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Originally Posted by fxashun  First they have to find the father, then when they do, they have to show that the crime of statutory rape happened within their jurisdiction. A state can't prosecute a murder that didn't occur within it's borders, the same for this "crime".
As for the girls, since none of the girl have been proven to be abused and not all of them were "victimized", the rights of the mother to keep her children should not be voided on such flimsy evidence.
If Texas attempts to close down "this" ranch, the people will just assimilate into another FLDS clan. There are others. These people do have options. | If the girls have been living on the ranch since the FLDS bought it, they were raped in Texas. Since the investigation is on-going, it is too early to say whether mother's rights should be terminated. I don't imagine the people of Texas care if the people in the FLDS clan immigrate elsewhere. The LDS have a history of being run out of town after all, they know how to run. Quote: |
That's an opinion. Not born out by facts. The good thing about our social structure is that people can be functionally illiterate and still function in our society. A 13 year old with several other wives around her is fine.
| A 13 year-old wife is not fine under any circumstances. A 13 year-old is often still playing with dolls for pete's sake. Do you expect other wives to "mother" her? Quote: |
Application of the law to everyone is unimportant if the law is specifically targeted at a specific group. Have the cops raided the projects to find out if any of the kids there are abused. Children of "poor people" have kids younger than other economic groups.
| Application of the law equally is all that is important. What inspired the law in the first place is not important. If the majority of the people approve the law (provided it is constitutional) that is all that matters. Quote: |
Sounds plausible but constitutionally impossible. It would never fly.
| It's true it would have to be offered as an option. I propose eliminating all payments for children, instead payment will be made for sterilization. Quote: Here are some of the other changes made with the arrival of the FLDS.
Jim Paulsen, a South Texas College of Law professor who teaches family law and civil procedure, says the Texas Legislature passed a series of laws in 2005 aimed directly at the FLDS ranch and its members -- statutory changes he teaches his students about. "What I teach mainly is that we amended large parts of the Texas Family Code to combat polygamy," Paulsen says.
"The legislative package included raising the minimum age of marriage, with or without parental consent; banning first-cousin marriages; banning ex-step parent, ex-step child marriage; amending the bigamy statutes, including eliminating the husband-wife testimonial privilege in bigamy prosecution; eliminating the presumption that the spouse of the polygamist entered into the relationship innocently; and much more," Paulsen says.
| Those laws don't sound unusual, or unconstitutional. The greatest danger to liberty lurks in the insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.
--Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis |