Sex offender registry for life for some teens is legal

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) – South Carolina’s Supreme Court has ruled that the state can continue to require teens convicted of serious sex crimes to register on the sex offender list released to the public.

The justices unanimously ruled Wednesday in a case involving a Spartanburg County boy who was 15 years old when he sexually assaulted a 5-year-old boy.

The teen’s lawyer says being publicly branded a sex offender and electronically monitored the rest of his life is too harsh a punishment.

But the justices ruled the goal of the registry and monitoring is to protect the public and any changes to making juveniles register the rest of their lives needed to be made by lawmakers.