I’m an attorney, and whether he would have made it onto the sex registry depends a lot on the local state’s attorney and the judge on the case. Odds are he would have escaped on lesser charges, but its not a guaranteed thing. People who don’t belong on the registry can get there anyway. And once you’re there, its pretty rational to conclude your life has been ruined, because it probably has been ruined.
I agree with an earlier poster here that the registry has been grossly abused, and does not represent the true “list” of dangerous individuals. If you make a mistake, you should pay the price. But the price should match the mistake. Its wrong to threaten the moral equivalent of a death sentence over a youthful prank that was completely unrelated to dangerous sexual behavior. And all the more irresponsible if the child was already known to have behavioral/psychological problems.
I fall back on history as my guide.
In recent decades has any student been charged with a sex registry crime for streaking a school function?
Not that I could find on Google.
Seems to me that knowledge of a harsh legal consequence like that would have been promulgated to every high school student in Alabama BEFORE they decided to streak.
If I'm wrong, I'll apologize and retract.