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Does this law exist anywhere?

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cynatnite Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-12-05 04:00 PM
Original message
Does this law exist anywhere?
I want to know if there is a law somewhere which forbids defendents accused of any form of sexual abuse contact with the victims.
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wakeme2008 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-12-05 04:02 PM
Response to Original message
1. Only by Court Order
Unless convicted, the only way to stop a defendent from getting around a victem is Court Order.
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AllegroRondo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-12-05 04:03 PM
Response to Original message
2. Accused or convicted?
if they are only accused, then I think you would need a restraining order first. If convicted, no contact is probably part of the sentance.
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nothingshocksmeanymore Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-12-05 04:04 PM
Response to Original message
3. Not clear of why you are asking
Edited on Tue Apr-12-05 04:05 PM by nothingshocksmeanymo
but usually if they are convicted, it is a condition of probation..and if they are not convicted, it might possibly be considered tampering with a witness.
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cynatnite Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-12-05 04:18 PM
Response to Original message
4. Here's the specifics
A friend of mine has a 14 year old daughter who got involved with a 21 year old man. This man has a criminal history of car theft. She's afraid of him because he has shown he has a temper. Her daughter isn't the first one. She found out he was involved with a 13 year old a few years ago.

When she discovered that sex had occurred she immediately started the process of filing statutory rape charges against him. During that time, even after warning him to stay away, he has continued to seek her out at school and at other places. Her 14 year old daughter 'thinks' she's in love and has no understanding that she has been manipulated.

The way the laws work here in TN is that my friend has to the be the one to hire a lawyer in order to get a restraining order and the detective even admitted how poor those things are in protecting people.

She's wondering and I am to, is if it's possible for a law to be put in place that says the offender, during the investigation process, is not allowed to have any contact whatsoever with the minor.

Our perspective is that with the horrible things happening to children today, there is very little that really protects them. Maybe a law such as this might help.

Comments?
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tubbacheez Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-12-05 04:35 PM
Response to Reply #4
5. Getting a law passed is pretty slow process.
(unless you have a really high-profile media-circus case, like Polly Klass or on that level of notoriety)



I think it'd be faster to ask for the court order. Your attorney should be able to argue for it. If your daughter would be a witness against this guy, any contact could be considered witness tampering.






And yes, realize that restraining orders are just paper. It'd be wise to have backup methods in place... like increased supervision or altering the daughter's school arrival and pickup schedule.




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cynatnite Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-12-05 04:54 PM
Response to Reply #5
6. I knew that
She's doing what she can to protect her daughter from this creep, but our conversation got us thinking that maybe this is a place where there should be a law which helps protect other kids.

Looking at the big picture, this seems like it might be a worthwhile task especially when it comes to protecting minors from potential sexual predators during the investigation process. Considering how manipulative they can be and how they can encourage a kid to do things a kid normally wouldn't do such as lie and defy in order to continue the relationship. This is what's happened in her situation.

As it is, at least in this state, there is really not much to keep a minor and a sexual offender apart except a worthless restraining order.

She's hoping for a stiff law forbidding this in order to further protect minors from predators such as this.
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tubbacheez Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-12-05 05:07 PM
Response to Reply #6
7. Looking at the big picture, you have to be very careful.
Laws apply to everybody and every situation covered in their wording.



Sure, in the case you've described, such a law would be great.

But what if a different parent trumped up some charges against a teenage girls boyfriend and used this proposed law to prohibit any contact while the case was pending... and then dragged the case on for years?

What if two parents go through an ugly divorce and one decides to file sexual abuse charges against the other, knowing the charges will never stick, but using this "no contact during investigation" law to deny the other parent any access to the children?




You'd have to have some way of dealing with misuse or abuse of this new law.

That's why I say get the restraining order. It isn't worth much on the street, but it means something in court, should the fight wind up there.

But don't stop there. After the restraining order, make some lifestyle changes to handle the practical aspects.

Give up "life as usual". It's gone. And no legal work (even if you magically got this proposed law tomorrow) is going to restore it.

My advice is to 1). work with reality, and 2). work with the system. In that order. Both are important.

Good luck to your friend.
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cynatnite Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-12-05 05:44 PM
Response to Reply #7
8. We thought of those and a few others
There is still some details and situations in which it could be used and abused to work out. She has a meeting with a lawyer tomorrow and plans on discussing it with him.

She's taking a very methodical approach and I told her I thought this would be a good place to get some feedback and ideas.
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tubbacheez Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-12-05 05:48 PM
Response to Reply #8
9. Methodical is good. Best of luck in all this! n/t
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starwolf Donating Member (137 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-12-05 08:05 PM
Response to Reply #4
10. A restraining order should be a slam dunk.
And a local family/child advocacy group lawyer may be able to get it for free. Support for it from an investigating officer would ice it. They would have to push every violation. Eventually the bubba would get tired and look for a fresh victim.

I don't think you will get a law passed since there is already a viable solution in the law. Then again I am a bit old fashioned and under the circumstances might consider solving the problem in a more direct manner.
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