Sex Offender Registration Mandated for Tongue Kissing a Minor

Lawmakers in Virginia have passed a bill mandating sex offender registration for adults convicted of tongue kissing a minor. The governor is expected to sign the bill into law.

Under the new law, French kissing a minor as an adult would constitute a misdemeanor offense, punishable by up to a year in jail, a $2,500 fine and mandatory sex offender registration.

The legislation was written in response to an incident involving a 62-year-old man who French kissed a 10-year-old girl. Prosecutors could not charge the man with a sex offense, so Delegate Riley Ingram introduced a bill to make such an act a felony.

Not all legislators agreed that the crime should be considered a felony. Eventually Ingram and other supporters of the original legislation agreed to misdemeanor status. The state House of Delegates passed the bill 96-1, and the Senate passed it 39-0.

(Source: CNN)

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