matt Damon (with Russell Crowe as a supporting actor).
Increase in sea levels due to global warming could lead to 'ghost states'
This evening I'm looking up ukulele covers on Youtube to listen to as I "work". (And I feel too tired and deadline-free to do anything very useful, so I'll probably edit some fic.
See also:
This really cool cover of "Sweet Child Of Mine", which AFAIK far surpasses the original in terms of head-bangin' awesome.
Another of "Rehab" by Amy Winehouse. This girl is so cute. Here she is doing "Harder, Better, Faster" by Daft Punk.
Amusing cover of Ring of Fire.
Here of course is the wonderful Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain doing "Smells Like Teen Spirit".
That's enough time-wasting for now.