I got into a bit of an argument with someone about this recently, who claimed that any rape, even statutory rape (example: a 19 year old having sex with a 16 year old) makes one a registered sex offender. I didn't think that was right; it certainly isn't the case in California. So what is Idaho law on this?
A little background. Idaho adopted a requirement for certain convicted felons to register as sex offenders starting in 1993, and revised it in 1998. The Idaho State Police have a detailed list of the offenses that require you to register as a sex offender. In brief:
- Assault or battery when in an "attempt to commit rape, infamous crime against nature, or lewd and lascivious conduct with a minor...."
- Sexual abuse of a child under 16.
- "Ritualized abuse of a child" which is defined in more gruesome detail than I want to quote in Idaho Code sec. 18-5506A.
- Sexual exploitation of a child (pimping).
- Possession of child porn.
- Sexual contact with a child under 16.
- Sexual contact with a child who is 16 or 17 if the defendant is more than five years older than the child. So a 21 year old who has sex with a 16 year old doesn't become a registered sex offender; a 22 year old would.
- Enticing a child over the Internet.
- Murder committed in perpetration of rape or in perpetration of lewd conduct with a child less than twelve years of age.
- Felony exhibitionism.
- Kidnapping a child under 16 for sex.
- "Second degree kidnapping where the victim is an unrelated minor child."
- Forcible rape, or statutory rape as long as the defendant is over 18. (An 18 year old or younger who has sex with a willing female under 18 does not make one a registered sex offender--however, if the female is under 12, it is a criminal offense.)
- Incest.
- Sex with a prisoner.
- A few other relatively obscure crimes.
It is certainly possible that a 19 year old who has sex with a 16 year old could be convicted under the statutory rape charge, and become a registered sex offender for life. So often is that the case (the Romeo-and-Juliet scenario)? I searched the Idaho Central Sex Offender Registry for my current zip code 83629, and not surprisingly, there were only two offenders.
The first guy was born in 1945:
| CRIM SEX CONTACT OF MNR 2 CNTS | COCHISE CO AZ | 19850109 |
| CHILD MOLESTATION 2 CNTS | COCHISE CO AZ | 19850109 |
| ATMPT CRIM SEX CONT OF MIN 2CT | GRANT CO NM | 19900921 |
| CRIM SEX CONT OF MINOR | GRANT CO NM | 19900921 |
I'm not sure what exactly the Arizona and New Mexico statutes include, but he seems to be a slow learner. The first convictions were when he was almost forty, and even if "CHILD MOLESTATION" meant something bizarre like a 17 year old, this is way out of "Romeo and Juliet" territory.
The other guy was born in 1962, and his conviction is recent:
| ENTICING CHILD OVER INTERNET | CANYON CO ID | 20070319 |
So I then moved on to my old zipcode in Boise, 83713, to see if there were a lot of cases where a kid just over the line was convicted of statutory rape with a kid just under the line. There are 24 people listed in that zipcode.
1. Born in 1961:
| LEWD COND W/MINOR CHLD U/16 | ADA CO ID | 19850131 |
| SEX ABUSE OF CHLD U/16 YRS | ADA CO ID | 19850628 |
He was convicted when he was 24, with a child under 16.
2. Born in 1979:
| LEWD COND W/MINOR CHLD U/16 | ADA CO ID | 20040402 |
He was convicted when he was 25, with a child under 16.
3. Born 1983:
| ENTICING CHLD OVER INTERNET | ADA CO ID | 20070126 |
Convicted at age 24.
4. Born in 1940:
| POSSESSION OF CHLD PORNOGRAPHY | USM BOISE ID | 20050613 |
5. Born in 1949:
| POSS SEX EXPLOIT MAT OF MINOR | ADA CO ID | 20061109 |
6. Born in 1979:
| RAPE,STATUTORY | ADA CO ID | 20000515 |
So he was convicted at age 21--just barely possible that he was a 19 year old with a girl under 18.
7. Born in 1974:
| SEX ABUSE 1ST DEG 2 CNTS | CLACKAMAS CO OR | 19960618 |
He was 25 at the time of conviction, and this crime (ORS 163.427) involves either an under 14 year old, mentally deficient, force, or causes an under 18 year old to have sexual contact with an animal.
8. Born in 1965:
| SEX ABUSE OF CHLD U/16 YRS | ADA CO ID | 19940411 |
So he was 29 with a child under 16.
9. Born in 1982:
| SEX ABUSE 3RD DEGREE | JACKSON CO OR | 20021115 |
According to Oregon Revised Statutes sec. 163.415, this could be a consensual sexual contact short of intercourse with an under 18--or it might be such contact that was non-consensual with an adult or minor. This conviction was when he was 20.
10. Born in 1950:
| LEWD COND W/MINOR CHLD U/16 | ADA CO ID | 19900829 |
A 40 year old with a child under 16.
11. Born in 1961:
| LEWDNESS INVOLVING A CHLD-2CTS | UTAH CO UT | 20001215 |
Whatever that Utah statute is, he was 39.
12. Born in 1964:
| LEWD COND W/MINOR CHLD U/16 | ADA CO ID | 19991013 |
So he was 35--with a child under 16.
13. Born in 1975:
| SEX BATT OF MINOR AGE 16/17 | VALLEY CO ID | 20010831 |
Convicted of sex with a 16 or 17 year old when he was 26.
14. Born in 1949:
| SEX ABUSE OF CHILD U/16 YRS | ADA CO ID | 19880929 |
Convicted when he was 39, and the child was less than 16.
15. Born in 1967:
| SEXUAL ABUSE 1ST DEG | MULTNOMAH CO OR | 19930310 |
Convicted when he was 26.
16. Born in 1968:
| LEWD COND W/MINOR CHLD U/16 | CASSIA CO ID | 19970314 |
Convicted when he was 29 with a child under 16.
17. Born in 1952:
| LEWD COND W/MINOR CHLD U/16 | ADA CO ID | 20010810 |
Convicted when he was 49, with a child under 16.
18. Born in 1941:
| RAPE BY FORCE | VENTURA CO CA | 19621004 |
Convicted when he was 21.
19. Born in 1945:
| LEWD COND W/MINOR CHLD U/16 | TWIN FALLS CO ID | 19860428 |
Convicted when he was 41, with an under 16.
20. Born in 1951:
| LEWD CONDUCT W/MINOR CHLD U/16 | PAYETTE CO ID | 19851121 |
Convicted when he was 34 with an under 16.
21. Born in 1934:
| SODOMY W/PERSON U/14YRS OLD | MARTINEZ CO CA | 19920410 |
Convicted when he was 58, for sex with someone under 14. (Martinez is the county seat of Contra Costa County, by the way.)
22. Born in 1971:
| LEWD COND W/CHLD U/16 2 CNTS | ELMORE CO ID | 19930520 |
Convicted when he was 22, with a child under 16.
23. Born in 1959:
| LEWD & LACIVIOUS | ADA CO ID | 19870101 |
Convicted when he was 28--presumably with a child under 16.
24. Born in 1954:
| POSS SEX EXPLOIT MAT OF MINOR | ADA CO ID | 19981228 |
A child porn charge.
Of the 26 examples above, we have two that might be the Romeo and Juliet situations (numbers 6 and 9 above)--at least the ages of the convictions make it possible, but by no means certain. Perhaps Idaho registered sex offender roles are crowded with lots of people who aren't really horrible creeps--but from examining these two zipcodes, I don't see the evidence. We have 24 out of 26 who were convicted as adults of having sex with kids that were ten to thirty years younger than them, or for possession of child porn, or enticing children over the Internet, and in one case, forcible rape. I'm not losing any sleep over this anymore.
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