Helen Goddard, a public school teacher in London, was sentenced yesterday to 15 months in jail for having a relationship with a 15-year-old female student. Goddard, once a prodigy trumpet player who performed at the opening ceremony of the Sydney Olympics in 2000, will be banned from teaching children and obligated to register as a sex offender upon her release.
The consequences for being placed on a sex offender registry can be unduly harsh. For example, in some localities in the United Kingdom, the lists of sex offenders are made available to the general public, marking the accused as deviant or hazardous. This is particularly troubling in cases of apparently consenual intergenerational relationships.
Read more about the Goddard case here.
