Feminist Law Professors has an interesting post discussing the plight of Afghani women, some of whom have been jailed for being victims of rape. The article mentioned in the post notes that convictions for escaping from home and illegal sexual relations carry maximum penalties of 10 years and 20 years respectively. According to the article, "[t]hese are two of the most common accusations facing female prisoners in Afghanistan."
One editorial in a Tennessee newspaper argues that the state "needs to get with the program and add juveniles to its public sex offender registry." Tennessee's lack of an Adam Walsh Act-complaint law has been mentioned before. The editorial calls the notion that a young person's entire life should not be ruined because of mistakes made when he was young, "an antiquated idea."
Sentencing Law and Policy has an interesting post discussing sentencing in a child pornography downloading cases. The opinion, which comes out of the Eastern District of Wisconsin, provides "the court's reasons for giving a sentence of five years' imprisonment rather than a much higher sentence recommended by guidelines." You may view the opinion here.
The Green Bay Press Gazette is reporting that "lawmakers and college administrators are trying to shut paroled sex offenders out of ... student neighborhoods near major U.S. universities." Although registered sex offenders are banned from living close to schools and other places frequented by children in more than 23 states, that protection does not extend to the areas surrounding college campuses.
If the Afghani women do not have to register as sex offender their system is "an antiquated idea."
Posted by: | August 23, 2008 at 12:44 PM