Yes, he can be a welder, or a truck driver. I can not think of better occupations for someone who was previously studying computer science.<p>/s<p>The sex offender registry is, well, offending. It negates the concept of serving a sentence - it's a life sentence whose impacts are ridiculously out of scale with the original offense. "Sorry, you peed on a statue. Enjoy being on the list for the rest of your life!"<p>It's sad that the advice most often given to those looking to move on with their lives is to move out of country.
Aside from the multiple levels of stupidity involved with these registries, it's (sadly not really) amazing to me that the judge and prosecutor in this case essentially admit that they feel good about ruining this young man's entire life simply because they personally believe it's icky and immoral for people to have casual sex.<p>(And they're using <i>apps</i>! On them smartphones! On the <i>sin</i>ternet!)<p>Ridiculous.
> <i>His probation will also require him to stay off the Internet, though he needs it to study computer science.</i><p>Imagine a probation condition that forbade you from using a telephone. Or from reading newspapers, or watching television, or using a debit/credit card.
More people have to become aware of the fact that being on the "sex offender" registry most likely means you urinated in public or some such other small offense. How are we safer from actual predators by doing that?
I wounder if anyone has given thought to how this will affect the poor girl. She knows she's been the cause of this poor guys life being messed up. Well, the idiots in the prosecutors office and the judge are the actual cause, but she must feel some guilt.<p>What a shame, her first sexual experience at a young age gets mixed up with feelings of guilt and shame.
You hate to say it, and it's not a solution to the general problem, but perhaps the best outcome for this particular case is for the girl and her mother to accept that the system is broken and realize the kid has been punished enough. Then lie. "No, I was lying before. All we did was sit down and talk in the park while having milk and cookies".
Cruel and unusual punishment plain and simple. It disgusts me that we're this vindictive a society; that's all this is - vindictiveness because who's going to stand up for sex offenders when our -children- are at stake.