Who is Genarlow Wilson and why should we care about him?

By now, you may have heard the story of Genarlow Wilson, a young man incarcerated in a Georgia prison for receiving oral sex from a 15 year-old girl. Genarlow was 17 when the incident occured. There was a video of the sordid shenanigans that took place in a motel room between Genarlow, his friends and several girls.

Although the female victim in this case was not forced to commit the act, she was under Georgia's age of consent which is 16. Genarlow refused the plea bargain that his friends accepted and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He would also be labeled a child molestor. The antiquated Georgia law has been changed but Genarlow and the seven other prisoners convicted as teenagers were not grandfathered in. Genarlow has been incarcerated almost 29 months.

Recently, A Georgia judge voided Genarlow's conviction thus freeing Genarlow from prison. The Georgia Attorney General appealed the judge's decision and Genarlow remains in prision.

The Genarlow Wilson case has received major media coverage recently. Many have expressed outrage at his sentence and the Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue is beginning to feel the heat.

The mother of the victim feels that Generlow's sentence was too severe. She also spoke of Gestapo-like tactics used by Georgia's State Attorney's Office. As this continues to unfold, hopefully the Georgia legislature, ACLU, NAACP and other organizations will make sure that the Douglas County DA and Georgia Sate Attorney's Office are investigated.

Genarlow Wilson and his friends were irresponsible for engaging in sexual activity the way that they did. Filming the acts was reprehensible. The young girl willingly performing a sexual act in the presence of others and allowing it to be filmed was nauseating.

This case is bigger than Genarlow Wilson, it exemplifies the moral decline of American society and our utterly ridiculous show of surprise that such an incident occured in the first place.