A LIST YOU DON'T WANT TO BE ON

To make the S.C. Sex Offenders list, as kept by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED), a person has to have been convicted of, or pled guilty or nolo contendere (no contest) to, or been declared delinquent for any of the following offenses. (Note: The statutes are quite thick with legal-ese, so consider the following a simplification, but not a complete translation, of the original. As you will note, there is some overlap.)

(1) Criminal sexual conduct in the first, second or third degree (Any penetration of an orifice considered sexual - mouth, genitals, anus - by any part of the attacker's body, or a foreign object. One person is in a position of authority; one uses power, physical or otherwise, to accomplish penetration; or the victim is mentally or physically disabled).

(2) Criminal sexual conduct with minors, first degree. (The victim is younger than 13 years of age; the attacker engages in non-consensual penetration with someone between 13 and 16 years of age, or is a member of the family, extended or otherwise.)

(3) Criminal sexual conduct with minors, second degree. If evidence is presented at the criminal proceeding and the court makes a specific finding on the record that the conviction obtained for this offense resulted from consensual sexual conduct, provided the offender is 18 years of age or less, or consensual sexual conduct between persons younger than 16, the convicted person is not an offender and is not required to register.

(4) Engaging a child for sexual performance.

(5) Producing, directing, or promoting a sexual performance by a child.

(6) Assault with intent to commit criminal sexual conduct.

(7) Incest.

(8) Buggery (sodomy).

(9) Committing or attempting a lewd act upon child under sixteen.

(10) Peeping, voyeurism, or aggravated voyeurism.

(11) Distributing obscenity involving a minor, or to a minor.

(12) A person, regardless of age, who has been convicted, judged delinquent, pled guilty or nolo contendere in South Carolina, or who has been convicted, judged delinquent, pled guilty or nolo contendere in a comparable court in the United States, or who has been convicted, judged delinquent, pled guilty or nolo contendere in the United States federal courts of indecent exposure or of a similar offense in other jurisdictions is required to register if the court makes a specific finding on the record that based on the circumstances of the case the convicted person should register.

(13) Kidnapping of a person 18 years of age or older, except when the court makes a finding on the record that the offense did not include a criminal sexual offense or an attempted criminal sexual offense.

(14) Kidnapping of a person younger than 18 years of age except when the offense is committed by a parent.

(15) Criminal sexual conduct when the victim is a spouse.

(16) Sexual battery of a spouse.

(17) Sexual intercourse with a patient or trainee.

(18) Solicitation of a minor if the purpose or intent of the solicitation or attempted solicitation was to persuade, induce, entice, or coerce the person to engage or participate in sexual activity, or to perform a sexual activity in the presence of the person solicited.

(19) Administering, distributing, dispensing, delivering, or aiding, abetting, attempting, or conspiring to administer, distribute, dispense, or deliver a controlled substance or gamma hydroxy butyrate (GHB, popularly known as "the date rape drug") to an individual with the intent to commit a sex crime.

-Timothy C. Davis, Staff Writer