Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Guilty even if innocent

According to a report in the Toledo Blade, Ohio's government has rubber-stamped a new law which will allow people to be publically listed on the Internet as criminal sex offenders (complete with photo and current address), even if they have never been charged, let alone convicted.

As a listed sex offender, they would be subject to strict restrictions on where they can live, the sorts of work they can do, and required to notify both authorities and the local community whenever they move.

According to the Toledo Blade:

No one in attendance voiced opposition to rules submitted by Attorney General Jim Petro's office to the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review, consisting of members of the Ohio House and Senate.


The Roman Catholic Church suggested this new legislation, as an alternative to lawsuits against them for child sexual abuse. What a great win for the Church: in return for listing Father O'Molester, who is now 75 and living in some church hospice out of the way somewhere, the Church gets out of their responsibility for protecting the abusers, the victim doesn't see a cent, and a horrible precedent is made. Forget innocent until proven guilty. It will be guilty even if innocent.

Thanks to Echidne.

No comments: