Lisa Ling to feature “Age of Consent” on CNN’s ‘This is Life’
Lisa Ling CNN special on Teen Sex Offenders
This Sunday, at 10PM EST, CNN will air ‘This is Life, with Lisa Ling’
This week’s topic is “Age of Consent” and it talks about the legal and social consequences of convicting adolescents and young adults of sex offenses; when teenage sexuality crosses the line and becomes a crime.
How Sex Offender Laws Impact Teens
The trailer features someone convicted for transmitting images of child pornography… of himself… when he was a minor.
The issue of registering minors as “sex offenders” is one that has been studied extensively and hopefully this TV report will present a true perspective.
Talk about prosecutors going for the “easy convictions” of “sexting” & teens having CONSENSUAL sex INSTEAD of addressing the VERY REAL VIOLENCE of RAPE. About 5% of ACTUAL RAPISTS ever see a jail cell. Most women & girls are NOT BELIEVED—or are believed but, told “we can’t prove your case”–so, NOTHING IS DONE—& the rapists continue. Laws that make teens “sex offenders” for SEXTING & CONSENSUAL SEX should be CHANGED. The protect no one from ACTUAL sex crimes—& are HARMING YOUTH.
I agree with your points Lydia (although not sure about the 5% of rapists and exactly how you define the label rapist). However, current sex offenders laws are wrong and do not keep the public safer at all – regardless of the scenario. Being branded for life is unacceptable regardless of age. After a debt is paid to society it should be over.
Easy convictions are the game, when a prosecutor is up for appointment or election as a District Attorney, they quickly boast their “conviction rate” to prove they have handled crimes appropriately, But it’s a blanket number, How many convictions are of the type of easy cases, DUI’s are an easy case, and often put up as a plea mill, so 98 DUI Cases and 2 Not Guilty Verdicts for other offenses give a 98% conviction rate. Prosecutors have the authority to pick and choose what cases they want to take. So they can avoid cases that they don’t feel they will win. However with most cases most people cannot afford a defense attorney, and are subject to Public Defenders who are overwhelmed and pressured into plea deals, Liberty and Justice for all, should be changed to Liberty and Justice to those who can afford it. As far as children go, parents always have someone to blame for their kids poor decisions, but not themselves. I feel for anyone who is dating or has teenagers in todays world. You have consensual sex with someone, and it dosen’t work out boom your a sex offender. And similarly like this case the defendant was facing up to 40 years in prison, If the allegations proved false, the punishment is much less, and often goes unpunished, If he was found not guilty it has already ruined his reputation, and will follow him for the rest of his life,
This is horrendous that children are being labeled as sex offenders. The parents of the daughter in Wisconsin in this particular case need to turn their focus to their daughter and teach her to make better choices VS blaming another young child and ruining his life. Those parents should be ashamed of ruining zach’s Life because they are ashamed of their own daughter. The young girl will do this again and again knowing she can always play the victim and get away with it. The young girl and the mother destroy the creditability of women and girls who are actually raped and violated.
I agree. With regards to “Blake” from Minnesota, I’m disgusted this child is a registered sex offender. He sent a text of his genitalia to a girl and her parents calley the police. Why didn’t they confront his parents first before call in the police? This poor kids future is jeapordized because of this. Shame on her parents.
I totally agree. I saw Lisa’s show air again this evening, 10/16/2021, and it made me just as mad as it did several years ago. In particular, I really disliked the Asst DA’s attitude and comments. I looked her up and she herself was found guilty of mishandling her duties while Asst DA and resigned in 2018. Good. She should never have gone after that young man the way she did. The law is absurd.
I wonder how that state treats a case with the genders are opposite. Meaning there is a 17-year-old female and a 14-year-old male? Wondering how that would play out?..in any case it’s just sad sad sad!
Thank you for this program! We will share with our daughter and son-in-law to share with our 15year old grandson. So much critical information that most teens and their parents are not aware of!!
We would love to see this broadcast promoted in schools and shared with girls and boys and their parents no later than at 12years and repeated periodically thru high school into college.
Thank you.
B and T
I agree.
I thought this was a good show. It at the very least showed the general public the other side.
I hope the kid survives. He was looking at 40 years and was suicidal. He’s just a kid himself.
The problem is that the American national psyche is schizophrenic.
One one hand we have the most sexually repressed puritanical religious based government of any developed country…and yet we like to pretend we have a liberal advanced and open society that is color blind, has equality for all, and freedom of speech.
We have a larger percentage of our population locked up than any other country. We are spied on by our government 24/7 and yet we have freedom.
The only thing free is modern America is freedom from common sense and rational thought!
Given the circumstances of this case, and if I were a juror, it would have been a hung jury. I could not, in good conscience, convict a boy of a felony who received consent to engage is sex from another teen, albeit a teen 3 years younger than. And to the parents of the girl, if given a chance, I would want to say to the them, that regardless of their disappointment in their daughter, the boy with whom she had sex, and the sentence he received, they should try to separate themselves from the situation, and reflect upon who they were in HS. Both of these kids made poor choice, but the law is less rigid in almost 90% of US States, as well as in other developed nations. The only discretion allowed was with the jury and the judge, and the judge made a reasonable decision in this matter.
If fourteen year olds are adults then get rid of statutory rape altogether. Let fourteen year olds sign contracts, drink alcohol and join the armed services. Not mature enough for that? Where is the disconnect. Those patriarchal mothers protecting their “BOYS” would not be so forgiving if a grown man were raping their sons. But when the bible lauds a god that is also a pedophile rapist (Mary was a virgin around fourteen years old and she also didn’t consent) you can see why some folks are okay with it. If you believe sending one photo deserve a stricter sentence than the one who actually put hands on and raped then our daughters are in deadly trouble. Lisa Ling mentioning the female juror outside that cried for the boy and saw him as the victim. Ling mentioned she wouldn’t want a dick photo sent to her daughters, and by ommission didn’t object to a man coming to her house to statutory rape her daughters. Is she saying all girls are free game and we should feel sorry for the rapists. Lets not let our young men rape our girls for sport. And as women we need to defend our interests not theirs.
What a heartbreaking story. This episode should be shown in every junior high and high school across the country, it is that important. I am horrified for this young man and his future. He should become a speaker and advocate for what has happened to him to change the law.
I just watched this for the first time and it made me sick and angry just as many have commented above. I agree with Joe. If I was on the jury, it would have been a hung jury. The law is wrong and the jury was the last line of defense. What I would like to know is how is Zach today? I tried to google him but could not find anything about him. I hope he and his mother are doing well. That prosecutor was disgusting. I see above she resigned. What is she doing now? Hopefully nothing with kids. This story moved me. What organizations are there out there that I can join/support to fight such injustice?