Arizona bill would combine child sex trafficking, prostitution statutes

Bad idea. A return to
the 80’s anti- crime bills that filled jails to over crowed, needlessly broke
up families and took judgement away from judges. Where the ease of prosecution and the most
time in ‘the system’ is the goal. Back to
a time when the Department of Corrections became merely a department of detention. This type of lumping one crime with another
is unfair to the offender. This will not
help catch bad guys, it will not deter bad guys and it will hurt low level
offenders, their families and the community, often times for life.

Politicians love sex crime legislation because they can do
no wrong. They get to take a hard line
on crime, make it easy for cops to have high profile arrest numbers and best of
all, fill their friend’s private prisons for years on end. There is no ‘anti-sex crime’ constituency, so
the definition gets broader and once included it’s a small move to make an
offence a ‘child sex crime’. Adding mandatory
minimum sentences is a win for the prison budget, but a loss to the General
Fund, a loss for our judges to decide cases and a loss for those who are
needlessly over sentenced. Life time probation and lifetime registration is warranted
in many cases. However, it must be remembered that this is a
justice system and once justice is served the citizen, who is not a danger,
should be allowed to continue with his or her life.

Lumping adult and child crimes together is a disservice to
the community and grossly unfair to the accused and guilty alike. Child sex crimes need to be separate so they
may be given the attention that a crime against such a vulnerable population
deserves. Consenting adults, violating
community standards, do have to answer for their behavior. Crimes that do not affect children should not
be included with those that do. It takes
resources, clouds the view to pin point and monitor actual offenders against
children and waters down the meaning of child sex offender.

Protecting children and other vulnerable populations,
enforcing community standards and removing violent and deviant people from our
streets is important. But, it is no more
important than upholding the spirit and integrity of our justice system to dispense
justice, correct behavior and allow a citizen to resume his or her role in society
once a reasonable sentence and probationary period has been successfully served.