Should teen sex offenders be branded for life?

By In the news
In: Measure 37
Tuesday January 30, 2007

Today’s Medford Mail Tribune Editorial brings up an interesting situation facing the Legislature. The Medford Mail Tribune Editorial Board stated:

Certainly the teen, Matthew Shettles, was guilty of poor judgment. Just as clearly, he broke the law. He had just turned 18; his girlfriend was not yet 15. The law considers sex between youths of those ages to be third-degree sex abuse. We have no quarrel with the decision to prosecute him. But does that make Shettles a sexual predator, a menace to society? Hardly. Under the law, Shettles can apply to have his name removed from the registry, but not until 10 years after he completes probation “” when he will be 32.

The article goes on to highlight HB 2333 which would remove registration requirement for offenders whose age is between nine years of the victim. The Board says that is too wide, but the bill starts the dialogue in the right direction.

This begs several questions; should there be a registration removal for young offenders? If so, how big the age split? Is this fixing a problem or just being soft on crime? We report…you comment.

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