You are not going to believe what I have to tell you about the mandatory reporting laws for sexual offenses involving minors in Florida. The Florida mandatory reporting laws for sexual offenses involving minors applies to the general public, even to little kids. I found this out from watching a documentary in which a Spanish European journalist interviewed Ron Book, and Mr. Book revealed that this was the letter of the law there in Florida.
In case you don't know who Ron Banks is, he is a lawyer and a lobbyist who seeks tough sex laws in the state of Florida. I checked out this same law; and, sure enough, if a man over 21 years of age has sexual intercourse with a girl 15 years old or younger, anyone who knows about it, including a child, must report it to the proper authorities or face prosecution. Below is a video about it.
Florida Has The Most Draconian Sex Laws In The United States
Does this mean that a 7-year-old child could be arrested if he or she knows that a 15-year-old girl is involved in a sizzling sexual relationship with a 22-year-old man and he or she fails to report it to the proper authorities? It sure seems that way,
1. Although Well-Meaning, Still Detrimental
Now, I can understand parents being concerned about sexual predators getting away with their crimes because nobody even makes the effort to notify the proper authorities to arrest such a person. There was a recent incident in Florida in which a 22-year-old man stalked a 14-year-old girl and eventually sexually assaulted her in front of a bunch of people in a gymnasium, but these people merely watched and did nothing about it. Below is a video about it.
A 22-Year-Old Man Stalked A 14-Year-Old Girl And Sexually Violated Her In Front Of Others
That same 22-year-old man in the video above is clearly a bully who has no boundaries, even when his actions involve breaking the law and causing harm. How he has managed to manipulate the system is way beyond my comprehension. If he remains on the same trajectory, the only gymnasium he'll be going to will be the one in the prison where he'll be incarcerated. He's definitely a danger to others.
The police should make arrests of the adults who watched this same man overpower a 14-year-old girl and did not report it to the proper authorities, and here is where I can understand that mandatory reporting laws are there to protect this young girl there in Florida. The problem that I'm having with these same laws is that they also apply to children, and small children don't always see things the same way as adults do when it comes to any kind of non-Platonic relationship.
Take the example of a 7-year-old girl whose babysitter is a 15-year-old girl that has a 22-year-old boyfriend. The little girl may see the 22-year-old boyfriend stop by her house for a few minutes to say hello to the 15-year-old girl. She may even see him give the 15-year-old girl a kiss on the lips momentarily. However, is that 7-year-old little girl going to see anything wrong with it? Probably not.
The 7-year-old girl may not even notice that there is a 7-year age difference between her 15-year-old babysitter and her babysitter's 22-year-old boyfriend. If this forbidden relationship becomes known by others and a police officer questions the 7-year-old girl, what do you think that little girl is going to say? She'll probably say, "But, Mr. Officer? I didn't know that it was a crime for two people to fall in love with each other."
So, what is the police officer going to do in that event? Slap handcuffs on the little girl? I could almost see a judge becoming outraged with that same police officer and threatening to seek to have the prosecutor disbarred from the practice of law if they were to haul that poor little girl into criminal court afterwards.
The fact of the matter is that a 7-year-old child's mind digests events around them in a much different manner from how teenagers' minds and adults' minds do so. It brings to mind this one Mexican soap opera named Agujetas De Color De Rosa ("Pink Shoelaces") that was on television so many years ago. There was this one episode of it in which the 17-year-old sister named Paola is having a heated argument with her 15-year-old brother named Daniel over whether their mother was pregnant with their deceased father's baby or with her new boyfriend's baby.
Daniel obviously doesn't want his mother having a baby out of wedlock. Eventually, their little sister, Anita, who looks to be no older than 7 or 8 years old, walks into the room and asks them both what they're arguing about. Daniel tells her that their mother is pregnant. Anita smiles and says, "We're going to have a little brother or sister?"
As you can see, a little girl Anita's age would say something that innocent, because her little-girl brain does not register any of the taboo stuff that would be possibly connected with her mother's pregnancy. Once Daniel realizes what has happened, he smiles at his little sister, Anita, because he finds it heartwarming how innocently she views the situation with their mother's pregnancy.
Florida has taken their sex laws way overboard, and their lawmakers need to reform these laws before they turn their jurisdiction into a Fascist totalitarian police state. Otherwise, they're going to run out of space in their prisons.
2. Final Thoughts
Even though the mandatory reporting laws for sexual offenses involving minors in Florida may have noble intentions, this law should not be applied to children who are still little enough to watch Bugs Bunny cartoons. The juvenile detention centers in Florida are way too dangerous for small children who have not even yet started puberty to be housed.
Elected officials in Florida need to think with their brains instead of their emotions. There are more constructive ways to tackle problems than to endanger the lives of their most vulnerable citizens.
The statutory-rape laws in Florida are not very fair, but, of course, that's another article for another time. Florida has the most punitive sex laws altogether out of all the jurisdictions in the United States.
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