"I'm just another man crying, 'I don't know this person. I don't have their kid.' It's a routine they're just used to."

Reader Chris sends in a a href=”http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2008/11/man_pays_for_countys_mistake_i.html”pathetic story /aabout a man who was forced to pay child support for a kid even though he was not the child’s father:br /br /blockquoteWhen Walter Andre Sharpe Jr. signed for a certified letter from Dauphin County Domestic Relations in 2001, he didn’t know he was signing on for a seven-year nightmare. Since then, the Philadelphia man has been thrown in jail four times, lost his job, become estranged from his four children and spent more than $12,000 to support the child of another man. br /br /It finally stopped in May 2007 when a judge reversed a finding that he was the father. But the same judge has since ruled that Sharpe is not entitled to any compensation, not even the money he was forced to pay to support the child. /blockquotebr /br /Think this can’t happen to you? Think again. Many times, people think that these mistaken cases are few and far between until it happens to them. Paul Nathanson and Katherine K. Young in their book, a href=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0773528628?ie=UTF8tag=wwwviolentkicomlinkCode=as2camp=1789creative=9325creativeASIN=0773528628″emLegalizing Misandry: From Public Shame to Systemic Discrimination Against Men,/em/aimg src=”http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=wwwviolentkicoml=as2o=1a=0773528628″ width=”1″ height=”1″ border=”0″ alt=”” style=”border:none !important; margin:0px !important;” / point out that one of the problems inherent in our legal system is inefficiency. The authors suspect, however, that this inefficiency would not be tolerated if women suffered from it and I agree. For instance, the authors state, “Officials in Los Angeles County have admitted to going after the wrong man for child support payments approximately 350 times a month.” br /br /Women’s groups would stick up for women who suffered this type of injustice and put a stop to it. I can’t imagine things will improve in many (if any) states with the incoming administration. This is why it is so important for men’s rights activists to keep up with these issues and fight back when they can. It may be an uphill battle, but it is worth the struggle to keep innocent men like Walter Sharpe out of jail.