The scarlet 'M'
Be careful out there after the next BYU-UofU game. If Rep. Paul Ray has his way, repetitive mooning or even taking a leak in public could land you on the state's Sexual Offender Database.
Under HB136, "two or more" convictions on lewdness, which includes mooning and public urination, will put you in the electronic company of father rapers and child molesters. Then, when your neighbors check on local pederasts — you'll be the star of back-fence gossip — with your lewdness conviction, your address and even a photo.
Ray told the House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee that his amendment is meant to target flashers. "This would put them on the (sex offender) list."
Still, Rep. Becky Lockhart seemed a bit disturbed by the bill:
It's my understanding — not from personal experience obviously — that mooning is a lewd act.Ray assured her that it would take two mooning convictions to get on the list:
This gives them one free moon. You are in trouble after that.Committee chairman Rep. Curt Oda pressed Becky on her lunar experience:
This was not personal experience? I need to clarify that.Lockhart maintained she has only been the victim of mooning. The committee approved the bill before Oda could pry any farther.
6 Comments:
It is really appalling the amount of time the Utah Leg spends on the sex offender registry. I don't think it's healthy and I think someone should look into adding "unhealthy obsession with sex offender registry" to the list of crimes that result in an individual being added to the registry.
Seriously though, the more the sex offender registry is diluted the less resonance, meaning and impact it has. At this rate, there is going to come a day when it is the people not on the registry who are the aberrations and they will be shunned from neighborhoods.
Let's not forget why the registry started. Does anyone remember Megans law? The whole point of a registry was to warn parents of a potential threat to their children's safety.
So all that is accomplished by putting non-violent offenders on the registry is to dilute the effectiveness of the registry.
Its giving dangerous predators an opportunity to hide in a sea of mooners and flashers.
Wow, so basically all of my brothers and friends would have been sex offenders by the time we were 7 for multiple mooning offences. Give a judge some discretion, Jebus.
Guess I'm destined to be a registered sex offender. Since when does someone's booty cause anything but laughter?
Public urination is a defense or "lesser-included offense" to Utah's lewdness law.
So, if you're caught skinny-dipping, streaking, or topless in a locally-produced "Girls Gone Wild" video, get that yellow flow going and claim you couldn't hold it anymore.
In certain cities (Washington, D.C., Moscow, Idaho) and states (Maine, New York), women may legally go topless.
Way to make sex offenders look like harmless petty criminals! As the mother of a 4 year old who was raped, I think this is unforgivable! For the sake of reality, let us keep a tall brick wall between the definitions of sex offender and a teenager with a bad sense of humor!
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