TW: Discussion of sex offender

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

TW: Discussion of sex offender

amydentata:

I didn’t write the original post, so why are you addressing me? I didn’t know about her history until now. Thanks for pointing it out to me, though. It definitely makes the story less clear-cut, and could possibly be relevant to what happened.
The details of the arrest aren’t clear, from what I’ve found online, and haven’t been publicly released. If she wasn’t banned from using public facilities at the hospital, then there was no reason to arrest her. If she was, then obviously there’s a problem. Either way, it seems she was arrested specifically for being trans, and if that’s the case then it’s still a problem, even if this leads to a real criminal charge.

This is that tricky place where we fail as people if we completely erase a person’s humanity for having a criminal record, while at the same time we fail if they are able to commit those crimes again. Reoffense is especially troubling when it comes to child rape, and as a survivor of childhood sexual abuse it’s a topic I have intense feelings about.

What complicates this incident further is that we also fail as people if we allow the ends to justify the means in criminal investigations. The profiling of minorities is a big problem across the board. It gives me mixed emotions–if she is found guilty of violating parole, then it’s a good thing she was arrested. But it’s still a bad thing when trans people are targeted for being trans.

The whole situation sucks, basically. It’s fail from every direction. It’s like one of those crime procedural dramas with an ending that leaves you twisted in knots even though you agree with the verdict.

You know what? No, Paula Witherspoon’s conviction doesn’t matter. It was twenty years ago, and she’s served her time, paid her debt to society even by the gleefully draconic standards of the American “justice” system. And no, the restrictions on sex offenders do not mean it’s a parole violation for them to ever be near a child. They’re barred from living near or hanging around schools and playgrounds and similar locations, not prohibited from all public spaces.

More importantly, her past crimes had nothing whatsoever to do with her being a trans woman. They are a complete and total red herring.

(re: bold) That’s basically my point in different words. If she was guilty of parole violation there would be a problem, but that’s an if that appears unlikely given available information. And either way, she was still arrested for “using the bathroom while trans”, which is wrong. We’re in agreement.

(Source: thecurvature)