LAKE MONROE, FLORIDA – April 7, 2014
You hear it all the time; a man gets caught soliciting an
underage girl and the public cries out! He’s called a “monster”, a “predator”.
Chances are he will spend several years in prison and live the rest of his life
labeled as a pariah; a “registered sex offender”. Unless, of course, the man is
politically or socially connected.
We recently saw two examples of the double standard when it
comes to prosecuting individuals for sex offenses. Last week actor James
Franco, 35, solicited an underage girl on vacation. The series of texts and
Instagram messages were publicly broadcast when the teenager posted them
online. He apologized for the incident on Live With Kelly and Michael, said he
learned his lesson and seemingly will be allowed to go on with his life. Two
weeks ago, a former Tennessee Alderman, Richard L. Smith, was sentenced to only
two years probation and only two years on the registry for also soliciting a
minor through texts and social media.
What distinguished the actions of these two individuals from
the thousands who serve long prison sentences and a lifetime as a sexual
offender? Their political and social connections.
The most glaring examples are Joshua Lunsford and John Walsh
themselves. Joshua Lunsford is the brother of Jessica Lunsford, who was
abducted and killed in 2005 and after whom several sex offender laws are named.
Two years after her death Joshua Lunsford was sentenced to only 10 days in jail,
one year of probation and no registration requirement for fondling a 14 year
old girl. John Walsh, father of Adam Walsh, another child victim and after whom
the country’s most elaborate sex offender law is named, admitted to dating his
wife when she was a minor. He even joked about it on a Biography Channel
documentary.
Florida is not without its own double standard. In 2006,
Florida Congressman Mark Foley, who was chairman of the House Caucus on Missing
and Exploited Children, which introduced legislation targeting sexual predators
and created stricter guidelines for tracking them, himself was caught in a
sexting scandal targeting an underage congressional page. He was never charged.
Apparently, in America justice is not blind. It’s not what
you did that determines whether you should serve a lifetime of punishment,
stigma and shame on the sex offender registry, it’s who you know.
Florida
Action Committee (FAC), founded in 2006, is a state-wide consortium
of concerned citizens and professionals whose purpose is to promote the
prevention of sexual abuse while preserving the safety and dignity of all
citizens through carefully structured laws targeting the truly violent, forced,
and/or dangerous predatory acts of sex. FAC believes that many aspects of the
current approach to sex offenders seriously undermine justice and actually
increase the threat of sexual assault against others, particularly children.
FAC opposes a publicized registry of sex offenders and seeks to bring an end to
the humiliation of people who have already paid for their crimes. FAC asserts
that only by supporting justice for all people—offenders and victims alike can
a truly safe society be built and secured for all Americans.
