THE LUNSFORD PARADOX CONTINUES

May 29, 2007:  On February 24, 2005, 9 year old Jessica Lunsford went missing from her Florida home which she shared with her father, Mark and her grandparents. She was later found murdered, her body wrapped in garbage bags, hastily buried just a few yards from her own home. Her killer, John Evander Couey,  was convicted earlier this year for the rape and murder of Jessica and has been sentenced to death. Mr. Couey was a registered sex offender with a 23 year long criminal history for a variety of offenses, from DUI, to burglary, unlawful sexual contact with a minor, and just about everything in between. He was a homeless, jobless, drug abusing wanderer with absolutely nothing left to lose. He had asked for help long before killing Jessica, but he never got it.

After his daughter’s death, Mark Lunsford took to the streets demanding harsher sentences and punishments for registered sex offenders, stating "I can't get my hands on the guy that murdered my daughter so I've made it my job to make the rest of these sexual offenders and predators' lives miserable, as miserable as I can." 

He quickly established the Jessica Marie Lunsford Foundation, collecting contributions to facilitate his lobbying efforts all across the country. As of this writing 30 states have now passed some version of “Jessica’s Law”, a law named in her memory.

Unfortunately, Mr. Lunsford was so blinded by his anger and rage that he may have inadvertently bit off his nose despite his face as his very own son now stands to suffer the wrath of the litany of ill thought out, punitive, and vengeful laws. Laws which, for the Lunsford family have now come full circle.

On May 18, 2007 Joshua D. Lunsford age 18, son of Mark Lunsford and brother of Jessica Lunsford, was arrested in Clark County Ohio on a felony charge of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor. He has been released on $5,000.00 bond. The charge stems from an incident involving his girlfriend who is 14. The legal age of consent in Ohio is 16.

Court documents reveal what countless others across the nation do, that Joshua and his girlfriend are nothing more than a modern day Romeo and Juliett. Joshua did not force himself upon this young girl, she consented (albeit illegally). It is apparent that, for whatever reason, the young girl’s parents did not approve of Joshua. They warned him on numerous occasions to stay away from their daughter and had threatened that if he continued to come around they would press charges because their daughter was in fact a minor.

If convicted of the felony charge, Joshua Lunsford will not only face many years in prison, but also life as a registered sex offender. He will bear the same label as John Couey, the monster that murdered his little sister Jessica. He will also have to bear the burden and consequences of the sex offender legislation that his own father, Mark Lunsford has fought so very hard for. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. This has to be a wake up call of extreme magnitude for Mark Lunsford and my heart goes out to him. He must know that his son’s life is forever ruined because he will be forced to pay the “collective” price for everyone’s sex crimes, including John Couey’s, instead of simply his own. Perhaps while Mr. Lunsford still has the spotlight he can draw attention to this grave disparity in sex offender laws and punishment. While it may be too late to save little Jessica, he might still have a chance at saving his son.  It would certainly be a step in the right direction and one that is long overdue.

While I don’t condone or advocate teen sex, I do consider myself a realist. I have a 14 year old daughter too and can tell you first hand that teens do in fact have a sex drive and some of them do and will have sex regardless of whether or not it is legal, against their parents wishes, or what is in their best interests. This is nothing new or deviant.

Teens have been having sex since time began and in the not too distant past it would be considered more abnormal than not if a young woman reached her 18^th birthday and was not married.

It is hard to believe that here in the 21^st century we are still resorting to “shaming” and “collective” forms of punishment which is what registering as a sex offender is really all about, and incarcerating people for consensual activity. Lumping people together under one stereotypical label which more often than not doesn’t even begin to reflect the “crime” for which one was actually guilty of is a crime in and of itself..

If convicted, Joshua will join a growing number of thousands of young men and women across the nation that bear the child molester label (i.e. Registered Sex Offender). He will have to abide by residency restrictions, and registration requirements, and may even be forced into homelessness, joblessness, and hopelessness. Why? How will doing that to him, like we have so many others before him, make our world a better or safer place? It is high time we, as Americans, pull our heads out of the sand and say enough! Don’t wait until it happens to your child. Think it can’t? I’ll bet Mark Lunsford used to think the same thing up until a few weeks ago.

operationawareness.com

5/29/2007