The laundry list of triggering adjudications under Article 62.001(5)(H) of the Code of Criminal Procedure can be found earlier in our site here.
Additionally, for juvenile offense that occur out of state, Article 62 mandates their inclusion into the Texas registration scheme:
An adjudication of delinquent conduct under the laws of another state, federal law, or the laws of a foreign country based on the violation of an offense containing elements that are substantially similar to the elements of the above offenses. The Texas Department of Public Safety determines whether an offense under federal law, the laws of a foreign country, or the laws of another state contains elements that are substantially similar to the elements of a Texas offense that requires registration.
There are a number of problems with the juvenile system using the adult criminal law as it applies to sex offenses. There is no age-based exemption or affirmative defense1 under Section 43.26 (Possession or promotion of child pornography) or 43.25 (sexual performance by a child) which would prevent prosecution of an amorous high school couple armed with a camera (e.g. Leaf Phoenix and Martha Plimpton’s bedroom scene in Ron Howard’s movie, Parenthood.) In fact, there have already been multiple prosecutions for this type of behavior when the images are disseminated on a camera phone or on a social network site. This illustrates how the legislature simply tacked on juvenile registration to a system designed to punish predatory adult conduct, and there are many statutory problems that need to be fixed.
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