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State of Ohio Establishes "Pre-Crime" Registry

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the just-in-case-you-want-to-ruin-someone dept.

I*Love*Green*Olives writes to tell us the Toledo Blade is reporting that State officials have rubber-stamped a "civil-registry" that would allow accused sex offenders to be tracked with the sex offender registry even if they have never been convicted of a crime. From the article: "A recently enacted law allows county prosecutors, the state attorney general, or, as a last resort, alleged victims to ask judges to civilly declare someone to be a sex offender even when there has been no criminal verdict or successful lawsuit. The rules spell out how the untried process would work. It would largely treat a person placed on the civil registry the same way a convicted sex offender is treated under Ohio's so-called Megan's Law."

2 of 761 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Imo: by spiritraveller · · Score: 5, Interesting
    oh, it's more than just being watched...

    ...the person would be subjected to the same registration and community notification requirements and restrictions on where he could live.

    The restrictions on where you can live requirement is a big issue. Many states have created absurd rules for people on the registries, that basically make it illegal for them to live anywhere near a metropolitan area, because they can't live nearby a church, school, playground, anything.

    In Dekalb County, Georgia, the sheriff said that there are no locations in the county where someone on the registry can legally reside... so those people have to move to the more rural areas. Hope the country-folk like having child molesters next door.

    But I digress, the real deal with this thing is that it takes away a very important liberty interest for at least six years, with what sounds like a very limited procedure. We'll see, but this could turn out to be a violation of due process.

    At any rate, I'm sure there are some spouses in divorce who are looking at this as a golden opportunity.

  2. Re:Don't worry, it is unconstitutional and will be by Bluude · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Funny you bring up custody battles over children.

    Can you imagine how nasty those battles are going to get with this sort of law in place?

    One of my friends ex-husbands can already get the cops to raid her house every few months if she pisses him off. They have to do it because he says she is hurting the child and they have to check it out.
    Now he can ge her declared a sex offender as well. Sure she can do it back, but he can afford the better lawyers and would probably win.