Guilty in Ohio, no questions asked


Corrupting the rule of law "for the children"
You can lose your freedom without even being convicted.

An Ohio legislative panel yesterday rubber-stamped an unprecedented process that would allow sex offenders to be publicly identified and tracked even if they've never been charged with a crime.

No one in attendance voiced opposition to rules submitted by Attorney General Jim Petro's office to the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review, consisting of members of the Ohio House and Senate.

The committee's decision not to interfere with the rules puts Ohio in a position to become the first state to test a "civil registry."

The concept was offered by Roman Catholic bishops as an alternative to opening a one-time window for the filing of civil lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse that occurred as long as 35 years ago.

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.

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.

No evidence. No trial. No conviction.

No appeal.

Once the information is out there, it will follow you for the rest of your life. If you are accused under this, you will always be labeled as a sex offender. Your address and restrictions will always be a matter of public record. Bad enough that has to happen to actual sex offenders, but this will harm innocent people.

I know because I have seen it happen.

Think about this. Criminal penalties will be applied to people who haven't been convicted of a crime.

Sex offender laws have already been abused in every state, just as paternity laws have been.

All that is required for someone to ruin your life is one accusation.

Hat tip to The Agitator.

— NeoWayland

Posted: Fri - September 1, 2006 at 05:38 AM  Tag


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