It's probably too much, but I feel like a statement within the last couple years about HOW he's supposedly "learned his lesson" would have helped situations like this. I think the outcry from the community wouldn't be as big if he could at least say, "yeah it happened/again I'm very sorry/I've learned" or whatever. Unless, he's legally not allowed to, but I haven't heard anything like that.
The most confusing thing is still why they cast him. They got all this positive coverage on Norm's casting, and followed up with Barbour? It's not like we only have a handful of fair actors with great voices or that there's some amazing draw that comes with his name. It's just odd to me.
Yeah I've seen many of his Broadway.com interviews. What I find funny about him is that with every guest he has a tendency to "dream cast" them in one role or another and the interviewees sure do love him.
He did that with Jeremy Jordan as well. He was going on and on about the pic Jordan posed for with the wine coolers obscuring his man candy. I was like: "Girl...can you be anymore obvious with your drool?"
A few of my observations, as an attorney who never worked on such cases, but am familiar with them:
Mr. Barbour is NOT a rapist, because he was not convicted of statutory rape (a felony), and was only convicted of misdemeanor charges. OTOH, his excuse that he thought she was 16 is not particularly exculpatory -- in many states, the age of consent is no longer 16, but 18.
A so-called "Alford plea" is becoming quite common in these cases. Such a plea is NOT equivalent to a plea of "no contest." Instead, it is a true guilty plea, in which someone effectively says, "I didn't do it, but I acknowledge that the prosecution's evidence is sufficient for me to be convicted."
The terms of Mr. Barbour's plea deal strike me as quite harsh in a case in which there was no actual intercourse. Therefore, Mr. Barbour's attorney's spin that the prosecution didn't have a good case is probably inaccurate.
Cases such as Mr. Barbour's and Stephen Collins's are troubling for lots of reasons. First, of course, is the damage to the victim. OTOH, in many states, statutes of limitations for similar offenses are getting longer and longer, and, in some cases, there are none. Therefore, an offender may be convicted of an offense that happened decades before. Sometimes he (usually, such offenders are male) has completely changed his ways -- contrary to popular belief, not everyone who has committed child molestation is a "pedophile." Instead, many, if not most, offenders commit the offense because of issues in their lives at the moment, and not because they are generally attracted to children. This does not excuse the offense, but it does diminish the likelihood of repetition years later.
Finally, unlike for many other offenses, offenders can experience repercussions years later, either because of a draconian sex offender registration law or because the Internet acts as a de facto offender list. These repercussions make it difficult for the offender to move past an offense, even where the individual is no longer dangerous. In some such cases, an offender's young children or new spouse can become additional victims to an extent not likely for other crimes. As a result, such a perpetrator is never given the opportunity for a fresh start. In some cases, offenders face such strict limits on where they may live that they wind up homeless, where no one can easily track them.
I have no answers to unfairness in the laws, but I am concerned that society not rush forward with ever stricter statutes that make it impossible for an offender to pay his debt to society and move on.
Audrey, the Phantom Phanatic, who nonetheless would rather be Jean Valjean, who knew how to make lemonade out of lemons.
...that make it impossible for an offender to pay his debt to society and move on.
And that's just it isn't it? Not only the laws but we as a society.
And it's an interesting point you make:
...an offender may be convicted of an offense that happened decades before. Sometimes he (usually, such offenders are male) has completely changed his ways - This does not excuse the offense, but it does diminish the likelihood of repetition years later.
When the offender has paid their debt to society, learned from their mistakes, has changed their ways, no longer poses a threat and wants to move on with their lives in a positive way is it really fair to continue to put this person "on trial" so to speak, which ultimately prohibits the offender from moving on with their life?
Don't we all, as human beings deserve a second chance especially when one has acknowledged the wrong doing and as paid their debt?