Ohio Senate passes bill affecting child sex offenders

COLUMBUS — The Ohio Senate has passed two bills — one preventing child sex offenders from sealing their court records from public view, the other aimed at making the state’s Job Ready Sites more accessible to all areas. The legislation now goes to the Ohio House for further consideration.

Sen. Patricia M. Clancy, a Republican from Cincinnati, introduced Senate Bill 18, named “Jennifer’s Law” after a constituent who was abused by a family member who, in turn, was allowed to plead to lesser charges and have the sexual abuse sealed from his court records, effectively leaving no publicly accessible record of the offenses.

Clancy’s legislation expands nonexempt offenses to include importuning and “convictions of the offense of voyeurism, public indecency, compelling prostitution, promoting prostitution, procuring, disseminating matter harmful to juveniles, displaying matter harmful to juveniles, pandering obscenity, or deception to obtain matter harmful to juveniles when the victim of the offense was under 18.”

For the complete story, see Thursday's Vindicator and Vindy.com.