Teens are adults in eyes of the law
Recently, DuPage County Circuit Judge John Kinsella put 19-year-old Quincy Forrester on sex offender probation after Forrester criminally trespassed three Aurora women's apartments and fondled their legs in their sleep. Even though the plea carried a prison sentence of up to three years, Judge Kinsella provided extreme leniency by putting this man on probation.
The Daily Herald's article on this matter provided one of the victims' statements, retelling how violated she felt and how she has a difficult time recovering from waking up in the middle of the night to find an unknown man hovering over her.
As a 20-year-old, I know first-hand that today's generation feels like they are entitled to many privileges and the court's repeated leniency on teenage adults further encourages this entitlement. Gone are the days when being 18 years old meant you are completely responsible for your actions and you are tried the same as a middle-aged adult.
Today, it seems like the law hears "teenager" and its heart melts in empathy for this poor, naive creature, even when this teenager is of legal adult age. The Judge himself is relying on this crime being a product of "immature thinking of a person who has some difficulties given your [Forrester's] capabilities." Immaturity only goes so far, and it should not reach the extent of a legal adult being given leniency for trespassing and violating women.
As far as the law is concerned, a 19-year-old male or female may be a teenager, but he is legally a man and she a woman and should be tried as such.
Selin Motan
Naperville