Visual Sexual Aggression -- Not So Much

A while a href=”http://drhelen.blogspot.com/2008/04/should-visual-sexual-aggression-be.html”back/a I linked to a scary news story about a Maine bill that would punish people for staring at kids or teens. But it turns out that the story isn’t true.br /br /At least, that’s what Travis Kennedy, Communications Director for Maine Rep. Dawn Hill just told me on the phone. Despite what the news story reported, Kennedy says that the bill never punished mere staring or leering — the defendant has to be touching or exposing himself, or doing something like looking over a bathroom stall wall. And he said that the burden of proof remains on the state for all elements — there’s no crime just because someone is staring or looking at you.br /br /He says that the bill in question just made a minor change in the pre-existing law to make clear that this could be in a private or a public place. He also said that Rep. Hill has been getting a lot of complaints over this, and is upset that the story is false. So there you are — things aren’t quite as insane out there as we’d feared.