# Advocating more humane laws for ex-sex offenders while grooming a 16 year old is not helpful **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 30, 2016, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advocating-more-humane-laws-for-ex-sex-offenders-while-grooming-a-16-year-old-is-not-helpful/753514 "2016-04-30T17:13:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2016, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advocating-more-humane-laws-for-ex-sex-offenders-while-grooming-a-16-year-old-is-not-helpful/753514/1 "2016-04-30T17:13:36Z")
I do think ex-sex offenders have (in some cases) been demonized and punished beyond what is reasonable, but this advocate is probably not the best poster boy in making the argument for more human treatment of ex-offenders. [Galen Baughman seemed like an ideal spokesman for sex offenders’ civil rights. Then he got arrested for texting a teenage boy.](http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/crime/2016/04/galen_baughman_seemed_like_an_ideal_spokesman_for_sex_offenders_civil_rights.html) I get that 16 year olds have agency and it was just texting but the content of the texts is just so oogy when this 31 year old man is acting like a high maintenance girlfriend to this 16 year old boy. What drives someone in a very visible position to roll the dice like this? Is he really just boy crazy? > [@](#): > > In one of the messages, Baughman invites the teenager to come visit him in D.C. In another, he advises him to use Kik or Snapchat for “conversations you don’t want to be seen” by police or parents. Elsewhere, Baughman flirts (“Are you the best looking boy you know?”), shares wisdom (“If you’re magnetic, you can draw people into you and hold them there—they buy into you, believe you, love you”), and boasts (“My work is helping people and winning ever-increasing support!”). > In many of the messages, Baughman seems to be grasping for the teenager’s attention and pressuring him to talk on the phone: “Am I still on your list for tonight? Or do you not have time…?” At other points, he appears to be upset, badgering the teenager about his commitment to their friendship. “Since you’ve never answered the question about whether you care about me,” he writes in one message, “it’s pretty clear what the answer is.” ---
**Author:** ![Belowjob2.0](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Belowjob2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belowjob2.0)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2016, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advocating-more-humane-laws-for-ex-sex-offenders-while-grooming-a-16-year-old-is-not-helpful/753514/2 "2016-05-01T00:59:44Z")
> [@](#): > > “When I was 19, I went to prison for what was supposed to be 6½ years for having a consensual relationship with a high-school–age kid,” he said. “He was 14½. He was someone I’d known for a while and was really close to.” 14 is generally not legal anywhere in the US. So, by US standards, he is and always was “oogy”. Creeptastic, that is. Here’s the thing: if you’re a grown ass man, and you’re calling my middle school kid for dates, I’m going to report you. If the authorities are slow or unwilling to act, well, the Potomac River is wide, and deep. ---
**Author:** ![HeXen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@HeXen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeXen)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2016, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advocating-more-humane-laws-for-ex-sex-offenders-while-grooming-a-16-year-old-is-not-helpful/753514/3 "2016-05-01T02:55:39Z")
ah, 14. That was about the age I was with a much older woman. Good times. I like the “14 1/2” quote as if that extra 6 months makes or breaks the difference. lol. What person over the age of 8 uses half way points to mark their age? ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2016, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advocating-more-humane-laws-for-ex-sex-offenders-while-grooming-a-16-year-old-is-not-helpful/753514/4 "2016-05-01T03:58:46Z")
> [@Belowjob2.0](#): > > 14 is generally not legal anywhere in the US. So, by US standards, he is and always was “oogy”. Creeptastic, that is. > > Here’s the thing: if you’re a grown ass man, and you’re calling my middle school kid for dates, I’m going to report you. If the authorities are slow or unwilling to act, well, the Potomac River is wide, and deep. Is sending a text message the most heinous thing a person can do to your kid? So heinous you can take the law into y our own hands and carry out your own execution? So if “Creeptastic” is defined by laws, then such people are only Creeps in a country where the age of consent has been legislated to be over 15, and there is nothing creepy at all about this kind of behavior in a country with an AOC of 14. Such as Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Liechtenstein, Macedonia, Montenegro, Portugal, San Marino, and Serbia ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2016, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advocating-more-humane-laws-for-ex-sex-offenders-while-grooming-a-16-year-old-is-not-helpful/753514/5 "2016-05-01T05:26:46Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Is sending a text message the most heinous thing a person can do to your kid? So heinous you can take the law into y our own hands and carry out your own execution? > > So if “Creeptastic” is defined by laws, then such people are only Creeps in a country where the age of consent has been legislated to be over 15, and there is nothing creepy at all about this kind of behavior in a country with an AOC of 14. Such as Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Liechtenstein, Macedonia, Montenegro, Portugal, San Marino, and Serbia I think most people in those countries would consider a 31 year old man who is obviously grooming a 16 year old boy for a future assignation to rate fairly high on the creepy meter, just not illegal. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2016, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advocating-more-humane-laws-for-ex-sex-offenders-while-grooming-a-16-year-old-is-not-helpful/753514/6 "2016-05-01T13:32:54Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Is sending a text message the most heinous thing a person can do to your kid? So heinous you can take the law into y our own hands and carry out your own execution? > > So if “Creeptastic” is defined by laws, then such people are only Creeps in a country where the age of consent has been legislated to be over 15, and there is nothing creepy at all about this kind of behavior in a country with an AOC of 14. Such as Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Liechtenstein, Macedonia, Montenegro, Portugal, San Marino, and Serbia You seem to think creeptastic and legal are mutually exclusive concepts. Not so. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2016, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advocating-more-humane-laws-for-ex-sex-offenders-while-grooming-a-16-year-old-is-not-helpful/753514/7 "2016-05-01T14:17:55Z")
> [@HeXen](#): > > I like the “14 1/2” quote as if that extra 6 months makes or breaks the difference. lol. What person over the age of 8 uses half way points to mark their age? It can make a difference with regard to the wording of relevant laws, specifically, the “Romeo & Juliet” laws that are intended to prevent statutory rape charges in cases where one party may have been below the age of consent, but there really wasn’t that much difference in age. These laws usually specify an age difference in number of months, not in difference between birth anniversary numbers. “A person is guilty of X if the victim was under the age of 16 but older than 14, AND there is more than 48 months difference in age.” In other words, the law recognized the difference between “the suspect was 19 and the victim was 14” and “the suspect was 19 and the victim was 14 years, 6 months” Depending on the number of months specified in the relevant law, that six months can be the difference between “guilty” and “not guilty”. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2016, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advocating-more-humane-laws-for-ex-sex-offenders-while-grooming-a-16-year-old-is-not-helpful/753514/8 "2016-05-01T16:12:51Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > You seem to think creeptastic and legal are mutually exclusive concepts. Not so. All I am doing is pointing out that creeptastic and legal are not necessarily absolutely _ **in** _clusive concepts. Many (but not all, I hasten to add the benefit of black/white thinkers) things that are “legal” are such for no other reason than to maximize tax revenues or to regulate commerce. Or satisfy fringe advocacy groups. Or make an auth0oritarian state easier to regulate. Age of Consent is to some degree based on the society’s perception of the maturity development of its population, so it is no surprise that overly-nannied America has the world’s highest age limits for things like consent or alcohol consumption. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2016, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advocating-more-humane-laws-for-ex-sex-offenders-while-grooming-a-16-year-old-is-not-helpful/753514/9 "2016-05-01T17:01:32Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Age of Consent is to some degree based on the society’s perception of the maturity development of its population, so it is no surprise that overly-nannied America has the world’s highest age limits for things like consent or alcohol consumption. Are you saying that you believe the average 14 year old is fully capable of consent with a full grown adult? Because I can’t fathom why else you would be pointing this out. [QUOTE=jtur88] Many (but not all, I hasten to add the benefit of black/white thinkers) things that are “legal” are such for no other reason than to maximize tax revenues or to regulate commerce. Or satisfy fringe advocacy groups. Or make an authoritarian state easier to regulate. [/QUOTE] Is that why you think age of consent laws exist?