Interestingly most countries in Europe have an age of consent of 14, so a 'sex offender' in Latvia, where the age of consent is 16, wouldn't be branded a 'sex offender' next door in 'Lithuania' where the age of consent is 14.
Though note how the Vatican State has an age of consent at 12 - I wonder why they'd favour that?
And California has an age of consent of 18. I wonder how many Californians have sex before the age of 18? How many Californians on this message board had sex before the age of 18? Does that make these people 'sex offenders', or worse, 'pedophiles'?
All seems slightly arbitrary and absurd to me.
I think this shouldn't be limited to "sex-offenders".
In Norway we have this sentencing known as "detainment" (my translation), where if the crime you have done is bad and brutal enough, you won't be released at the end of it unless psychiatrists will vouch for you as safe to return to society.
This is used rarely, but in one prominent case where two men raped and killed a little girl they used it. More controversially, they also used it in a case of a high-profile robbery of a cash-central by several masked men (Real Hollywood style) where a police officer was shot and killed during the escape. They were presented as sociopaths and thus eligible for detainment, which were handed to several of them. I guess that also shows how extremely rare it is for police officers to get killed in service in Norway, and how strongly we react to it.
So, I'm all for a sort of detainment, but not on the grounds of the type of crime in itself, but based on the person's fitness in being returned to society. And reserved for really brutal crimes to be used at all.
Also, note that in Norway, we actually have a paragraph about the consent age that says "unless of similar age and development", meaning those hysterical parent-payback cases we hear about from the US in the 18-15 situation, isn't a crime here. A dash of common sense right there.
Peace
Dan
"YOU [humans] NEED TO BELIEVE IN THINGS THAT AREN'T TRUE. HOW ELSE CAN THEY BECOME?" - Death
"Every judgment teeters on the brink of error. To claim absolute knowledge is to become monstrous. Knowledge is an unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty." - Frank Herbert, Dune, 1965
Comments
Though note how the Vatican State has an age of consent at 12 - I wonder why they'd favour that?
And California has an age of consent of 18. I wonder how many Californians have sex before the age of 18? How many Californians on this message board had sex before the age of 18? Does that make these people 'sex offenders', or worse, 'pedophiles'?
All seems slightly arbitrary and absurd to me.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ages_of_consent_in_Europe
In Norway we have this sentencing known as "detainment" (my translation), where if the crime you have done is bad and brutal enough, you won't be released at the end of it unless psychiatrists will vouch for you as safe to return to society.
This is used rarely, but in one prominent case where two men raped and killed a little girl they used it. More controversially, they also used it in a case of a high-profile robbery of a cash-central by several masked men (Real Hollywood style) where a police officer was shot and killed during the escape. They were presented as sociopaths and thus eligible for detainment, which were handed to several of them. I guess that also shows how extremely rare it is for police officers to get killed in service in Norway, and how strongly we react to it.
So, I'm all for a sort of detainment, but not on the grounds of the type of crime in itself, but based on the person's fitness in being returned to society. And reserved for really brutal crimes to be used at all.
Also, note that in Norway, we actually have a paragraph about the consent age that says "unless of similar age and development", meaning those hysterical parent-payback cases we hear about from the US in the 18-15 situation, isn't a crime here. A dash of common sense right there.
Peace
Dan
"Every judgment teeters on the brink of error. To claim absolute knowledge is to become monstrous. Knowledge is an unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty." - Frank Herbert, Dune, 1965
You don't have much faith in "Innocent until proven guilty," do you?