Senate OKs keeping some teens off sex registry

3-10-2011 Michigan:

Lansing— Underage lovers soon may no longer be in danger of showing up on the state's sex offenders list under a package of bills the Senate approved today.

The proposed change would prevent teens from being listed for having consensual sex with a partner between the ages of 13 and 16, provided there is no more than four years between their ages.

The new rules still have to be approved in the state House, but are likely to pass. The measures passed unanimously in the Senate with bipartisan support.

The state is required to rewrite its sex offender registry law to come into compliance with the federal Adam Walsh Act. ..Source.. by Karen Bouffard / Detroit News Lansing Bureau