Spring Break
SLS answers your burning questions
Q: Will I really have to register as a sex offender for doing something stupid like streaking or peeing in the bushes?
Rob Lowry
Issue date: 2/9/09 Section: Opinion
A: Yes, you might have to register as a sex offender if the police charge indecent exposure.
Indecent Exposure is a listed "Sex Offense" which requires Sex Offender Registration under Colorado law (C.R.S. 16-22-102.). Indecent exposure shares the list of sex offenses with:
Sexual assault, sexual assault on a child, incest, sexual exploitation of children, soliciting for child prostitution, keeping a place of child prostitution, pimping of a child, internet luring of a child and internet sexual exploitation of a child.
These are crimes we expect to be on a list of sex offenses. We expect that rapists and child molesters should have to register as sex offenders.
But why should students who go streaking or get caught peeing in the bushes? Should these non-violent, non-sexual acts require potential Sex Offender Registration? No. How can they possibly compare to the heinous crimes on the list above?
Of course it would be reasonable to expect a charge for the underlying alcohol consumption, disorderly conduct (an offensive display in a public place) or maybe a municipal depositing bodily waste ticket.
Be aware, however, CSUPD has recently charged three students with sex offenses, which require sex offender registration, for non-violent, non-sexual streaking.
Don't take the chance. If you get caught running around naked or peeing in the bushes, you should expect to get into trouble. Keep your clothes on and hold it until you get home.
Rob Lowrey is a staff attorney for Student Legal Services. SLS' column appears biweekly Mondays in the Collegian. Send your burning legal questions to Kathleen Harward, director of SLS, at kathleen.harward@colostate.edu. Feedback to the Collegian can be sent to letters@collegian.com.
Indecent Exposure is a listed "Sex Offense" which requires Sex Offender Registration under Colorado law (C.R.S. 16-22-102.). Indecent exposure shares the list of sex offenses with:
Sexual assault, sexual assault on a child, incest, sexual exploitation of children, soliciting for child prostitution, keeping a place of child prostitution, pimping of a child, internet luring of a child and internet sexual exploitation of a child.
These are crimes we expect to be on a list of sex offenses. We expect that rapists and child molesters should have to register as sex offenders.
But why should students who go streaking or get caught peeing in the bushes? Should these non-violent, non-sexual acts require potential Sex Offender Registration? No. How can they possibly compare to the heinous crimes on the list above?
Of course it would be reasonable to expect a charge for the underlying alcohol consumption, disorderly conduct (an offensive display in a public place) or maybe a municipal depositing bodily waste ticket.
Be aware, however, CSUPD has recently charged three students with sex offenses, which require sex offender registration, for non-violent, non-sexual streaking.
Don't take the chance. If you get caught running around naked or peeing in the bushes, you should expect to get into trouble. Keep your clothes on and hold it until you get home.
Rob Lowrey is a staff attorney for Student Legal Services. SLS' column appears biweekly Mondays in the Collegian. Send your burning legal questions to Kathleen Harward, director of SLS, at kathleen.harward@colostate.edu. Feedback to the Collegian can be sent to letters@collegian.com.
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