Canada: What counts as a sex crime is too broad and it’s ruining people’s lives
The recent Supreme Court decision in which it was declared unconstitutional to order all sex offenders onto a national registry upon conviction highlights a problem, not with the registry itself, but with the ever-widening scope of what constitutes a sex crime. It’s a sign that Parliament should return to deciding the rules governing sexual offences in Canada rather than leaving it to the judiciary.
Indeed, the dilution of the seriousness of sex crimes is a problem of the Supreme Court’s own making. Rulings over the years have lowered the bar on sex crimes to the point where a conviction just doesn’t carry the significance it used to.
The classic concept of a sex crime covers violent rapes, the sexual assault of unconscious people and the sexual abuse of children — that is, cases in which the line of consent was clearly crossed by the offender. Sex crimes also include grey zone encounters: sex without a condom, sex where both parties are drunk and BDSM, to name a few.
Sexual assaults in the grey zone are still serious, but they can be hard to differentiate from situations where an accusation was made out of anger or regret, or situations of confusion and miscommunication. It can be harder for alleged victims to prove that they didn’t consent, which makes it harder to convict those they accuse.
It’s good there at least discussing it but it’s doubtful they’ll go far enough to actually fix the problem. Too I don’t think Canada is as bad as the USA in putting very minor offenses on the registry.
Sadly, the U.S rarely shadows what other countries do and in fact expect other countries to be more like them. The U.S has become so overly proud of themselves because almost everything we do, other countries follow.
As far as crime we are one of the worst for forgiveness (In the so called civilized World). I am not including countries like Iran that cut off people’s heads. There are rarely do overs or second chances for those convicted in the U.S. That cannot be more so than those convicted of a sex crime. I loved that FAC is sending a letter to the U.N but I have looked and not really found anything that the U.S did because they were pressured by the U.N.
The U.S (Those that control everything) does what they please without any oversight or restraint. I do not know the stats but each year more and more countries distance themselves from us due to this nonsense.
I agree that all “sex offenders” are not violent attacks. I’m speaking for my son who has had his life ruined because he was in a relationship with a girl who was 82 days away from 26 and my son had just turned 19. I do not condone the relationship but she became pregnant and her father and his girlfriend out of anger pressed charges against my son. So now he must register and is called a sexual offender. The laws need to specifically determine if people like my son are dangerous or a threat to society.y son for one is not. And for all sexoffenders to be called a threat is wrong and unfair.
I think you mean she was 82 days away from being 16. That’s a typo FAC could have corrected and still should.
Pleas read the NYT article “Convicted of Sex Crimes with No Victim”. by Michael Winerip This is a multi million dollar business for police departments around the United States.
There is money for arrests and convictions.