When consensual sexual activity between teenagers is treated as a serious felony, punishable by 10 years in prison without parole and a lifetime designation as a sexual offender, you know that hysteria and cruelty have supplanted common sense and justice.
From the New York Times:
Georgia Man Fights Conviction as Molester
Genarlow Wilson, 20, is serving a prison sentence that shocked his jury, elicited charges of racism from critics of the justice system and that even prosecutors and the State Legislature acknowledge is unjust.
He was sentenced to 10 years in prison without parole for having consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old girl at a New Year’s Eve party, an offense that constituted aggravated child molesting, even though Mr. Wilson himself was only 17.
With Mr. Wilson — a football player, honor student and the first homecoming king at Douglas County High School — nearing two years in prison, the Georgia Supreme Court declined last Friday to hear his appeal.
Mr. Wilson, who is black, is trapped in a legal vise intended to ensure severe penalties for child molesters and other sex offenders, navigating a maze of legal technicalities that for him seems to hold nothing but dead ends. Some critics of the sentence also say Mr. Wilson is caught in a system that metes out disproportionately harsh sentences to black defendants. [full text]
Kmareka.com 
I think it’s less about common sense and more about unintended consequences.
I doubt lawmakers who turned such acts into felonies had this situation in mind when they wrote the legislation and the Georgia Legislation took action to change the law as well.
Seems unfortunate that the Georgia Supreme Court is unwilling to hear this case. That’s seems like the biggest crime.
there is a problem with the law here. genarlow wilson should face some legal consequences for organizing a party with underage drinking and underage girls, and it sounds like there was worse stuff going on (i read the whole article).
but a three year age difference between teenagers is not the same as an adult and a child and should not be treated the same.
not to let him off the hook, but it sounds like his mother isn’t much help or his father either and his football coach didn’t give him some facts of life. too bad, a lot of 18 year old boys don’t have any more sense than a gerbil.
I am an Argentine teacher, in constant contact with colleagues and students all over Latin America. As an admirer of the US, I have frequent arguments defending America as the best country in the world, all considering. Frankly, if Mr. Genarlow Wilson is not released, I will have to keep my mouth shut in the future when my contacts start criticizing the US. I hope the Governor or some higher court reverse this ridiculous conviction that so damages the prestige of the US.
Thanks for your comment and for visiting Kmareka, Mr. Kasis. You are absolutely right to find the conviction and sentencing of Genarlow Wilson “ridiculous.” Indeed, it makes a mockery of justice and diminishes this nation’s reputation here and abroad (as do a great many actions of the current wielders of power). For anyone interested, there is an online petition urging Georgia to free this young man:
Petition to Free Genarlow Wilson
David,
We finally find agreement! I must admit that i’ve not seen a greater injustice since the cops were freed for beating Rodney King in 1992.
The prosecution in this case could stop everything right now. The law’s been changed – though not retroactively – and this situation reeks of prosecutorial arrogance.
And I agree with Don’s original point about unintended consequences. This is the sort of thing that happens when people try to make justice an absolute, when so often individual cases must be looked at on their individual merits. One size punishment does not fit all.