I have words to say regarding the politician but this is a family forum!

It was also discussed here. Just a terrible black eye on this country that we allow Judges and DAs to pull these shenanigans. In this case, the judge was the real culprit.

http://tinyurl.com/naswan3

rewdiazepam

It is an absolute waste of taxpayer funds to have this offender and others that did the same thing on the registry and many for life for doing what God designed us to do. My grandparents were 15 when they got married. Due to so many people being monitored, real offenders can slip through the cracks. The registry should be for the real offenders and not the "Romeo and Juliet" cases or the the girls that lied about their age cases or for those that looked at pictures of underage kids and touched no one. Just my opinion.

Stories like this prove again that the sex offender registry is a joke. Zach himself is still a child at 19 and by no means a threat to anyone. He was fooled but had no bad intentions, obviously. I don't recall being asked my ID when I met a guy to prove my age. What has this world come to? And the public wonders why there are so many people on the sex offender registry. He can't even legally drink yet since he is under the age of 21. What a waste and misrepresentation of the "dangerous sex offenders" yet again. Embarrassing!

This is so sad. The worst part is it is not even unusual. My son who has been in for 10 years now has seen many 18-19 year olds come in. Missouri seems to be wanting to lock all the young men up that can. My son when he was on parole was told he could not live with us. We lived the appropriate distance from schools, parks, etc but they felt like it was "too easy" for him. So he finally found an apartment that would accept him, the PO approved it, then 1 week later the Springfield MO police knocked on his door and told him he had to leave immediately because it was too close to a school! All deposits lost of course. They kept after him until they finally got his parole revoked and he has been in prison for 9 years and now at a place called SORTS. SORTS is a fancy name for Mental Hospital where most sex offenders are going when their sentence is up instead of allowing them to come home like Judge said. We had sold our home where we were and moved to different county where we thought he would be treated more fairly but it was for nothing because what Judge said at his trial meant nothing.

So, it's basically illegal now to have sex under the age of 18? Wow...

Basically, it seems. Two words that sum up the entire course of human history: penis envy.

Yes, these situations are tragic, but they do put the spotlight on these laws regarding sex offenses that make absolutely no sense. Absurd situations such as this one allows more and more of the general population to finally realize some of these laws need to be reformed.

I notice that this case is getting a LOT of attention nationally and the public is being educated, which is a good thing for us.

One of the reason this case has drawn so much attention is that all of us, regardless of our age, were young once and we can identify with the situation. When people can identify with a certain situation, they can empathize and are more open to educating themselves.

rewdiazepam

I was thinking the same thing, Rew.

As much as it hurts so many families, and this is a prime example of a family being ripped apart, it takes this kind of pure nonsense to get the public's attention to realize how some of these laws need to be changed.

Change does not come easily and reform of these unfair laws does not come without a lot of pain and suffering.

We often speak of the media being one reason that the sex offenders laws have gotten out of hand, but just remember, the same media that created a lot of this mess can also work to our benefit.

The media has really worked this case for us. I believe that this young man and his family will be given some relief as the outrage is too strong.

This has embarrassed the system and made a fool of those who are a part of this fiasco. Something will be done, maybe not initially, but at some point this young man will receive some form of justice.

The road to changing these laws and attitudes is a long, winding journey into darkness at times.

rewdiazepam

Yes I agree the exposure is a good thing but the issue remains that most people that will be outraged will think is is unique and it isn't

What gets me too is that the idiot who wrote the law had the nerve to state that as teenagers they always say "jail bait". Its a slang idiot! People that write this stuff need to be put in our shoes! This happened to my son and he will have to be on this for the rest of his life. You can ask for an i.d. but that doesn't mean that its a real one. Its just not fair!

I feel for this family too and Zach of course. I hope he stays strong because things look very grime for him right now. He is still a young boy. He is not of age! Its so sad!!!

I think this the tipping point that will get society to see that these laws need to be reformed.

Following Justice for Zach on Facebook. Here's the most recent update:

Watch Full Episode of TD Jakes Show we were on today. Go to the 28:30 mark to watch our segment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0ZLngxS864&feature=youtu.be

I agree Rew. In these cases I thing the Judge and Prosecutor should be put away. Talk about abuse of authority. I can only hope this blows up in their face.