Sex Offender Sentencing : The Eighth Wonder of the World

It’s one of those things that make you say “Hmmmmm, How do they do that?”

It’s a mystery to me how sex offender sentencing is calculated.

Here’s two recent examples of sex offender cases and their outcomes. Does it make any sense to you?

The first is a non-contact offense most people are probably familiar with .

Former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner received a 21 month prison sentence for sexting with a 15 yr. old. He also has to pay a $10,000 fine, have his internet use monitored once he completes his sentencing, he must attend a sex offender treatment program and of course, he will have to register as a sex offender.

He could have received a 27 month sentence but it looks like he got some leniency from the judge. Even though Weiner and the girl engaged in Snapchat, Skype and obscene pictures were sent back and forth, there was no physical contact.

The second is a contact offense.

In Knoxville TN,  27 year old Kelsey McCarter who had sex multiple times (6 statutory rape charges) with a 16 yr old boy who was in her care at the time, received a 3 yr. prison sentence. She will be eligible for release after serving just 30% of her sentence which means she’ll be out in 10.8 months, and I assume, on the registry..

She was facing 38 years in prison, but because she pleaded guilty, she was given the lighter sentence. (But if you ask me, a 3 yr. sentence isn’t even in the same ballpark as a 38 yr. sentence!)

You really have to wonder how in the world sex offender sentencing is decided. It makes no sense to me.

A rationally thinking person would assume that a contact offense would be given a much harsher sentence then a non-contact offense, right?

I’m no lawyer, but apparently that’s not the way it works in the “fairy tale” land of justice.

It’s not  that I don’t understand how  judges arrive at the sentences they dole out, I know they have guidelines they have to follow.

What I wonder is, how did the law for sex offenses get so screwed up that a non-contact offense gets nearly the same sentence if not less, than a contact offense?

Does this happen with other crimes?  If you steal a few dollars from someone’s wallet while it’s sitting on a counter would you get the same sentence as if you shot, killed and then stole their wallet?  Probably not, right? So why then, in sex offense cases, do contact and non-contact offenses seem to get similar punishments?

In both these cases the defendants said they were “terribly sorry” for the wrong that they’d done.

One defendant had the loving support of her husband throughout the trial, the other, well, you know, not so much.

In the case of the young woman, her lawyer said, “she made a mistake, she’ll move past it, she’s young.” (I wonder if her lawyer mentioned to her that “moving past it” can be difficult on the registry?)

In the case of Anthony Weiner, ” he has a deep sickness” according to his lawyers. (So, obviously in this country, our “treatment” for those with a “deep sickness”, is prison.)

I don’t understand how a contact offense gets knocked down from 38 years to 3 years and then ultimately to 10.8 months and a non-contact offense only gets bumped down from 27 months to 21 months.

How and when did our justice system become that off kilter?

And since when did those committing contact and non-contact offenses become equally culpable?

It’s a Wonder of Wonders if you ask me!

 

 

 

 

2 thoughts on “Sex Offender Sentencing : The Eighth Wonder of the World

  • September 29, 2017 at 3:21 pm
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    It seems it started in 1938 when the American common law justice system was completely replaced with commercial courts operating under the law of the sea/see, Admiralty/ Maritime/ Statutory law. Which does not bind the non commercial living souls born on American soil. De facto courts replaced those of the De jure and it is up to the American people to get their own courts back up and running again.

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  • September 29, 2017 at 12:38 am
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    It’s the same stupidity that brings us much harsher sentences for contact via computer versus contact via telephone or in person. Despite the Internet now being as ubiquitous as the telephone in our daily lives, the punishment is much more for using it and there are many overlapping laws you will be charged with for Internet use. They will also take it away while on parole though they don’t take away non-smartphones for those who used a phone.

    Look at how those caught with porn or those entrapped in police stings are handled the same and often times harsher than those who had actually made contact with a real victim. It’s completely nuts!

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