MANY TEENS DON'T KNOW THE LAW
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WELCOME TO OPERATION AWARENESS
Many Teens Don't Know the Law About Sex
"I think there is a view now that 'hey, maybe we overdid it on the sex offender registry,'" - Larry Landis, executive director of the Indiana Public Defender Council.
10/31/2007
ATLANTA (AP) — The tough Georgia law that sent Genarlow Wilson to prison for having oral sex with a fellow teenager has been watered down. But in Georgia — and in many other states — it's still a crime for teenagers to have sex, even if they're close in age.
Legal experts say it's rare for prosecutors to seek charges. But, as the Wilson case illustrates, they can and sometimes do.
And the rising popularity of sex offender registries can often mean that a teen nabbed for nonviolent contact with someone a year or two younger might face the same public stigma as a dangerous sexual predator.
"It's ludicrous," Wilson's lawyer B.J. Bernstein said. "In order to look tough on crime they (lawmakers) are criminalizing teen sex."
Wilson was freed Friday after the Georgia Supreme Court found that the 10-year mandatory sentence he received for having oral sex with a 15-year-old girl at a New Year's Eve party in 2003 when he was 17 was cruel and unusual punishment. He had served almost three years in prison.
Georgia's law has since been rewritten to make the same act a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in prison.
Across the country, ages of consent range from 14 to 18.
Click below for full article:
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iT8Qn_ZVjeHoQtON4fS0FxGSIr6AD8SJ6A180
