Shades of Gray

For me, issues are seldom black and white. Seems like there are lots of variables no matter what the situation and I can usually think of them.

Keeping track of sex offenders always seemed fairly cut and dry. In fact, the registry is a minor penalty. Truth be known I would actually want to cut off their genitals, but maybe that's just me.

Except for this story I read in the Post Dispatch on Sunday. Here's the link if you care to read the entire article.
http://tinyurl.com/awjjb

In a nutshell.... it was 1993 and this guy was 18. He had consensual sex with a 13 year old. He didn't realize she was 13. She was apparently sexually active and dressed well above her biological age. I can see this happening as I knew girls like that. Not me of course, I was the chubby nerd girl with coke bottle glasses and braces on my teeth. Despite my raging hormones, no one would have ever wanted to have sex with me at age 13.

Once the guy found out how young she was, he went to her mother and apologized. The Mom forgave him. The girl's aunt, on the other hand, went to the police and some deal was cut where he would plead guilty then serve probation for 2 years at which time he was supposed to get a clean slate.

So this guy does the probation, goes on to college, gets married, has 2 kids, becomes a police officer. His wife has a small daycare operation in their home. They are living a good life.

But the whole clean slate thing didn't work out. He ended up on the Sex Offender registry of several states. He lost his job, his wife was ordered to close down her job and now he can't visit his kids at their school.

It seems sad to me, like there should be some way to cut this guy a break. I guess I didn't really imagine myself rooting for a "sex offender." But it seems black and white to me.