"John" LIGHTSEY - 5 yo (2008) - Nashville TN

A local mother is on a campaign to change state laws. Her campaign began after the rape of her 5-year-old son.

Tiffany
Lightsey is pushing Tennessee to create a juvenile sex offender
registry. It's a controversial request that child advocates are
fighting. About a year ago Lightsey's child was at his babysitter's house. The babysitter's adopted 15-year-old son was the offender. "My
5-year-old son was raped by a 15-year-old," said Lightsey. "He got into
details, and I immediately called the older boys mother." "He
told me the young man was crying, and asking him to stop," said the
offender's mother. "Why wouldn't you stop? [the mom asked her son] He
said ‘cause it didn't really didn't matter to me at the moment.'" What Tiffany Lightsey found out next would spark a call for change and a new relationship with an unlikely ally. "Like
probably most all parents that have to go through what me and my son
have went through, I assumed that a juvenile sex offender would have to
register, just like an adult sex offender would have to," said
Lightsey. Even though a 15-year-old was found guilty of
raping a child that criminal record was confidential. The teen was in a
juvenile sex offender facility, but because he will eventually go back
to school, his mother wanted to do what she felt was the right thing.
"I went to the principals office, went to the board of education," said offender's mother. "You were told what? That you were breaking the law," said NewsChannel 5 reporter Scott Arnold. "Yeah, violating his rights," said offender's mother. The
mother of the victim and mother of the offender have struck common
ground, even a friendship. They are pushing for a juvenile sex offender
registry in Tennessee. "I don't think a sex offender registry
is going to stop a criminal from being a criminal, but I think it's
going to better enable people to protect themselves from it," said
offender's mother. Lightsey is gathering hundreds of signatures
for her cause and contacting lawmakers pushing for change when they go
back into session in January. Representative Debra Maggart
will introduce a bill in January that calls for a juvenile sex offender
registry. She's pushed different versions of it over the past two years. The
Department of Children services and many in the juvenile court system
are against the registry. They believe the children need a second
chance. Research shows treatment is effective, and that 90 percent of them will never re-offend again.