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Posted on 01/31/2008 6:01:18 PM PST by Drew68
KINGSTON - Starting next year, urinating in public could land you on the sex offender registry.
But two state lawmakers are trying to make sure that doesn't happen.
"People who are caught in a situation of public urination, as part of the complaint they're charged with indecent exposure," said Rep. David Welch, R-Kingston.
This year, that isn't a problem. But starting next year, when New Hampshire complies with a new federal law, anyone convicted of two indecent exposure charges within three years will have to register as a sex offender.
Welch and Rep. Stephen Shurtleff, D-Penacook, think that's wrong.
"I know there are many homeless people in New Hampshire," Shurtleff said. "There are older people with medical conditions ... and also young people may have too much to drink in a bar."
While there should be a law against public urination, he said, the penalty should fit the crime.
Sex offenders must live with numerous restrictions: they're not allowed to live near schools, they often can't coach youth sports, and they're not allowed to stay in homeless shelters, Shurtleff said.
Beyond that, a number of people have been forced, at one time or another, to relieve themselves outdoors, Welch said.
"I don't think it's a major crime wave," he said. "I think what happens is, in most cases, these things happen if the individual might have a medical reason, he just can't help himself; hunters, there's no bathroom in the woods."
That's why the two lawmakers have offered a different law - one that prohibits public urination. Violating the law would result in a violation - a fine that wouldn't leave a permanent criminal record.
Shurtleff had originally recommended a Class B misdemeanor charge, which would leave a permanent criminal record. But he said Welch convinced him the violation charge is preferable.
The issue came up when the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 was passed. A federal law, the Child Protection Act means states will have to start treating indecent exposure cases differently.
Shurtleff is on the committee tasked with aligning the new federal requirements with their New Hampshire law. When he realized that public urination - which is typically punished by a fine - could land someone on a sex offender registry, he proposed a bill to change that rule, House Bill 1294. He expects the bill to be taken up sometime next week.
Kingston police Chief Donald Briggs said these charges are pretty rare, anyway.
"We have a few incidents a year referencing indecent exposure," he said, but doubted there are more than two or three instances over a 12-month period.
I'll 'fess up. I am guilty of this heinous outrage --a crime I committed while a young college student in a back alley behind a dumpster. I wonder when I'll have to register as a sex offender.
Bad news for day laborers all across the land.
Sheesh, peeing in the sagebrush is practically a birthright here in Nevada.
JERRY: I could get Uromysitisis poisoning and die. Do you think I enjoy living like this?...the shame, the humiliation...You know I have been issued a public urination pass by the city because of my condition.
Not to mention guys relieving themselves on golf courses. Sex offender status is an “on purpose” issue. Just relieving oneself is not.
A feminazi must have thought up that ruling. Do women get in trouble for such actions? Doubt it.
Journalism school model student, no doubt.
They've evolved to expect it. Turning off the stream would be a crime against the environment.
They should exempt ordinary urination with that exposure, as opposed to urination as part of a kinky sex act, from acts classified as a sex crime.
What a group of absolute idiots
We’re living in a country that is the most phobic about peeping and pooping. No other land has such a shameful public restroom situation. This is another sign of this silly puritanism.
Yep, your buddy stops the car to let you out to relieve yourself and there you are at the back, using the car as a shield, when he takes off as a joke and there you are left holding your Johnson and now a sex offender.
On the serious side, it pisses me off that they’d water down the true definition of a sex offender.
Urination and ruination are actually pretty close in spelling.
Probably a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism.
At what age? My grandson (being potty trained) some times just can not wait to make it to the potty and i have pulled over in a field and let him go. Will he be charged?
What the heck is going on? Its like people have gone crazy.
Ladies and gentlemen, we interrupt this broadcast for an important announcement from the Department of Homeland Security.
- Violating the law would result in a violation. -
We now return you to our program already in progress...
Indeed. But don't forget, they're trying to comply with federal law:
The Act sounds good but does not hold up under analysis and in places where it has been applied they're already finding it to be counterproductive -- reducing, not improving, public safety.
They're called "Game Wardens."
And they are the meanest, nastiest sons-of-bitches you will ever meet.
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