Authors

Elias Hernandez

Article Title

COMMENT: SB 145: Defending and Applying Discretion to California’s Sex Offender Registry

Abstract

SB 145 equalizes sentencing treatment for members of the LGBTQ community, and seeks to improve the California Sex Offender Registry , by expanding a trial judge’s discretion to impose sex offender registration.

Since 1944, “[a] loophole in the law”. . . force[d] anyone convicted of consensual sex [with a minor], such as gay men or lesbians, to register as a sex offender.” Judges had no choice but to impose sex offender registration in those circumstances.

SB 145 gives trial judges discretion to place a person on the Registry if the offender- a legal adult at the time of the offense- engaged in certain “non-forcible” sexual acts with a minor-fourteen years of age or older and within ten years of age from the adult offender.

Recommended Citation

Elias Hernandez, COMMENT: SB 145: Defending and Applying Discretion to California’s Sex Offender Registry, 52 Golden Gate U. L. Rev. (2022).
https://digitalcommons.law.ggu.edu/ggulrev/vol52/iss2/4