Amendment of Sex Offenses to Avoid Sex Offender Registration

Sex Offender Registration

This article discusses the amendment of sex crimes, as a defense strategy, to potentially avoid the highly prejudicial collateral consequence of sex offender registration.

What Constitutes a Sex Offense

What constitutes a sex offense varies by jurisdiction. Both federal criminal law, and the criminal laws of each state define those crimes that qualify as sex offenses. Sex offenses most commonly include, but are not limited to rape, sexual assault, indecent assault, child molestation, possession, distribution, or creation of child pornography, indecent solicitation of a child, sex trafficking, disseminating indecent material to a minor, and more. If a defendant is convicted of a sex offense, the law most often imposes, in addition to any criminal punishment, the collateral consequence of sex offender registration.

Overview of Sex Offender Registration Requirements

Sex registration requirements vary by jurisdiction. Generally, sex offenders must register their name, address, and contact information with the local police department where they live, work, attend school, or spend the night, such as for a sleepover, hotel stay, and interstate travel. There are also limitations on where registered sex offenders may live, congregate, work, and travel. Information about registered sex offenders is considered public record. The authorities may provide notice and information about sex offenders to the community by mail, phone, and/or the internet. The duration of sex offender registration also varies, and can often extend for many years after the completion of a related criminal sentence, and in some instances, up to life.

Stigma and Challenges for Registered Sex Offenders

It is without question that a negative stigma attaches to registered sex offenders. As a result, they may face persecution and discrimination from others in the community, and most certainly adversity and challenges associated with securing housing, employment, and other placement within society. This is why criminal defendants should seek to avoid sex crime convictions and resulting sex offender registration requirements, wherever legally possible.

Case Resolutions and Plea Negotiations

When charged with a crime, there are only three ways for a criminal case to resolve: dismissal, guilty plea, or trial. Guilty pleas are mainly the product of extensive pretrial negotiations where lawyers for the prosecution and defense discuss and agree upon what crime(s) the defendant will admit and the resulting sentence to be imposed. If a defendant is found guilty of a sex crime, sex offender registration is often mandated by law, and therefore, cannot be negotiated away. However, during the negotiation process, the defendant may advocate for an amendment of a charged sex offense, which if successful, will enable him to avoid sex offender registration.

Understanding Amendments in Sex Crime Cases

The term amendment in this context means to change the charged crime to something different than the crime originally charged. For example, if a defendant is charged with and convicted of sexual assault, sex offender registration is required. To avoid registration, the defense may advocate to amend the sexual assault charge to the non-sex offense of felony assault. If the prosecution agrees to this amendment, the defendant may avoid both a sex offense conviction and resulting sex offender registration.

Challenges of Securing Amendments

The amendment of sex crimes to non-sex crimes is not easy to obtain. In fact, amendments occur in the minority of cases, yet still with enough frequency to warrant the publication of this article and their consideration as a valid defense strategy when defending clients accused of sex crimes. It is important to note that the amendment of any criminal charge is solely within the prosecution’s discretion. Defense lawyers and judges have no power to amend charges.

Defense Strategies to Support Amendment Requests

A skillful and imaginative defense lawyer may advocate for an amendment of criminal charges in various ways. These include highlighting weaknesses in the prosecution’s evidence such as credibility issues with the complaining witness, and the lack of corroborating witnesses, and the potential availability of a consent defense. The defense attorney may also highlight positive attributes of his client such as lack of criminal history, impressive educational and employment history, positive results from a recent sex offender risk evaluation, attendance and progress with mental health counseling, compliance while on bail during the pretrial phase of the case, and any other mitigating or extenuating circumstances. Securing an amendment is considered a victory by any measure.

Seeking Legal Help

If you are charged with a sex crime and wish to explore resolving your case with an amendment of the charge(s), you will require a defense lawyer who has many years of experience successfully defending sex offenses. For a free consultation, contact Sex Crimes Defense Lawyer, John L. Calcagni III, at 401-351-5100.