Brickbats

Guilty as Never Charged

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A new Ohio law allows judges to declare someone a sex offender even if that person has never been convicted of or even charged with a sex crime. For that matter, the person doesn't even have to have been found liable for any sex crime in a civil trial. And under new rules agreed to by the legislature, people declared sex offenders under this process will be placed on an Internet database and subject to all the restrictions placed on those who have been convicted of sex crimes. Lest you think the law is too onerous, it allows those declared sex offenders to have their names removed from the database…after six years.