Texas Governor (and potential seceder) Rick Perry vetoed a bill which would have given young sex offenders the opportunity to have their names removed from the state sex offender registry. From the El Paso Times:
Aaron Jernigan had just started college at age 18 and was planning a career as a music teacher when he met a girl at a party and his whole world changed.
Now 25, Jernigan finished a four-year prison sentence instead of a four-year degree.
He is trying to get on with his life, but a year out of prison he still cannot find work and has had to move twice because he will forever carry with him the black mark of a registered sex offender.
"I was pretty much just a regular old kid in high school," he said. "And they kinda threw away the key on me."
Last week, Gov. Rick Perry vetoed a bill that would have given people such as Jernigan the chance to try to have their names removed from the Texas sex offender registry. Perry said the measure approved by legislators failed to protect young victims.
For Jernigan and other sex offenders like him, who got involved with young people close to their own age, the veto was a disappointment and a setback.
Now 25, Jernigan finished a four-year prison sentence instead of a four-year degree.
He is trying to get on with his life, but a year out of prison he still cannot find work and has had to move twice because he will forever carry with him the black mark of a registered sex offender.
"I was pretty much just a regular old kid in high school," he said. "And they kinda threw away the key on me."
Last week, Gov. Rick Perry vetoed a bill that would have given people such as Jernigan the chance to try to have their names removed from the Texas sex offender registry. Perry said the measure approved by legislators failed to protect young victims.
For Jernigan and other sex offenders like him, who got involved with young people close to their own age, the veto was a disappointment and a setback.
If Texas is seeking to comply with SORNA, I'm not sure that this outcome wasn't inevitable.
H/T: Sentencing Law & Policy.
Recent Comments