(no subject)

[theweaselking]

14-year-old runs in front of a car. Man swerves to avoid her, grabs her by the arm, and lectures her about looking both ways before running out into the street because she scared the hell out of him and he nearly killed her.

Now he's been convicted of "unlawful restraint of a minor" and must register as a sex offender.

"This is the most stupid ruling the appellate court has rendered in years," said Barnaby's Chicago attorney, Frederick Cohn. "If you see a 15-year-old beating up your 8-year-old and you grab that kid's hand and are found guilty of unlawful restraint, do you now have to register as a sex offender?"

But Cook County state's attorney spokesman Tom Stanton said Barnaby should have to register "because of the proclivity of offenders who restrain children to also commit sex acts or other crimes against them."

In the criminal case against him, Cook County Judge Patrick Morse said that "it's more likely than not" Barnaby planned only "to chastise the girl" when he grabbed her, but "I can't read his mind."

"I don't really see the purpose of registration in this case. I really don't," Morse said

Comments

[unnamed525.livejournal.com]

That's a stupid consequence of what he did.
Wait.
So ... what's lawful restraint of a minor? Can a parent lawfully restrain their minor child to keep them from sticking their finger in a light socket or on a hot stove? Or are only law enforcement legally allowed to restrain a minor?

[gl-sector-2814.livejournal.com]

This is crazy and coincidental. I just posted in my live journal something similar that happened to me yesterday:
I had a most disturbing experience today. I was driving onto my block, and I had to stop my car.
No biggie, usually I have to stop to allow some fast-moving car to pass in front of me. Lord knows car accidents tend to be on the messy side. This traffic stop, however, was created by a small child standing in the middle of the street.
Yep I said child; as in kid; as in not-yet-teenager-or adult. And I mean street; as in asphalt; as in where cars drive, like my car for instance.
Why was he out there? Where were his parents? Well the answer to both is that they were all looking at their friend's new ATV sitting on the trailer behind her truck. Why were they all in the street? I'm guessing that the light sucks from the sidewalk, but gets better the further into the street you go, which would explain why our "little traffic cone-head" was so far out. Little eyes need all the light they can get it seems.
Was this the most disturbing aspect of all this? Hell, no! As I sat there waiting for ten seconds for the little tyke to move, his mother's parental monitors apparently chose that time to come back from the repair shop. In what I'm guessing is her most authoritative voice she managed to rebuke him by saying... "Move out of the way! That man wants you out of the street!"
"That man wants you out of the street?" Yep that's what she said. No, "Get out the street Timmy, you'll get hurt!” no "Hey get back here!” not even a "Hey, get your ass back on the sidewalk!" No some dopey man who rudely wants to drive here needs you to move. Trust me, I am the last reason he should get out of the street.
Sheer traffic safety wants him out of the street. The laws of physics that govern the impact of large massive objects hitting smaller, softer targets want him out of the street. A strong parental need to protect your child should want him out of the street. Common sense should definitely want him out of harm's way long before some short, balding driver who thankfully pays attention to the road has any say, but maybe that's just me.
This has me thinking: are we doomed as a species or just as a culture? I have to wonder.

[waterspyder.livejournal.com]

So many people have afterthought children and it kills me