You too may be a sex offender

Apparently Ohio just enacted a law that allows a judge to put you on the sex offenders list without actually convicting you of a crime.

"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. The rules spell out how the untried process would work. It would largely treat a person placed on the civil registry the same way a convicted sex offender is treated under Ohio's so-called Megan's Law. The person's name, address, and photograph would be placed on a new Internet database and the person would be subjected to the same registration and community notification requirements and restrictions on where he could live. A 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. The attorney general's office said it continues to hold discussions with a group representing day care operators about one of the rules pertaining to what such facilities would do with information they might receive pertaining to someone on the registry if that person is living nearby."
So for six fuckin' years you have to wait if someone "alleges" that you've committed a crime as a sex offender. Meaning even if you are declared innocent, you have to follow the same registration and tracking process as if you were an actual offender. I'm all for stopping sexual predators, but this is a bit extreme don't ya' think.