Reply #113: You bring up some excellent points.

[CBHagman]

I had heard of the cases where a teenaged boy, after reaching the age of 18, being forever tagged as a sex offender because he had sex with his teenaged (but underaged) girlfriend when they were both underage and then after he came of age. I think we can all agree that this was not what was intended by sex offender laws and registries. If an 18-year-old is involved with a 13-year-old, I'm against that, but I do not take such a view of two high school students whose relationship began when they were both underage.

From what I understand about the Clovis Claxton case, he did not actually touch the child but had exposed himself to her. At least that was the description I recall from Keith Olbermann's interview of a guest on Countdown. If the description of the case is accurate, then the label "CHILD RAPIST" is absolutely untrue. The guy should be supervised but not targeted for being run out of a town on a rail, and he should never have been driven to suicide. We're all hysterical in the wake of the most recent heinous crimes.