We do NOT recommend that you expose yourself in public (at least if you are a male), however…
If you do, DON’T do it anywhere near San Mateo County.
Kenneth Ray Burton of San Francisco was arrested for allegedly masturbating in front of a woman on a Bay Area Rapid Transit train. Prosecutors called the 52 year old man a “career flasher”.
Burton pleaded guilty to five counts of indecent exposure and faced a maximum sentence of 25 years to life. One wonders if he is thankful that he has been sentenced to “only” 13 years.
Indeed one wonders whether 13 years is adequate for such a dastardly crime as showing off your penis.
San Mateo County Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe doesn’t think so. “Our concern was,” he said, “are we being too lenient? Are we adequately protecting the public?”
I’m sure that Mr Wagstaffe, with our own best interests in mind, will pursue the forces of evil and not rest until he gets the death penalty for exhibitionists. Only then, presumably, will he feel that he is “adequately protecting the public”.
We applaud his determination in ridding the streets of exhibitionists, even though this means less resources for other crimes, like…murder, rape, robberies, mugging and so on.
By way of comparison, a taxi driver in Sydney, Australia, was sentenced to 8 years prison for raping an 18 year old woman passenger who had been drinking and was obviously vulnerable.
This rape is deemed to be more serious than usual, because Bangladeshi student Md Kowsar Ali was seen to be abusing his position of responsibility as a taxi driver.
Ah. Yes! Positions of responsibility…
On july 4, 2002, London psychiatrist Kolathur Unni was jailed for only 18 months for sexually attacking a female patient during a hypnotherapy session. Unni had a history of sexual assaults on patients and had been struck off the medical register in New Zealand for similar incidents.
On December 10, 2002, UK psychiatrist Christopher Allison was jailed for ten years for the rape and sexual abuse of six patients.
We seriously suggest that something is seriously amiss when a relatively harmless crime like exhibitionism is given a much harsher sentence than the vicious crimes of sexual assault and rape.
Once again, we do not condone exhibitionism but…IF you are going to do it, DON’T do it near San Mateo County where Steve Wagstaffe is waging a righteous crusade for preventing people from seeing penises.
