Honey, Remember Our First-Time Offense?

Jacob Sullum | March 28, 2008

This 20/20 story aired a couple weeks ago, but I missed it: John Stossel tells the tale of a Texas man condemned to a life of stigmatization as a "sex offender," lumped in with child molesters and serial rapists, because he had consensual sex with his not-quite-16-year-old girlfriend when he was a 19-year-old high school senior. A state legislator defends the registration requirement for a man whose "victim" is now his wife, saying the law is the law, we're a nation of laws, and too many people in America expect a second chance when they do something wrong.

More on sex offender registration requirements and residence restrictons here, here, and here.

[Thanks to Veronique de Rugy for the tip.]