Two years ago, two boys from New Jersey (both 14 years-old at the time of the incident) decided they wanted to play a prank on some of their classmates. What seemed like an innocent ruse at the time, proved to be a ghastly error in judgment.
The prank—which involved the boys pulling their pants down and sitting on the faces of two younger classmates, one 11 and the other 12—is regarded as a criminal act according to New Jersey state law.
This week, one of the boys pled guilty to criminal sexual contact; the other teen was found guilty of the same crime. The act, according to the Judge presiding over the bizarre case, is legally defined as a crime due to the intent of sexual gratification or to degrade the victims.
More specifically, New Jersey groups all acts of this nature within the state’s Megan’s Laws. Crimes involving harassment of a sexual nature (such as shoving a butt in someone else’s face) automatically attach a registered sex offender title to the aggressor.
As a result of the lifetime status and the relative innocence with which the act was performed, the two boys are appealing their convictions. One of the boys claims he didn’t understand the severity of his plea, while the other claims his lawyer was incompetent.
Although Megan’s Law has proved effective in isolating and informing members of a community as to an individual who has performed such lewd acts, the law has been questioned due to its zero-tolerance policy and inability to evaluate cases objectively.