Category: Uncategorized

When we talk about Registered Sex Offenders here, they’re usually nonviolent, Romeo and Juliet type of offenders, and how the current system is failing them—but what about the other ways the system is failing?

Ryan Murdock, a father and registered sex offender from a Romeo and Juliet relationship, was powerless to protect his daughter when she was contacted by a child predator because he “hadn’t broken any laws”.

52-year-old Mark Charles, a sex offender who has been investigated on numerous occasions and spent 7 years in prison for pursuing teenage girls, used Facebook Messenger to reach out and try to “go out to have a good time” with Ryan’s 13-year-old daughter.  He contacted the girl several times, implying that he knew her parents, and even using a family nickname for her brother in an attempt to meet up with her.

The girl quickly showed Ryan the messages she received, and Ryan was quick to contact the police, but it wouldn’t do any good. Mark Charles hadn’t violated any laws. He had completed his probation, he was allowed to use social media, there was nothing stopping him from talking to minors, and the messages had not taken on a sexual nature.

This is just another way that this outdated system is causing pain and struggle for families everywhere. A family man just trying keep his family safe is placed on the same list, and under the same rules, as the man pursuing his 13-year-old daughter.

A Sex Offender Messaged Their Daughter, But No Law Was Broken

Don’t worry.

You’re not expected to answer that question.

But, what if you were?

Can you imagine sitting across the desk from a prospective employer and being required to talk about that time you had sex with your high school girlfriend after prom?

Or, having to explain your first blow job in a desperate attempt to persuade a landlord to rent to you?

That’s the reality that adults required to register as sex offenders as a result of consensual teenage relationships face every day.

Consensual Sex Among Teenagers

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 41% of high school students (grades 9-12) report having engaged in sexual intercourse. That may or may not have been true in “your day.” You may or may not find those numbers acceptable. But, that doesn’t change the facts. With more than 15.1 million high school students in U.S. public schools alone, 41% means more than 6,000,000 U.S. teens are having or have had sex.

Of course, that number doesn’t take into account private school students, homeschooled teens, those who are under 18 but no longer in high school, or those engaged in some level of consensual sexual contact other than intercourse. Thus, the actual number of teens engaging in consensual sexual relationships is even higher.

The teens who don’t get caught, who have parents who don’t report their partners to law enforcement, who live in states with Romeo and Juliet exceptions, or who live in communities where prosecutors decline to file charges in consensual teen sex cases go on with their lives. The smaller–but not small enough–percentage who are prosecuted end up on sex offender registries for 10, 20, or 25 years–or even for life.

At 30, or 40, or for the rest of their lives, they find themselves forced to describe their youthful sexual encounters to strangers, in hopes that they will be believed so that they can land jobs, get apartments, or just let their kids have friends over for a birthday party…because they did the same thing 41% of their peers did. Maybe, the same thing you did.