Sex offenders ordered to put status online

• Tweet

SHREVEPORT, La., June 21 (UPI) -- A new Louisiana law requires registered sex offenders to share their offender status on social Web sites such as Facebook, officials said.

The law, authored by state Rep. Jeff Thompson from Bossier City, was an attempt to crack down on child sex predators online, KSLA-TV, Shreveport, La., reported.

Prosecutors, however, say the law's purpose is not to prevent sex crimes but to further prosecute those who fail to register their status as sex offenders.

"This is one of those deals that requires a person to say they're a sex offender on Facebook, so what can we do if they don't? Same thing we do if they don't have their sex offender i.d. card, we arrest them and prosecute them for it," says Caddo Assistant District Attorney Hugo Holland.

A law that would have prevented sex offenders from using social Web sites at all was struck down by courts and deemed unconstitutional. Thompson said he believes his new law will pass constitutional scrutiny because it does not restrict use and just requires those who already register to share that information on social Web sites.