Are you referring to the law against traveling out of the country to have sex with children?
Yes, this is loosley defined as the Child Sex Tourism Act. Also known as EJA. Extra Jurisdiction Authority. The concept behind EJA is, that the law is elastic like a Rubber Band, and expands, or contracts, to follow the US Citizen when they travel outside of the US. Meaning they are subject to US/State laws no matter what nation they are in. This also carries over in the Conviction Dept, when a citizen is convicted of a crime in another nation, regardless of the way proescutions are handled, that criminal record will follow the US Citizen back to the states. Or in extreme cases, it authorizes US Prosecutors to charge US Citizens violating the law of another Nation, even though the other nation refuses to prosecute.
Example, John was convicted of Murder in Burma/Myanmar, Burmese law, states that a suspect only has to be in the vicinity of the area, to be charged, with one eye witness, to corroborate the story. So, John is convicted, because he was 1: In the Vicinity, 2: Eyewitness placed him there.
So when John returns to the US, after a lengthly prison stay, he now has a criminal record, which followed him from Burma, and he is subject to the same penalties/restrictions as if he was convicted in the US.
Another example, from the book.
Go Directly to Jail : The Criminalization of Almost Everything
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...1/002-6096355-2884039?_encoding=UTF8&v=glance
David McNab was a seafood importer who shipped undersized lobsters and lobster tails in opaque plastic bags instead of paper bags. These were trivial violations of a Honduran regulation - equivalent to a civil infraction, or at most, a misdemeanor. However, using creative lawyering, a government prosecutor used this misdemeanor offense as the basis for the violation of the Lacey Act, which is a felony. The prosecutor then used the Lacey Act charge as a basis to stack on smuggling and money laundering counts. You got that?
McNab was guilty of smuggling since he shipped lobster tails in bags that you can see through, instead of shipping them through bags that would frustrate visual inspection. He was guilty of money laundering since he paid a crew on his ship to "smuggle the tails." Although it turned out that the Honduran regulation was improperly enacted and thus unenforceable, the government did not relent. A honest businessman lost his property and his freedom: McNab is serving 8-years in prison.
You might be thinking that my summary of the McNab case is fishy. Surely I'm keeping something from you, since no judge would really sentence an honest businessperson so severely. But as Professor Luna details in "Misguided Guidelines: A Critique of Federal Sentencing," prosecutors, not judges, set the terms of sentencing. A judge's hands are tied by the Guidelines. The judge in the McNab case could not weigh McNab's success as a businessperson, his age and family ties and responsibilities, or his lack of any criminal intent. Although McNab was a criminal by accident, not design, the Guidelines required the judge to treat him as a member of La Costra Nostra. Professor Luna ably demonstrates that the Guidelines are not only unconstitutional as a matter of separation of powers, but also as a matter of due process, and more generally, the Guidelines violate any sense of decency.
How are they expanding on pedophile-based laws to cover non-pedophile crimes? I don't follow you there.
Off the top of my head. Laws that Govern where Pedophiles can live, have been utilized, and expanded to cover other crimes. Housing Assc's will turn down prospetive tenants based on prior drug, robber/B&E convictions. This has been upheld by Scotus, Meyer v. Lawncreek Housing Assc:
This is a good case, that will explain what I mean...I know there are possibly more, but I do not have a membership with Findlaw, Westlaw, or Nexus Lexus, so my search results are extremly limited.
http://arizona.lp.findlaw.com/ca00_casecode73464658/arizona/ Hernandez/Sate/index.html
And regardless of the age of consent in countries, like Thailand, who have large sex trades that include the prostitution of children, isn't the prostitution itself illegal? I don't know, for myself, I think it is horrendous. Being a prostitute is not any kind of way for a child to live.
Whoa, let me clarify something right now. I support women/men--ADULTS choosing their own professions even if that includes prostitution. Not Children, never children.
Prostitution is legal, in many nations, and in others, the laws are not enforced.
I do. It is If the US doesn't want its citizens traveling to take part in this "trade", I don't have a problem with it. There are real problems out there to deal with right now. You may argue that the occupation of these children provides them with a standard of living they wouldn't have otherwise, but are the consequences of abuse, disease and death worth it?
I am not defending child sex slavery. I am defending a US Citizens right, not be prosecuted under EJA laws. I know this means there are slimebags who will travel outside CONUS to have sex with minors, however, let the other nations charge and prosecute them for it. You are entering dangerous ground when you allow EJA to be applied under any circumstance. This was something that the Soviets, and now, China, Cuba, Venezuela are famous for doing.
Instead of spending all that money to travel overseas and have sex with a child, maybe that money would be better spent helping that child to get an education.
I wholeheartedly agree.
will admit that I am probably not the best person to comment objectively on this, but I will say anyway that I don't care how other cultures deal with pedophilia (and there is a difference between cultures that marry their girl children young and cultures where casual sex with children is acceptable),
I agree there is a difference between marrying and casual sex. That is not what I meant. You should care how other cultures deal with it, they have some ingenious methods for prevention of molestation on minors.
Dagestan and Kazakistan, have help lines for pedophiles. If they get the urge, they call a number, and can volunteerily have themselves confined, and get some counseling.
Indonesia has pedophile Colonies, where those convicted can go after serving their time, and those who feel urges can go and live, there are some restrictions, like Internet access that is not monitored, television shows for children, or feature children etc.
I am comfortable living in a culture where our young children are protected from men or women who would prey on them for sex.
As am I. However, what price are you personally willing to pay?
also is the fact that these instances are not as likely involve true pedophiles. Pedophiles typically are attracted to pre-pubescent children.
Agreed, this is where I.M.O. they (Govt/State, etc) need to stop the broadbrushed generalizations.
You'd have to explain this theory a little more in depth for me to have an opinion on it. Most pedophiles and child molesters were molested themselves as children. Is he purporting that this "pheromone imbalance" is caused by these events?
Not an imbalance per se, more like a Chemical Trigger/Switch Mechanism, that is responsible for dictating how the pituitary gland and/or hypothalamus reacts to pheromones of the opposite/same sex. We produce pheremones with different chemical compositions at different age points in our lives.
And how does it relate to homosexuality? Is this doctor saying that homosexuality is also simply a lack of certain pheromones?
To my knowlegde no. He stated that, if you look at men/women, who where hetorsexual prior to going into prison, and they where raped, and or then participated in consensual same sex relationships, then his theory about Pedophilia would apply. Theory being, that some event, or neuro-development disability, caused the brain to begin being attracted to the Pheromones of children, because the chemical triggers never switched over. In the case of Homosexuals, the chemical changes caused a shift in the way the brain processes information, and thus Hetero's became attracted to those of the same sex, via Pheromones.
The person who asked this question then said, ok, if your theory is correct, then what you are saying is, pills could be used to control sexual desires?
No not control them, change them.
At that point, the person asked, well, does that mean, Govts that have laws againt Homosexuality could forcibly drug people, to change their sexual orientation?
Yes, was his answer, though he stated that is not what his research was oing to be for.
I'll have to try and dig up, that entire interview, and post it here.