Not for one moment do I doubt the need for legislation and legal avenues to deal with sexual predators, but does anyone besides me see a problem with this?

An Ohio legislative panel yesterday rubber-stamped an unprecedented process that would allow sex offenders to be publicly identified and tracked even if they’ve never been charged with a crime.

The committee’s decision not to interfere with the rules puts Ohio in a position to become the first state to test a “civil registry.”

The concept was offered by Roman Catholic bishops as an alternative to opening a one-time window for the filing of civil lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse that occurred as long as 35 years ago.

A recently enacted law allows county prosecutors, the state attorney general, or, as a last resort, alleged victims to ask judges to civilly declare someone to be a sex offender even when there has been no criminal verdict or successful lawsuit.

(Emphasis mine)

So basically, innocent until proven guilty is nullified here. Because this new “civil registry” would:

-would treat a person added to the civil registry exactly as a convicted sex offender is treated under Ohio’s so-called Megan’s Law

-registrants’ names, addresses, and photographs would be put on a new Internet database and persons added would be subjected to the same registration and community notification requirements and restrictions on where s/he could live

-any ‘civilly declared’ offender, however, could petition the court to have the person’s name removed from the new list after six years if there have been no new problems and the judge believes the person is unlikely to abuse again

As much as it pains people to admit, people make up false allegations of sexual abuse. Sometimes, there are strong allegations and no forensics to back it up. So to essentially convict a person before they are ever confronted with evidence or a trial smacks me as utterly contrary to the Constititution.

Who can assure the citizens of Ohio that they won’t be added to this registry erroneously? We all know the Court of Public opinion is far stronger than the actual courts. And there is always the chance someone will decide to take matters into their own hands, even when there is nothing concrete to back it up.