Text 33393, 66 rader
Skriven 2009-06-15 15:51:34 av Jeff Smith (1:14/5)
  Kommentar till text 33373 av Ward Dossche (2:292/854)
Ärende: Saberi vs Blom
======================
Hello Ward.

15 Jun 09 11:58, you wrote to me:

 WD> Jeff,

 JS>> Let me ask you this Michiel. Would you consider it a kangaroo
 JS>> court if an American traveled to Belgium to have sex with a child?
 JS>> Which I seem to recall is illegal there also.

 WD> As long as the process of having sex with said child has not formally
 WD> been initiated, nothing illegal has happened in Belgium. Getting off a
 WD> plane with an erection is not a crime.

 WD> Mere intent and acting upon that intent the way that Blom did, does
 WD> not constitute a crime "here".

    That was the difference I was trying to convey to Michiel. What
constitutes a criminal act here doesn't there. It's not that the laws
here are too strict IMO or that the laws there are too lax. It's just
that there is a differance. It behoves someone to know and check the
legality of their actions when on foreign soil. In Blom's case me thinks
he was thinking using the wrong head. <g>


 WD> It changes when the adult person is found together with a child in a
 WD> hotelroom and the child his not his/her own and there is no
 WD> authorisation from that child's parent for the child to be there. Then
 WD> some serious explaining will need to be done and an investigation will
 WD> be conducted.

 WD> A LEO impersonating a child bears no relevance as the law can only
 WD> deal with fact, and the fact then is that there's nothing illegal
 WD> about 2 adult people in the same hotelroom.

   That by itself? No. The differance here is that if someone acts to
arrange a sexual rendezvous with a child. The act of trying to arrange
a meeting with a child for the purposes of sexual contact is illegal
here. Blom was arrested for his act of trying.

   IMHO, Blom, me, you, him, her, them should be free to fantisize about
whatever turns our crank. The government, the police should not have a
say about what someone thinks or dreams about. As much as I think the
exploitation of children is wrong. If Blom was inclined to fantisize about
sex with children. That should be upto him. The point where he crosses the
line IMO is when he decides to act on his desires and actually tries to
find a child to satisfy himself with. The law here is designed to protect
the children from the act actually happening. Instead of deeling with the
matter AFTER it has already happened.


 WD> Different country, Jeff, different legal attitudes.

   Absolutely. That is why I was curious to know if Michiel was using
the legal attitude there and trying to apply it to the laws here in the
US.

 WD>  \%/@rd

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Jeff

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