An interesting one...

What do we think of this article? It covers a very specfic form of fetish, but do you think it paints this deviance as something negative, or something unique? (From http://abcnews.go.com/Health/AllergiesNews/Story?id=4674304&page=1)

Gesundheit? That's Hot
The Nose Knows What Turns a Sneeze Fetishist On
By RADHA CHITALE
ABC News Medical Unit
April 18, 2008

For most people, a sneeze is nothing more than an ordinary biological act: one "achoo!" and it is over. But for a certain group of enthusiasts, a sneeze means much more.

Many swoon over a delicate "htchew!" accompanied by a fine mist. Some like the breathy buildup, some like the release afterward. Others prefer them in series, one after another after another, in a phlegmy trifecta.

Music to the ears? Maybe not for most. But for those with a sneezing fetish, hearing, seeing or having a sneeze tickles them in all the right places. And with allergy season upon us, enthusiasts can look forward to some quality sneezing.

Take, for example, the members of Sneeze Fetish Forum, a site with discussion boards related to all things rhinologic. One poster describes a woman who has the "cutest sneeze ever. She gives a big 'ahhh.' Makes the squeak sound of a pinched stifle, and then lets out a loud 'chooo.'"

Response posts were alternatively congratulatory and envious of the poster's encounters with the sneezer.

One wrote: "Oh, what I wouldn't do to work in a desk beside your co-worker."

Another said: "That's great! I wish I could make a certain someone allergic to me."

Though experts have no simple explanation for how sneezing fetishes -- indeed, fetishes in general -- develop, sneezes themselves are not simple at all.

Gesundheit!

A sneeze occurs in two phases. During the nasal phase, an irritant -- dust particles, allergens or chemicals -- stimulates nerves in the nose. The brain signals nasal blood vessels to dilate and nasal glands to begin producing liquid. These events trigger the diaphragm and muscles in the soft palate to constrict during the respiratory phase. The eyes close as the body prepares to forcefully expel air -- and with it the irritant -- through the nose.

The process moves rather quickly, but a person with a sneeze fetish can find erotic pleasure in those few seconds -- and experts are stumped as to why.

Though they find creative ways to describe what is going on in the mind and body when it comes to sex, both therapists and researchers know little about how sexual behaviors develop. Some theories propose humans know what does or does not appeal to us sexually by age 8. Others say arousal patterns continue to develop through the teen years and beyond.

But fetishes tend to be deep-seated, often formed at a young age.

"Suppose a child were playing with him or herself and at the same time they hear someone in the next room sneeze," said Linda DeVillers, a Los Angeles sex therapist and psychologist. "The connection is made."

But beyond a personal fetish, sneezing may mimic other sexual behaviors, especially orgasms.

"It might be a good psychological parallel or metaphor," said Howard Ruppel, dean of the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality in San Francisco. "It's like a buildup and let go or release."

But others say this theory is nonsense. Developing sexual behaviors, including kinks and fetishes, is a highly individual process.

Nothing to Sneeze At

A person with a fetish places great sexual importance on and becomes intensely aroused by inanimate objects, although body parts, like hands and feet, are often fetishized as well. These objects are required, in conjunction with sexual activity, for a person to be turned on.

According to Daniel Watter, a sex therapist and clinical psychologist in New Jersey, the clinical definition of a fetish has a pathological component as well.

"In order to be a diagnosable thing, that interest has to create some distress within the person or inability to work or live their life in some way," Watter said. "The element of being distressed is crucial."

A fetish can disturb a partnership if it becomes the primary focus of a couple's sex life. DeVillers described a couple she knew who engaged in bondage during sex.

"The man needed to tie up his girlfriend in order to be sexually functional," sex therapist DeVillers said. "She went along with it. She probably found it fun."

But bondage and sex became too intertwined in the couple's love life. Unless she was tied up, the man was not interested in his girlfriend, and she began to feel unattractive and unhappy, DeVillers said.

"Is it healthy to have creative, playful variety in your sex life? Yes," DeVillers said. "When it becomes very ritualized, it isn't so much fun as mandatory and odds are it's not ultimately going to be as satisfying."

What a Blow

Information on fetishes is limited because people only seek help when they are in distress. It is unlikely that a penchant for sneezing is going to hamper a person's life significantly and many experts have never even heard of such a fetish.

"If it hasn't come to any professional's attention, that must mean it doesn't disturb the partnership," said Aline Zolbrod, an author and lecturer on sexuality.

One poster on Sneeze Fetish Forum was not distressed at all by her college roommate's allergies: "It really seemed like everything made her sneeze, which did make me happy."

In lieu of expert guidance, many people, including those with a sneezing fetish, refer to the Internet for information. Sites such as Sneeze Fetish Forum and Tarotgal (now defunct, but still a source of information, stories and art), as well as Yahoo groups dedicated to sneezing offer a place where itchy noses and their admirers can gather to share stories, experiences and advice.

The shared experience of the fetish community makes for strong bonds, especially because fetishism was traditionally considered a kind of paraphilia, or a behavior that is beyond normal.

But the idea that fetishes or kinks, a looser term that means a person likes variant behavior, are beyond normal is giving way with people questioning the boundaries of what's "normal." Oral sex and masturbation were once considered deviant behaviors. Now many consider them mainstream; staples of a sexual repertoire.

"There's fetishes in every size, shape and color," Ruppel at the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality said. "If something is rewarding to us and feels good to us at certain points in our development, we imprint it into our development. ... There is diversity in sexuality."

Near the end!

Ok, a bit delayed, but I'll be posting a few articles in the near future so you can all get your comments in. You can post comments up until finals are done, so you've got time. Remember, you only need to have commented on 10 total. From http://www.tampabays10.com/news/watercooler/article.aspx?storyid=78458.

Clearly this is a deviance that falls under the realms of bad taste, but is it an example of government overregulating behavior? And FYI: I saw these more than a few times back when I lived in Central Florida...

Aw, nutz!

TALLAHASSEE, Florida -- The Florida Senate today debated and passed an amendment to impose a $60 fine on Truck Nutz, the novelty vehicle adornment attached to trailer hitches that resemble the dangling southern end of a northbound bull.

The popular accessory to truck trailer hitches is on its way to being subject to a fine in a bill debated -- albeit delicately -- on the Senate floor Thursday.

Although lawmakers said they're widespread in North Florida, the bill says that displaying reproductions of bull genitalia -- one version has the brand name Truck Nutz -- on a vehicle or trailer can lead to a $60 fine, charges of a moving violations, and points against a driver license.

The ban was proposed by Sen. Cary Baker, R-Eustis, who said the items are "not appropriate," even though he sees a lot of them in his district.

Other members agreed on their popularity, but questioned how worthwhile a crackdown might be. Sen. Jim King, R-Jacksonville, said he had a set on one of his vehicles, which he described as "all pimped out." They are no more than "an expression of truckliness," he said, although he'd acceded to his wife's request to take them off.

Other members found the fine excessive, and some thought the whole matter absurd.

"I find it shocking we'd tell people with metallic testicles on their bumpers that this is a violation," said Sen. Steve Geller, D-Hallandale. "There's got to be better things for us to spend time debating."

Geller suggested this ban might be followed by prohibiting silhouettes of nude women on truck mud flaps or decals depicting a small boy relieving himself on another truck logo.

"We're basically going to have the bumper police," King said.

"All their concerns are legitimate," Baker said of the critics. "And I do have more important things to do this session. But I think this is important, too."

Baker said he's heard from many people who don't like seeing the novelties, "so the ones who complained will like it. My wife will like it," he said of potential ramifications.

As for others' concerns that lawmakers may be "headed down a slippery slope" as King said about the ban, Baker said "anytime you deal with obscenity it's a large gray area," but he believes the ban is worthwhile. Although bull genitalia is currently in fashion, Baker said he used the words "reproductive glands" in the bill because other versions could be produced later.

The bill was debated Thursday, and a vote is expected next week. The House version, however, does not have the ban, and some senators questioned whether House leaders would unleash that debate. Baker said he did not check with the House sponsor on the change.

Debate on the ban began Wednesday, but the discussion became so high-spirited Senate leaders postponed the matter.

"We're not going to have what happened yesterday," Senate President Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie, warned committee chairmen before going on the floor Thursday.

But an effort to remove the ban failed on a close-sounding voice vote called by Pruitt -- a decision some members found surprising.

"But the Senate President is always right" on such calls, King said.

From what we talked about regarding cults, it seems like ol' Warren Jeffs was an even naughtier boy than we thought. (From http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/04/07/texas.ranch/index.html?eref=rss_topstories)

Is this infringing on freedom of religion (as members of the sect would claim) or is it a different situation entirely?

Texas takes legal custody of 401 sect children

(CNN) -- Authorities said Monday they have taken legal custody of 401 children who lived on an isolated West Texas polygamist retreat built by imprisoned "prophet" Warren Jeffs.

The children are being kept at a temporary shelter at historic Fort Concho in nearby San Angelo while authorities investigate whether a child bride gave birth on the ranch at age 15.

The children in state custody are joined at the shelter by 133 women, most of them mothers, who were taken during the past few days from the sprawling Yearning for Zion ranch, said Marleigh Meisner, a spokeswoman for the state's Child Protective Services agency.

The women are free to return to the 1,900-acre compound, officials said, but many have chosen to remain. At this point, officials said, the children's fathers are not permitted to see them. Video See buses take girls from compound »

Court proceedings began Monday to determine whether there is enough evidence to remove the children from their homes on the ranch, which is near Eldorado, Meisner said. A hearing is scheduled April 17.

The children will be appointed lawyers and legal guardians in about two weeks, she added.

Meisner said the temporary shelter is filling up quickly, and officials are facing a "critical shortage" of foster homes. Officials will try to keep siblings together, she added.

Law enforcement officials would not provide many details of their investigation, but Meisner said the 401 court affidavits being filed Monday should shed some light on the alleged abuse.

The investigation, which began Thursday night, is continuing and authorities remain on the property to search for evidence and other children, said Tela Mange of the Texas Department of Public Safety.

One man has been arrested, allegedly for interfering with investigators. He faces a misdemeanor charge, authorities said.

Investigators said they believe more children will be found at the ranch, but Mange stopped short of saying they were being hidden. Video See why police want every child removed »

Authorities would not say whether they have located or identified the teen tipster whose call prompted the raid.

On March 31, a 16-year-old called and reported physical and sexual abuse on the ranch, authorities said. She said she was married to a 50-year-old man. Authorities are looking for evidence the girl had a child at the age of 15.

It remains unclear whether the girl who reported being abused is among the children being interviewed -- or was whisked away from the compound under a different name before authorities arrived.

"I am confident that this girl does indeed exist," Meisner said earlier. "I am confident that the allegations that she brought forth are accurate."

One issue compounding an already difficult and sensitive investigation is the difficulty pinning down exact names and ages of the people being interviewed -- as well as of the people being sought.

The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints bought the ranch four years ago and began erecting dormitories and a large, white temple. Hundreds of Jeffs' followers moved from Arizona and Utah as authorities there stepped up their investigations.

The name is taken from one of Jeffs' spiritual songs, "Yearning for Zion."

Authorities began blocking roads to the YFZ ranch Thursday, then raided the compound and began busing women and children off the property. Most were girls, and most wore hand-sewn prairie dresses.Video Watch Eldorado residents react to the removals »

Officers entered the compound with a search warrant for 50-year-old Dale Evans Barlow, who they believed was married to the 16-year-old tipster. The search warrant authorized law enforcement to seize any evidence of a marriage between the two including CDs, DVDs and a computer hard drive, The Associated Press reported.

Barlow was sentenced to jail last year after pleading no contest to conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor, the AP said.

Barlow was ordered to register as a sex offender for three years while on probation, the wire service reported. Barlow's probation officer, Bill Loader, told The Salt Lake Tribune in Utah that he was in Arizona and did not know his accuser.

It remained unclear, the spokeswomen said, whether that was the same Dale Barlow named in their warrant. They acknowledged the man they are seeking might not be in Texas, but said they had no other details about his whereabouts.

CNN's previous visits to the ranch revealed the compound was guarded by armed men equipped with night-vision gear and other high-tech surveillance tools.

Authorities would not say Monday whether they had found any weapons.
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Jeffs remains jailed in Kingman, Arizona, where he awaits trial on four counts of incest and sexual conduct with a minor stemming from two arranged marriages between teenage girls and their older male relatives.

Jeffs was sentenced in November to two terms of 5 years to life for being an accomplice to the rape of a 14-year-old girl who said she was forced to marry her cousin.

So I'm a bit behind...

But here's a good one relevant to this week's lectures. Do you all think this is an acceptable tactic to catch online pedophiles and child predators, or is there too much of a risk for persons to be caught by accident?
(from http://www.news.com/8301-13578_3-9899151-38.html?tag=nefd.lede)

FBI posts fake hyperlinks to snare child porn suspects

Posted by Declan McCullagh | 94 comments

Screen snapshot: This now-defunct site is reportedly where an FBI undercover agent posted hyperlinks purporting to be illegal videos. Clicking the links brought a raid from the Feds.

The FBI has recently adopted a novel investigative technique: posting hyperlinks that purport to be illegal videos of minors having sex, and then raiding the homes of anyone willing to click on them.

Undercover FBI agents used this hyperlink-enticement technique, which directed Internet users to a clandestine government server, to stage armed raids of homes in Pennsylvania, New York, and Nevada last year. The supposed video files actually were gibberish and contained no illegal images.

A CNET News.com review of legal documents shows that courts have approved of this technique, even though it raises questions about entrapment, the problems of identifying who's using an open wireless connection--and whether anyone who clicks on a FBI link that contains no child pornography should be automatically subject to a dawn raid by federal police.

Roderick Vosburgh, a doctoral student at Temple University who also taught history at La Salle University, was raided at home in February 2007 after he allegedly clicked on the FBI's hyperlink. Federal agents knocked on the door around 7 a.m., falsely claiming they wanted to talk to Vosburgh about his car. Once he opened the door, they threw him to the ground outside his house and handcuffed him.

AUDIO

News.com daily podcast
Reporter Declan McCullagh talks about the FBI's
hyperlinking tactic for getting child porn suspects.

Download mp3 (6.36MB)

Vosburgh was charged with violating federal law, which criminalizes "attempts" to download child pornography with up to 10 years in prison. Last November, a jury found Vosburgh guilty on that count, and a sentencing hearing is scheduled for April 22, at which point Vosburgh could face three to four years in prison.

The implications of the FBI's hyperlink-enticement technique are sweeping. Using the same logic and legal arguments, federal agents could send unsolicited e-mail messages to millions of Americans advertising illegal narcotics or child pornography--and raid people who click on the links embedded in the spam messages. The bureau could register the "unlawfulimages.com" domain name and prosecute intentional visitors. And so on.

"The evidence was insufficient for a reasonable jury to find that Mr. Vosburgh specifically intended to download child pornography, a necessary element of any 'attempt' offense," Vosburgh's attorney, Anna Durbin of Ardmore, Penn., wrote in a court filing that is attempting to overturn the jury verdict before her client is sentenced.

In a telephone conversation on Wednesday, Durbin added: "I thought it was scary that they could do this. This whole idea that the FBI can put a honeypot out there to attract people is kind of sad. It seems to me that they've brought a lot of cases without having to stoop to this."

Durbin did not want to be interviewed more extensively about the case because it is still pending; she's waiting for U.S. District Judge Timothy Savage to rule on her motion. Unless he agrees with her and overturns the jury verdict, Vosburgh--who has no prior criminal record--will be required to register as a sex offender for 15 years and will be effectively barred from continuing his work as a college instructor after his prison sentence ends.

How the hyperlink sting operation worked
The government's hyperlink sting operation worked like this: FBI Special Agent Wade Luders disseminated links to the supposedly illicit porn on an online discussion forum called Ranchi, which Luders believed was frequented by people who traded underage images. One server allegedly associated with the Ranchi forum was rangate.da.ru, which is now offline with a message attributing the closure to "non-ethical" activity.

In October 2006, Luders posted a number of links purporting to point to videos of child pornography, and then followed up with a second, supposedly correct link 40 minutes later. All the links pointed to, according to a bureau affidavit, a "covert FBI computer in San Jose, California, and the file located therein was encrypted and non-pornographic."

Excerpt from an FBI affidavit filed in the Nevada case showing how the hyperlink-sting was conducted.

Some of the links, including the supposedly correct one, included the hostname uploader.sytes.net. Sytes.net is hosted by no-ip.com, which provides dynamic domain name service to customers for $15 a year.

When anyone visited the upload.sytes.net site, the FBI recorded the Internet Protocol address of the remote computer. There's no evidence the referring site was recorded as well, meaning the FBI couldn't tell if the visitor found the links through Ranchi or another source such as an e-mail message.

With the logs revealing those allegedly incriminating IP addresses in hand, the FBI sent administrative subpoenas to the relevant Internet service provider to learn the identity of the person whose name was on the account--and then obtained search warrants for dawn raids.

Excerpt from FBI affidavit in Nevada case that shows visits to the hyperlink-sting site.

The search warrants authorized FBI agents to seize and remove any "computer-related" equipment, utility bills, telephone bills, any "addressed correspondence" sent through the U.S. mail, video gear, camera equipment, checkbooks, bank statements, and credit card statements.

While it might seem that merely clicking on a link wouldn't be enough to justify a search warrant, courts have ruled otherwise. On March 6, U.S. District Judge Roger Hunt in Nevada agreed with a magistrate judge that the hyperlink-sting operation constituted sufficient probable cause to justify giving the FBI its search warrant.

The defendant in that case, Travis Carter, suggested that any of the neighbors could be using his wireless network. (The public defender's office even sent out an investigator who confirmed that dozens of homes were within Wi-Fi range.)

But the magistrate judge ruled that even the possibilities of spoofing or other users of an open Wi-Fi connection "would not have negated a substantial basis for concluding that there was probable cause to believe that evidence of child pornography would be found on the premises to be searched." Translated, that means the search warrant was valid.

Entrapment: Not a defense
So far, at least, attorneys defending the hyperlink-sting cases do not appear to have raised unlawful entrapment as a defense.

"Claims of entrapment have been made in similar cases, but usually do not get very far," said Stephen Saltzburg, a professor at George Washington University's law school. "The individuals who chose to log into the FBI sites appear to have had no pressure put upon them by the government...It is doubtful that the individuals could claim the government made them do something they weren't predisposed to doing or that the government overreached."

The outcome may be different, Saltzburg said, if the FBI had tried to encourage people to click on the link by including misleading statements suggesting the videos were legal or approved.

In the case of Vosburgh, the college instructor who lived in Media, Penn., his attorney has been left to argue that "no reasonable jury could have found beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Vosburgh himself attempted to download child pornography."

Vosburgh faced four charges: clicking on an illegal hyperlink; knowingly destroying a hard drive and a thumb drive by physically damaging them when the FBI agents were outside his home; obstructing an FBI investigation by destroying the devices; and possessing a hard drive with two grainy thumbnail images of naked female minors (the youths weren't having sex, but their genitalia were visible).

The judge threw out the third count and the jury found him not guilty of the second. But Vosburgh was convicted of the first and last counts, which included clicking on the FBI's illicit hyperlink.

In a legal brief filed on March 6, his attorney argued that the two thumbnails were in a hidden "thumbs.db" file automatically created by the Windows operating system. The brief said that there was no evidence that Vosburgh ever viewed the full-size images--which were not found on his hard drive--and the thumbnails could have been created by receiving an e-mail message, copying files, or innocently visiting a Web page.

From the FBI's perspective, clicking on the illicit hyperlink and having a thumbs.db file with illicit images are both serious crimes. Federal prosecutors wrote: "The jury found that defendant knew exactly what he was trying to obtain when he downloaded the hyperlinks on Agent Luder's Ranchi post. At trial, defendant suggested unrealistic, unlikely explanations as to how his computer was linked to the post. The jury saw through the smokes (sic) and mirrors, as should the court."

And, as for the two thumbnail images, prosecutors argued (note that under federal child pornography law, the definition of "sexually explicit conduct" does not require that sex acts take place):

The first image depicted a pre-pubescent girl, fully naked, standing on one leg while the other leg was fully extended leaning on a desk, exposing her genitalia... The other image depicted four pre-pubescent fully naked girls sitting on a couch, with their legs spread apart, exposing their genitalia. Viewing this image, the jury could reasonably conclude that the four girls were posed in unnatural positions and the focal point of this picture was on their genitalia.... And, based on all this evidence, the jury found that the images were of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, and certainly did not require a crystal clear resolution that defendant now claims was necessary, yet lacking.

Prosecutors also highlighted the fact that Vosburgh visited the "loli-chan" site, which has in the past featured a teenage Webcam girl holding up provocative signs (but without any nudity).

Civil libertarians warn that anyone who clicks on a hyperlink advertising something illegal--perhaps found while Web browsing or received through e-mail--could face the same fate.

When asked what would stop the FBI from expanding its hyperlink sting operation, Harvey Silverglate, a longtime criminal defense lawyer in Cambridge, Mass. and author of a forthcoming book on the Justice Department, replied: "Because the courts have been so narrow in their definition of 'entrapment,' and so expansive in their definition of 'probable cause,' there is nothing to stop the Feds from acting as you posit."

Just illustrating the point...

Everyone has surely heard this by now, so I'm just posting one story and a link to the whole thing, but yes, another example of how the differing perspectives of prostitution are, how they're enforced, and how not all situations of prostitution involve streetwalkers:
(from http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=670743&category=&BCCode=HOME&newsdate=3/11/2008)

GOP to push for NY gov impeachment

By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press Last updated: 3:23 p.m., Tuesday, March 11, 2008

ALBANY -- Pressure mounted Tuesday on Gov. Eliot Spitzer to resign because of a prostitution scandal, with a top state Republican threatening to push for impeachment proceedings if the governor doesn't step down in 48 hours. State residents "cannot have this hanging over their heads," said Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco. The scandal erupted Monday, when allegations surfaced that Spitzer, who built his political reputation on rooting out corruption, spent thousands of dollars for a night with a call girl named Kristen at a glitzy Washington hotel. Spitzer, a first-term Democrat, remained hidden from public view Tuesday, and his plans regarding his political future weren't known. Three New York newspapers called for his resignation, and the New York Post called him "NY's naked emperor." Spitzer hadn't yet decided whether to resign and hadn't set a timetable for a decision, according to two Democratic officials close to Spitzer and the state's lieutenant governor, David Paterson. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions. Reporters, government workers and the public milled around the state Capitol building Tuesday waiting for any development in the scandal. Whispers of 'What have you heard?' could be heard in nearly every hallway of the ornate, 109-year-old building. Newsvans lined up around the Capitol's perimeter and camera operators sat next to their tripods on the front lawn waiting for something to do. To get articles of impeachment to the floor, Tedisco would need support from the Democratic majority in the Assembly. If the measure passed there, it would still need at least two-thirds approval of the combined vote of the Republican-controlled Senate and the nine-member Court of Appeals to proceed to trial. The case started when banks noticed the frequent cash transfers from several accounts and filed suspicious activity reports with the Internal Revenue Service, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press Tuesday. The accounts were traced back to Spitzer, prompting public corruption investigators to open an inquiry. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing. The inquiry found that Spitzer was a repeat customer with the Emperors Club VIP, a high-end prostitution service, the official said. In an affidavit filed in Manhattan federal court last week, Spitzer appeared as "Client 9," according to another law enforcement official who also spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation. Spitzer allegedly paid for the call girl to take a train from New York to Washington -- a move that opened the transaction up to federal prosecution because she crossed state lines. The governor has not been charged, and prosecutors would not comment on the case. A Spitzer spokesman said the governor has retained a large Manhattan law firm. Client 9 wanted a high-priced prostitute named Kristen to come to Washington on a 5:39 p.m. train from Manhattan Feb. 13. The door to the hotel room would be left ajar. Train tickets, cab fare, room service, and the minibar were all on him.

Today's links:

As promised for those interested in exploring more:
The Gay Hanky Code Site: http://alt.xmission.com/~trevin/hanky.html
The Furry Site: http://furry.wikia.com/wiki/WikiFur_Furry_Central

And finally the Fetish Roadmap (click for larger version):

And on a lighter note...

No need to comment on this post, I just thought everyone could use a laugh that's still on topic.

(From http://thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article594932.ece)

A TEENAGER who tried to have sex with the PAVEMENT in a busy street claimed yesterday it was a drunken prank — and escaped being put on the sex offenders’ list.

Motorists looked on in shock as Steven Marshall, 18, hauled down his trousers and started to simulate sex on the floor.

Marshall — drinking while taking pills for arthritis — also carried out a vile sex act in front of a horrified female taxi driver in Galashiels, Selkirkshire.

He admitted a charge of public indecency at Selkirk Sheriff Court and got 12 months probation.

Sheriff Drummond commented: “This was bizarre. Anyone who lies on the road in the daylight, is significantly intoxicated and is partially undressed has a problem.”

But Marshall will NOT be put on the sex offenders’ register after Sheriff Drummond accepted the June offence “was not primarily sexually motivated”.


I also found this very informative technical diagram of the US Criminal Justice System that should appear in all future textbooks on the subject (click for larger version):