3 Things You Need to Know About Sex Offenders
Sex Offenders Fact #1
Sex Offenders are classified as individuals who have been convicted of their respective participation within sexually-related crimes; in many cases, the classification of Sex Offenders exists in conjunction with the sexual assault, sexual abuse, and molestation of individuals considered children or minors. Due to the egregious nature of sex crimes involving minors, supplemental legislation has been enacted in order to provide for extended protection and support for the health and wellbeing of children, in addition to the punitive recourse corollary to individuals convicted as sex offenders:
What is a Minor?
A minor – or child – is defined as an individual who is prohibited from engaging in specific activity that is presumed to require a heightened sense of maturity and growth as a result of their respective age; an individual classified as a minor is prohibited from consenting to any nature of sexual activity, including intercourse, copulation, performance, or depiction.
What is Megan’s Law?
Megan’s law is statutory legislation undertaken within the United States requiring convicted sex offenders to register themselves in a nationally-accessible database, which contains the names and locations of all known and convicted sex offenders residing within the United States:
On July 29th, 1994, 7 year old New Jersey resident Megan Kanka was violently raped and murdered by an individual; subsequent to the investigation of this heinous crime, the offender was discovered to have been a repeat offender – this individual had a history of engaging within sexual crimes involving children
With regard to the identification of sex offenders, Megan’s Law was instated as a preventative measure to deter Statutory Rape and sexual assault with regard to repeat offenders; sex offenders are not only identified, but legally obligated to participate in this type of registration
Sex Offenders Fact #2
An Online Watchdog Group geared towards the regulation of sex offenders – in addition to other natures of sexual abuse and assault involving children – are typically privately owned and operated coalitions of concerned citizens reporting illegal activity undertaken by sex offenders within a virtual or electronic setting. Online sex offenders can include any individual preying upon children through exploitative acts preying upon presumed weakness, trust, threat, or naivety. Online sex offenders may attempt to contact children in order to solicit unlawful sexual engagements, distribute pornographic imagery, or participate in sexual activities both physical and virtual in setting.
Sex Offenders Fact #3
Typically, sex offenders who have been convicted of sex crimes involving children will have undergone one or more of the following illegal, unlawful, and illicit activities; the engagement of a child with regard to these kinds of activities are assumed to be expansively unethical due to the nature of exploitation and endangerment inherent in the minor status of a victim:
Statutory Rape is a crime defined by the unlawful engagement of sexual intercourse with a minor
Child Pornography is classified as the depictions of children involved or engaging in inappropriate, illegal, unlawful sexual acts
Child molestation and child abuse are variations of sexual assault involving a minor; sex offenders convicted of offense may have engaged in the illegal, unlawful, and illicit touching of a minor
