Legal Question in Criminal Law in Pennsylvania

Re: minors working with convicted sex offender

there are different types of sex offenders under the law. the first is for a sex offense. a sex offender much register for 10 years and notify the state of their address. sex offenders would be people who are found guilty of Kidnapping of minor, Luring child into motor vehicle, Institutional sexual assault, Indecent assault (M1), Incest (victim under 12 yrs.), Prostitution (relating to minors), Sexual materials (relating to minors), Sexual abuse of children,

Unlawful contact with minor, and Sexual exploitation of children.

Lifetime sexual offenses are two or more convictions for 10-year offenses as listed above, Rape, IDSI, Sexual Assault, Aggravated indecent assault, Incest (victim under 12 years), and anyone deemed to be a Sexually Violent Predator (SVP).

Since 2006, the reporting requirement has been available on the internet and is the same for all offenders. If the person is a 10 year offender then the information only stays up for 10 years, if the person is a lifetime offender it stays up for life. The information is as follows:

Name, years of birth, street address/cit/county/zip of residence, school and/or employment, photograph, physical description, vehicle information, current compliance status with requirements, whether victim is minor, description of offense, date of offense/conviction.

In addition, if you are wondering what it means to be deemed a "sexually violent predator" if is hard to say. There is a hearing before the sentencing judge, where the judge hears testimony from experts and decides if the person meets the standard under the law.

The reason I have written all of the above is to show you that all of this information is available to you as a parent online and also available to the owner/manager of the supermarket. Also, please note that some of the offenses for the 10 year registration requirement are not necessarily sexual in nature, like kidnapping a minor. If you were in a custody dispute and you stole your kid from your spouse, you could potentially be convict of kidnapping a minor and be forced to register as a sex offender, when you never did any sex stuff to any kid. Also, as an example, if the person possessed pornography of young kids, that is not at all like raping a 16 year old. I have done several svp hearings and the experts will say on the stand that the disordered that makes someone svp is distinct and varies among people.

Therefore, I would check out who the person is on the internet and find out what they did before getting too nervous.