Mark Lunsford has four visions; the first is to update and change current legislation, next is to provide a place where anyone who needs information and support can come to get what they need. Mark also desires to help look for and locate pedophiles that are violating their legal obligations and help law enforcement put the violators behind bars. Right now Mark is fighting to get Jessie’s Law on the books in each state.

What you may not be aware of is that John Evander Couey buried Jessica alive. The officers who were searching for Jessica had no right to search the home of a convicted repeat sex offender lives, even though it is in the immediate vicinity of the missing child, and even though Couey had a past history that made him a good possibility the he may have had something to do with Jessica’s disappearance. Jessica Lunsford was likely alive the first one or two times police knocked on the door to the trailer where Couey was staying.

Just imagine how different the outcome might be if Jessica had rights when she was alive. Everyone can help make Jessica’s Law a reality in every state. Our children and their parents should have rights to be able to sleep safely in their beds at night and play in their yards during the day, without fear that the Bogeyman will come and take them away. Please help get Jessie’s Law passed in your state.

Where this law fails is more apparent since the arrest of Joshua Lunsford, the son of Mark Lunsford and Jessica’s half-brother. Joshua Lunsford is accused of twice fondling a 14-year-old girl. Joshua Lunsford is 18. The relationship was mutual and consensual between the two. Yet, Joshua now faces having to register as a sex offender the rest of his life. The sex offender laws do not distinguish between the actual accusation and situations where a boy and girl date, agree to consensual sex, later a parent becomes involved, and suddenly a teenage boy is considered a sex offender.

This situation above is vastly different from the man who murdered Jessica Lunsford after repeatedly sexually abusing her and holding her captive for several days. Couey is a repeat sex offender, a pedophile. Had the court system put away Couey when they had the chance, he would not have violated his parole and check in schedule and Jessica Lunsford would likely be safe at home with her family.

Mark Lunsford is falling under heated criticism for the actions of his 18-year-old son. First, like any parent, there comes a time when we are no longer responsible for their actions and we can only continue to support them in a parental role. Actions that are normal teenage behavior but happen to fall under a law designed to provide sex offenders with a does of reality.

This very situation involving Mark’s son has long been the debate as to how an 18 year old ends up labeled a lifetime sex offender when engaging in normal teenage boy behavior. Many sex offenders required to register and report in every 3-6-8-12 months are in a similar situation as Joshua Lunsford.

What is your state’s age of sexual consent? Many states are 14, 15, or 16 years of age. Meaning children 14 can consent to mutually desired sexual relations with another person as long as the person they are consenting with is 20 or younger. Statutory rape applies to a 21 year old and anyone 17 or younger. Have you talked with your children about sex? To prevent your son from a label of sex offender it would be wise to explain how these laws work and how they become twisted and murky. They will not know what can happen if we as parent’s do not educate them.