Tag: Ohio

[The Columbus Dispatch] Juvenile court rules empower judges to dismiss some sex charges against children under age 13 charged with molesting a child close to their age, the Ohio Supreme Court declared Wednesday. The court was divided on the Franklin County case, voting 4-3 to overturn a decision by the Franklin County Court of Appeals. The 2013 case involved a 12-year-old boy charged with three delinquency counts of gross sexual imposition for conduct with a boy who was nearly 10 years old. Read more  

How much is too much? ____ ____ must be asking himself that very question. The on-again, off-again Youngstown State University football player is embroiled in a controversy of his own making. ____ served about 10 months in a juvenile detention facility after he and a high-school teammate were convicted in 2013 of raping a 16-year-old girl. In January, he joined the YSU football team as a nonscholarship walk-on. In August, ____  was informed by university officials that he would be required to sit-out a season. Full Editorial

Law enforcement sees so many of those convicted of soliciting minors for sex on just probation, able to re-offend as soon as they’re released.  Victims of child sex abuse say the lack of proper penalties for offenders can be just as traumatic as the original abuse. Lawmakers are looking to put mandatory sentences in place to make sure this doesn’t happen to children in the future. Full Article

Two decades after Ohio began labeling sex offenders on a public database and setting restrictions on where they can live, a major overhaul to the law is being proposed that could drop thousands of lower-level offenders off the list Some critics are even calling for doing away with the registry entirely, saying it’s been an expensive effort with little benefit to the public. Full Article

CLEVELAND, Ohio – People convicted of abusing animals can no longer have pets and must register with the Cuyahoga County sheriff, under legislation approved Tuesday by Cuyahoga County Council. Council created an animal abuse registry, which was prompted by a new state law that makes cruelty to pets a felony. Full Article

Having sex with his now wife and the mother of his three children when she was a 14-year-old high school freshman earned ____ ____ a label he’s found impossible to shake: Tier II sex offender. Now ____ , and countless others throughout Ohio, may get a break. Proposed changes to Ohio’s sex offender registry would give judges more discretion on what conditions are placed on those convicted of sex crimes and allow offenders like ____ to petition to get off the registry. Full Article

A proposed change to the sex offender registry in Ohio has one family in Greene County hoping lawmakers will listen to their story when considering the change. News Center 7’s Natalie Jovonovich talked with ____ and ____ ____, a couple who first met as teenagers in a Clark County high school. ____ was a 14-year-old freshman, and ____ was a 19-year-old senior who met through friends. Full Article

Eight years after Ohio tightened its sex offender registration laws to comply with federal standards, a state committee is considering changes that could make it easier for sex offenders to get off the registry if they no longer are a threat to society. Full Article

While registered sex offenders in the state of Ohio are prohibited from living with 1,000 feet of a school or daycare facility, they are not prohibited from actually entering schools. A News 5 investigation revealed that at least 77 Cleveland sex offenders are registered to vote in the city’s elementary and high schools.  Full Article