LetBillyGo.com - Age of Consent: the Unknown Facts

Billy’s Story

When Billy was 18, he had a bright future ahead of him. He had good grades in college and had been accepted into nursing school. While volunteering at Kaiser Permanente Hospital he tackled classes such as Anatomy, Microbiology, Psychology and English, and yet achieved a 4.0 GPA during one challenging semester. It seemed Billy was on a solid road to success.

However, all that changed shortly in late 2003. At 18, Billy had an intimate relationship with Victoria. At first, the relationship appeared normal enough, except however, Billy discovered that she was a minor. Victoria said she was 18, looked at least 16, but was really 13. Unknowingly, Billy had just committed a crime. To most people it would seem like a simple statutory rape case, but Billy was just about to find out the seriousness of his situation.

Billy was completely devastated. His family hired a lawyer who didn't do a very good job. And Billy couldn't understand why they couldn't just lower the charge. It was a consensual relationship. Victoria’s mother stated she didn’t want to see Billy go to jail as long as he attended counseling. And Victoria didn’t understand why they couldn’t just let Billy go.

Billy’s lawyers told him because she was 13 instead of 14. And it is because Victoria was 13 and not 14 or above, Billy was charged with child molestation rather than unlawful sex with a minor. Billy was now considered under the eyes of the law a child molester.

There was much debate between Billy, his lawyers, and his family. His family put pressure on him to take the deal in fear of jail time. His lawyers put pressure on him to take the deal in order to get rid of the case and pocket a good $20,000. Deep down, Billy knew better. He knew this was consensual sex between two teenagers and not a case of child molestation. However, under the extreme pressure, and not being able to accept the terms of the loss, Billy became suicidal. He accepted a plea deal that he would not otherwise rationally accept in order to free up his mother’s bail money and then commit suicide.

The deal was 8 months work furlough, one strike, plea to lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14, and register for the rest of his life. Under normal circumstances, he would have never accepted that deal but because it seemed there was no chance the district attorney was going to lower the charge, he accepted it thinking he would be dead shortly afterwords anyways. Billy was essentially given a life sentence.

Fast forward 6 years, and things aren’t that much better. Once when he was 18 years old Billy had a bright future. He had close to a 4.0 GPA in college and an acceptance letter for nursing school. Instead, of becoming a registered nurse by the time he was 21, he became a registered sex offender.

Despite that fact, Billy has tried to put the mistake of his youthful transgression behind him and look towards the future. But he can’t.

During the last 6 years, he has gone from trying to start his own business, to getting a psychology degree, to working odd jobs. But it has been to no avail.

Billy can’t get an expungement under California law due to his specific conviction. He can’t even get a Certificate of Rehabilitation. And he must register for the rest of his life. Due to his conviction, finding work is virtually impossible. He applies for many jobs but usually always meets the same roadblock. After scoring a 93% on an examination for a U.S. Census bureau position, Billy was found ineligible due to his record. It is disheartening. Billy has the potential to contribute to society in a productive, and meaningfully way, but yet cannot.

These are the real-life impacts of “get tough” legislation on sex offenses. The resulting polices have had serious unintended consequences. Overreaching laws have ruined Billy’s life and countless juveniles in similar situations. There have been many complaints about the inclusion of juveniles on a public website. However, tragic stories like Billy’s still remain largely unknown to the public.

Recently, Billy has enrolled in a legal research class to try to educate himself on the legal possibilities of his case. He has also reached out to families and juveniles in similar situations. Now, he is reaching out to you. We need more people to speak up. Join the fight against such tragedies. We need to let our legislators know while these laws have good intentions have simply gone too far. This injustice needs to be stopped.

Countless Others

A PETITION

FOR BILLY’S LIFE

JUVENILE EXPUNGEMENT FROM REGISTRIES

The signatories below agree with the following principles and encourage the legislators of California and America to enact rational, fact based legislation in support of these principles.

"We must protect our children. Our society has created laws to protect children from sexual predation. But it is now clear that the laws and policies that have been enacted to achieve this goal have had unintended and often profoundly damaging consequences. In particular, teens in consenting relationships have had their lives ruined when they have been required to register as sexual offenders after engaging in sexual activity with a boyfriend or girlfriend reasonably close in age.

The real-life impacts are profound. Children themselves are placed on registries, some as young as 11. Children of offenders suffer and as a result have committed suicide. Such legislation ostracizes these child offenders from society, stunt their growth and development, and is excessively cruel and unusual.

Age of consent boundaries are vital to the well being of society and serve multiple purposes. They protect children from sexual predation and exploitation. They also act as a deterrent to teen sex and the negative consequences that go with it. We recognize the need for these boundaries. We also recognize that there are fundamental differences between pedophilia and sexual activity between teens three, four or five years apart in age.

However, when these registries are applied to willing teens close in age who engage in sexual activity, it is excessively cruel and unusual and socially counterproductive. We need to rectify this injustice. We need to create an expungement process for juveniles who are placed on these registries and the laws that affect them.

To sign the petition please enter the information requested below. We do not sell or otherwise use or divulge your information for any purpose other than the stated purpose of this petition. Your statement may be forwarded by email or other means to California legislators and to other state and federal legislators. THANK YOU for participating.

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