Is failure to register a continuing/future offense?
Posted on
March 09, 2007 by
Gideon
When does a sex offender commit the offense of "failing to register" and is it a continuing crime for as long as the offender fails to register?
There are but two options here:
- Either the crime is committed on the first day that the offender has to register but doesn’t;
- He continues to commit the offense for each day that he doesn’t register until he does or is arrested.
The reason for this question is this previous post. Under the Model Rules of Professional Conduct, an attorney does not have to report a crime committed by a client, unless it is a continuing crime (and by that token a crime that will be committed in the future) that has a likelihood of resulting in death or serious bodily injury. Putting aside the death/injury requirement; would failing to register fit the rule?
Interesting question. I’m not sure you ca/should put aside the death or serious injury portion of the rule. Including the death/serious injury portion the analysis, in my view, turns on the “liklihood” part of the rule. Most of our clients future crimes of a sexual nature are certainly possible-but only a vry select few cases will future crimes be “likely.”
I guess my point was to focus only on the future crime portion of the rule. Most of these offenders don’t commit acts that would result in death/serious bodily injury, so a firm reading of the text of the rule would not require disclosure.
You seem pretty convinced that failure to register is an ongoing offense and not one that has been committed in the past (i.e. the first day that the client fails to register). I am curious as to how you decided that. I’m still struggling with that.