You can be a sex offender in Ohio, no conviction required!
Grrr!, Pseudo-intellectual BS, WTF? Add commentsI was stunned, literally stunned, to read this article from the Toledo Blade. Among the other very disturbing things written there, is this:
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.
That’s right… alleged victims can convince a judge to declare other citizens sex offenders, apparently without any evidence or the due process of law to examine said evidence. Do you not like the gay people that just moved in down the street? No problem, accuse them of molesting your child, and when the lack of evidence fails to get them convicted of a crime, you and your lawyer can talk a judge into enrolling them as sex offenders anyway. That’ll really fuck up those nasty gay people for life (or at least 6 miserable years). After all, the state constitution (via referendum) has already declared gay people as something less than citizens with full rights. Who cares if they’re (mis)treated like violent or mentally disturbed criminals?
Terrifying.
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January 2nd, 2007 at 2:48 pm
This is the Conservative Nanny State.
–chuck
January 2nd, 2007 at 2:55 pm
Citizens can now use the government to effectively convict other citizens of a crime (and a nasty one) without any review of evidence, reminiscent of witch hunting. A judge and his court, instruments of government, have the power to unilaterally declare a person a criminal.
Increased power of government == liberalism
January 2nd, 2007 at 4:54 pm
Amazing how the party of smaller government has expanded it at a rate that makes the Democratic attempts look amateurish.
January 2nd, 2007 at 5:09 pm
HEY!!! The party of smaller government had nothing to do with that…
Oh, wait… were you referring to Republicans? Okay, so long as weren’t slandering my Libertarian Party. (The GOP hasn’t been for smaller government in a looooong time.)
January 2nd, 2007 at 5:55 pm
What’s amazing to me is that people are so paranoid of crime (or at least some kinds of crime) that they would elect candidates from any party who would endorse something like this. I don’t blame this on a party, I blame this on complacency. America has truly devolved into a country where no risk whatsoever is acceptable, and if obliterating people’s rights is what it takes to make us feel safe, so be it. It’s all over our society. I’m all about the republican process, but I have to wonder why this kind of thing doesn’t make citizens march on Columbus with torches and pitchforks.
I also noticed that this article was dated August 2006. It’s now January 2007. It’s been some time since this measure was enacted, and a common citizen like me is just now hearing about it. There should have been an uproar over something like this, but I (we?) heard about it months after the fact. It seems like it was kept quiet to avoid the uproar that should have happened.
January 4th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
This has nothing to do with the prevention of crime. This has everything to do with pandering for votes. Support it? You can say “I voted/enacted/etc legislation that was tough on the worst sort of crime, sex crimes against ‘the children!’”… It also allows the law’s supporters to slander their opponents as being ’soft of crime”… supporters of criminals and perverts.
While you can argue that the real issue is Due Process, Joe Average wouldn’t know due process from Don Pardo.
As for what party you can draw lines to, at least here in my state, it is the right wing of the Republican party that consistently creates these ridiculous laws. Thankfully we have Judges who have actually READ the constitution. =\
–chuck
February 6th, 2007 at 11:41 am
[...] and whether it’s ever proved that he gave those pictures to children or exposed himself, have a judge declare him a sex offender anyway. Make his last few years a living hell. All accused or suspected sex offenders should suffer [...]
June 21st, 2007 at 7:19 pm
[...] makes me want to surround my house with razor wire and land mines. Considering that in Ohio, you can be declared a sex offender without any criminal conviction whatsoever, I wonder if there is any truly safe place to live where children and their parents can’t [...]
July 31st, 2007 at 6:05 am
There are some who say they support/uphold the Constitution…Let them come to california. There are others who say serious major fraudulent/false evidence won’t be instructed to a jury…Let them come to california. And there are a few who say you can get a fair open jury trial…Let them come to california.
July 8th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
[...] the nasty, mean sex offenders and the poor, innocent children has earned our complacent citizenry some legalities that are deeply troubling. Apparently the next step is to make thinking about children while performing a sex act a [...]