Minors Who Engage In Consensual Sex Won’t Have To Register As Sex Offenders
Vince Leibowitz | May 07, 2009 | Comments 4
The Texas House yesterday passed legislation that will allow judges to exempt teens and young adults who engage in consensual sex from being required to register as sex offenders.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram has more:
The House of Representatives passed legislation Wednesday that would allow judges to spare teen-agers and young adults engaged in consensual sex from being branded as sex offenders.
Rep. Todd Smith, R-Euless, sponsor of the bill, said that many young people face a lifetime of shame by being placed on the sex offender registry after being convicted of sex with a minor.
Sex involving minors is illegal in Texas, though cases are seldom prosecuted if the participants are no more than three years apart, according to Smith’s office.
Under HB3148, which the House sent to the Senate by a vote of 131-12, a defendant could petition a judge for exemption from being registered as a sex offender. The legislation would apply only to age-based offenses involving consensual sex in which the defendant is no more than four years older than a victim who is at least 13 years old.
Smith, an attorney, called the bill “one of the most morally compelling” measures of his legislative career. He said he filed the bill in response to pleas from parents and grandparents who told him of cases in which their children were banned from college campuses or unable to get jobs after being placed on the sex offender registry.
“They’re treated like pedophiles,” Smith said.
Smith and other House members acknowledged the risk of political fallout from a vote that could be perceived as being lax on sex offenders. When the bill came up for preliminary consideration Tuesday, 45 members voted against it. But Smith and his supporters worked overnight to build support by explaining the intent of the bill.
Smith told colleagues that if a constituent accused any of them of being soft on sex offenders, “I make a personal pledge to come to your district and call that person a liar.”
This bill was the right thing to do, and there is no question about that. It is interesting, though, that Smith has no problem taking the moral highground on an issue like this, but crawls the moral sewers on an issue like Voter ID.
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Filed Under: 81st Texas Legislature
[...] Vince reports that HB3148, which would allow judges to exempt teens and young adults who engage in consensual sex from being required to register as sex offenders, passed out of the House on Wednesday. Unfortunately, it looks like HB3564, the “Romeo and Juliet Fair Defense Act”, which would extend the defense of “indecency with a child” for age-appropriate dating by straight kids to gay and lesbian teenagers, is not going to make it out of committee. That would be a shame. [...]
[...] He vetoed HB3148, which would have allowed some minors who engaged in consensual sex to not have to register as sex offenders, which strikes me as petty and short-sighted. I’ll bet that will annoy [...]
[...] Todd Smith takes Governor Perry to task for vetoing HB3148, which would have exempted some teenagers who had engaged in consensual sex with a minor less than [...]