If you never read anything from me read this. If you live in Texas as much of my family do consider the wisdom of exposing a boy to this state's vicious, lunatic laws. If you live elsewhere check out how evil yours are. And I like Texas. The United States various governments have become obscene in their cruelty and brutality. And the thing is: it appears 'respectable' people don't care.
But before I arrived, I got a phone call from a soft-spoken, super-articulate young man, Joshua Gravens, who is a Soros Justice Scholar based in Dallas. His specialty is the injustice of the sex offender registry and the fact that it isn't making kids any safer (see this study and this article). He is also a registered sex offender and invited me to come with him to the conference. Who could resist?
Josh became a sex offender at age 12. That's when he touched his sister's vagina, twice. His sister told their mom, Josh said it was true (he was too embarrassed at the time to mention that he himself had been raped as a young boy by three local high school kids), and their mom called a counseling service for advice. The counsellor said Josh's mother was required to report his crime to the authorities and the next day, he was arrested.
He spent the next four years in juvenile prison: the Texas Youth Commission, as it is officially called.
The charge was “aggravated sexual assault,” because any sex offense against a person under age 14 is automatically “aggravated.” He got out at age 16 and was put on the sex offender registry, which, in Dallas, requires him to report in person to the authorities once a year, as well as anytime anything in his life changes.
Today he is 27, married with children, and smiley. We met up, had a jolly breakfast (except for the fact he said he felt too pudgy to start a speaking tour), and then we went off to the registry, because his family had just moved to a new house,and he had to let the state know no more than seven days after the move.
Just as the detective in the nondescript office finished typing this information into the system and Josh and I were about to go to lunch, a man with a beard and a badge strode up and said, “Joshua Gravens?”
“Yes.”
“You are under arrest for not alerting the authorities to your new address.” He whipped out handcuffs. “Put your hands behind your back.”
As the man tightened the cuffs, Josh calmly explained he was registering his new address that very minute.
“The law says you you have to register the fact you are going to move seven days before the move, too.”
“I think you're mistaken,” said Josh, as pleasantly as if discussing the weather.
“I was told to arrest you,” was the reply, and that was that. Josh handed me his car keys and followed the man out to his van along with a handcuffed woman who was crying. She was going to jail for having listed her address as a hotel when she actually lives in her car in front of the hotel.
Fucking church ladies. It inconceivable that any decent man or woman would continue to be employed in law enforcement after witnessing these evil laws. If there are any decent policemen or prosecutors any more, given that these laws would turn anyone enforcing them into beasts.
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