Dark Christianity – Say WHAT?!??!?!??!
So Ohio has a registry for sex offenders which you can be put on without being convicted.
Does any one know if this is actually the case? Someone can just accuse you and bam, you’re on the registry? Is there an appeal for removal from the registry if you have not been convicted of a crime?
Edited: So I found this in the article that answered my questions a tad:
“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.
The person’s name, address, and photograph would be placed on a new Internet database and the person would be subjected to the same registration and community notification requirements and restrictions on where he could live.
A civilly declared offender, however, could petition the court to have the person’s name removed from the new list after six years if there have been no new problems and the judge believes the person is unlikely to abuse again.”
I’ve never been comfortable with any of these so-called “Megan” laws. I don’t see an significant difference between this and Biblical times, when lepers had to call out “unclean” to keep “normal” people at a distance. But this Ohio law is beyond any sense of reason. What happened to “innocent until proven guilty?”
I do understand parents wanting to protect children. I’m a parent of a teenaged girl myself. But I also believe in our system of law, and I don’t see how this sort of law can fit into it. I hate “slippery slope” type arguments, but this begins to look like a good instance for one.
Dwayne
September 4th, 2006
This is, in a word, wrong. This is completely out-of-line with the concept of innocent until proven guilty. The whole sex offender registry is questionable, anyway. Once someone has served their sentence, we continue to punish them indefinitely by listing their name address and photograph out for all to see.
I’ll have to look into this as to what level of “proof” is required to place someone on the list. Surely, it’s not just a single person’s word. But, then again, maybe it is.
Peace,
Brian
Ohio-resident
Brian
September 4th, 2006