Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Guilty Until Proven Innocent

I heard on the radio that the Illinois man who grabbed a girl’s arm was deemed a sex offender by the state court last week. It happened because the kid ran out in the street without checking for cars and the guy got out of his car to give her a lecture on traffic safety. He never committed actual sex acts against the girl.

So how is he an offender? The court claimed that this act of parenting often leads to rape. Thus he is guilty without even committing a crime.

If the incident happened in one of the several Florida cities with segregation laws, the man would be forced to move to one of the few neighborhoods without a school. This leaves very few choices. That’s a stiff punishment for someone who was just trying to save a kid’s life.

No one thinks sexual offenders are good things for the world to have. But we shouldn’t throw away our core values in a hapless pursuit of a child-proof society.

Check out this editorial for more information.

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