The term sex offender may be used generally or be defined very specifically by law. This second usage is much more important but far more difficult to discuss in less specific ways. Laws differ in varying regions on who is termed a sex offender and what the consequences of being termed one might be. In a more general way it can be said that this is a person convicted of a crime of a sexual nature, but not all crimes with a sexual component result in a person being considered a sex offender by regional laws.
Some of the criminal activities of a sex offender could include rape, molestation of children, and other inappropriate sexual activities with children. Some regions make no distinction between things like rape and consensual sex between very similar aged partners, such as an 18 and 17 year old. Old statutes may also prohibit certain sexual activities but these may not be regularly enforced.
In most cases, grave instances of sexual offenses may mean people become labeled as sex offenders and then might have to have certain rights curtailed, even after serving any prison time. The person might remain on a registry and open to inquiry from the police any time a sexual offense is committed nearby. Specific laws as to how close sex offenders can live to individual children or to places children frequent like parks or schools might come into effect too.
Sometimes a person remains a sex offender, as considered by law, for several years and provided they have committed no new crimes, they are allowed to lose this title and gain back certain privileges. At other times a person may have to remain on a registry for life. This brings forward the issue of how such laws can be incredibly problematic.
A region may automatically attach this label to any crime of a sexual nature no matter how indicative it is of possible sex offense in the future. The region could furthermore require lifetime registry for any sex crimes. Returning to the example of statutory rape between a consenting boyfriend and girlfriend in their late teens, such laws can indeed sound extremely unreasonable. While meant to discourage sex crimes and make certain people are safe from sex offenders put back on the street, it’s unclear that the 18 year old posed any risk at any time, beyond perhaps showing the poor judgment of sleeping with a girlfriend in a state where that behavior was criminal.
People argue that laws regarding how the sex offender is considered by the state should be reasonable and not applicable to those people who are truly not dangerous to others. On the other hand, it has been the criticism of the way laws handle sex offenses that have led to tougher labeling laws. There are many nightmare examples of people, especially children and women, being injured by those who had formerly been jailed for sex offenses. To prevent crimes, many regions toughened registration and supervision laws.
