One morning in 2007, Leah DuBuc, a twenty-two-year-old college student in Kalamazoo, began writing an essay for English class that she hoped would save her life. She knew that people like her had been beaten, bombed, shot at, killed. The essay aired details about her past that she’d long tried to suppress; by posting it on her class’s server, where anyone who Googled her name could find it, she thought she might be able to quiet the whispers, the threats, and possibly make it easier to find a job. Her story, she warned, “is not a nice one, but hopefully it will have a happy ending.”
DuBuc had grown up in Howell, Michigan, a small town of berry and melon farmers. In high school, she had thrived. She had earned straight A’s, written for the school newspaper, led Students Against Driving Drunk (she voted to change the name to Students Against Destructive Decisions, she says, to stress that “there are lots of bad decisions that can get you killed”), and performed in “Grease” and “Once Upon a Mattress,” while working part time as a cashier at Mary’s Fabulous Chicken & Fish. “High school was bliss for me,” DuBuc said recently. “I tried not to dwell on the stuff that wasn’t good.” But, as she was about to start her freshman year at Western Michigan University, she got a call from a close childhood friend, Victoria, who asked, “Did you know you’re on the public sex-offender registry?”
>Full story below.
>Pic unrelated
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/03/14/when-kids-are-accused-of-sex-crimes
>>28993
>Megan's Law
>Jessica's law
I knew it was going to end up being about that before I even clicked. Agreed that these horrible kneejerk laws need to be revamped. Good but sad in depth journalism there, /news/team, although slightly slanted to the left. Not gonna criticize.
Wow. I looked at this thread because it had a picture of a character from one of my favorite anime, and ended up reading something really long and heavy. Thanks for sharing. This isn't something I had thought about often, but I'll remember this.
>>29017
I really think this might be one of the first anime picture ever posted on /news/. I can't remember another one tbh. A momentous occasion!
Americans view kneejerk overreactions as a national sport. Climbing up the drapes in a hysterical outburst every time a proverbial mouse creeps across the floor
I hate this country's "justice" system. I really do.
>>29050
Let me give you a little tidbit of my wizard knowledge. It's revenge, not justice. Real justice would be rehabilitation with slight undertones of punishment, not pure punishment.
>>29035
holy fuck well said
>>29054
Okay, you deserve kudos for not going straight to the burgers :~DDDDDDDDDD meme!
>>28993
There's a lot of things they aren't saying in that article, a lot of details that are obviously left out because they might damage the sympathy they're trying to generate.
I agree that the court system is flawed, and there are a lot of fucked up things that happen to innocent people, but I also know when I'm being told half the story.
I consider myself lucky to not have my life ruined by this sort of shit. I did a lot of stuff as a child, a lot of sexual experimentation with other children and in one case what could be considered rape.
My last two gfs, I told about some things as a sort of full disclosure. Like I trust you and am telling you that this is something I've done that I regret and have no intention of doing again. They didn't take it well. One of them actually didn't want me around her nieces/nephews because of my admission. I am no longer going to disclose that sort of information because I've learned that I can't actually trust people.
>>29067
>but I also know when I'm being told half the story.
While true, it's pretty apparent the legal response has been wildly inappropriate.
Convincing a 10-year old to plead guilty to a higher crime so that she may leave her home in absence of any guardian is pretty fucking deplorable. A 10-year old isn't going to be able to figure out what's really at stake or what such a deal truly means for her.
The meat of the story is that the court and legal system is flawed, and that part is absolutely rock solid.
>>29068
I remember when I was a kid my friends and I would play doctor all the time. Our legal system scares me.
>>28993
>Pic unrelated
Yeah right.
>>28993
Hur Hur Hur....Melons!
>>29073
The problem is automatic legal mechanisms provided by scared citizens and fear mongering politicians, like removing the discretion of judges and forcing them to impose minimum sentences. It is the removal of authoritative discretion that makes things like these public lists bad. Sometimes individual authority figures make mistakes, but they are subject to peer and public review in a way that impassioned yet wrongheaded laws are not, and so much more damage can come from bad institutional policy than a single bad actor.
But seriously, find a better candidate to be the poster child or risk losing the core argument to the distrust of a readership that can read between the lines.
>>28993
This gave me feels. Feelsbadman.
>>29334
>But seriously, find a better candidate to be the poster child or risk losing the core argument to the distrust of a readership that can read between the lines.
A better "candidate" would just be a review of the statistics, it'd be quite difficult to find a specific person to fill the role that can't be dismissed as an outlier. Unfortunately this issue deals in shades of grey, so you can't make a simple black/white story out of it without glossing over a few details.
Besides, the New Yorker readership is a special demographic. This article was written for those people who pride themselves for reading between the lines yet can also turn a blind eye when necessary.
>>28993
I want to commit sexual crimes with Saten.
>>29027
That's not true since I've used a couple. Generally for anime related articles, though, like a guy getting arrested for uploading it.
>>29545
I wanted to check all the OP images posted but apparently not a single archiver archives /news/ right now.
Is it because Fuuka's not compatible with textboards or something?
>"women against the sex register"
Men can suck a dick? Women can suck it too.
Excuse me, but what the fuck is wrong with America? Sending middle schoolers to court and then what pretty much counts as prison for showing their bits to other kids is bad enough, but this registry thing is insane. You condemn a kid to being an outcast, put him up there with adult rapists and pedos, for doing something they couldn't possibly understand at the time. This is a violation of human rights.
>send pictures of yourself
>get arrested
The government sure loves protecting kids, right?
>>29590
>Excuse me, but what the fuck is wrong with America?
>be a politician
>want to fix the justice system
>have an election opponent
>opponent runs an ad
>HE WANTS TO LET PEDOPHILES OFF THE HOOK!!
>never get elected to anything ever again
>>29667
Hey its better than the absolute government providence that nations in europe and asian get.
>wah! I committed a sexual crime when I was young and didn't expect to receive consequences! Pls feel sorry for me
lmao it's pedos everytime
>>30275
>10 year olds should be punished for life
T. Someone who has never been around children
>>29590
>"human rights"
>implying that even exists
>>29719
You dont even have democratic elections how can you make this claim
>>28993
Those registry lists wouldn't be so problematic if there were only persons on them who committed crimes, not "crimes" or ""crimes""... or even """"""crimes"""""".
And 10 years for a teen having sex with another teen is just absurd. Some really sad stories
