Loopholes in the Law !!!

OhDear · 01-29-2008, 09:23 AM

Com'on People!!! Where is reasonability!!! Why are laws having to be so darned picky!!!
And it is to our loss when criminals can sneak out of being prosecuted or sentenced because of our need for exactitude.

Check this out!

OhDear

Quote:

Lawmakers Move to Close Loophole in Peeping Tom Law
Updated: Jan 28, 2008 04:18 PM
By Natalie Arnold
State lawmakers are scrambling this week to close a loophole in Wisconsin's Peeping Tom law, the second loophole so far.
This time it's in reaction to news that the inspiration for the law, Kenneth Culver, will not be charged for invading privacy even though police say he was lurking in a girls locker room at Neenah High School.
Winnebago County's district attorney office says the law is too narrow in describing where invasion of privacy can occur. That's the reason an assistant district attorney reduced charges against Culver, 53, from violating the Peeping Tom law to disorderly conduct.
Police say they caught Culver dozens of times in the past invading privacy for the purpose of sexual gratification, which is the reason why Wisconsin passed the Peeping Tom law five years ago. It offers tougher penalties than disorderly conduct and alerts police to offenders who might become violent later.
Of all people, State Senator Carol Roessler can't believe Kenneth Culver is not being charged as a Peeping Tom -- and of all places, the lawmaker can't believe Winnebago County Assistant D.A. Tracy Paider doesn't think a high school locker room fits as a private place as defined by the law.
Roessler can't believe it because she wrote it.
"In my view that's a private place, a women's locker room or bathroom. You don't expect to have men in the women's bathroom or the women's locker room," Roessler said.
According to Paider, it all has to do with the language of the law. As attorneys and judges look at it, the assistant D.A. says it is simply too narrow.
Paider believes that the Peeping Tom Law only addresses places in businesses, like fitness club locker rooms or dressing rooms at department stores. The D.A. says as its written now, the law does not include public venues like a high school.
Roessler says that was never the intention. "To think it couldn't be appropriate in this situation is quite amazing," the state senator reacted.
"And yet," she continued, "if we need to make a change and have a further clarification to be more inclusive, then we can certainly work to do that."
Lawmakers hope to start fixing the law as early as this week.
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