It’s safe to say no one has any sympathy for sex offenders. However, the system that currently defines who a sex offender is causes problems many did not anticipate.

Several laws have been passed in regard to residential and registration requirements for sex offenders. A law was passed in Oklahoma last year that bars sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a playground, park, school or daycare center, and that requirement is apparently causing some sex offenders to not register and just hope they don’t get caught.

We don’t have any problem with limiting where sex offenders can live or putting other restrictions on them. However, what does seem to be a legitimate concern is the definition of a sex offender for these purposes may be overbroad.

A sex offender in the worst sense is a rapist or child rapist. However, the same definition has been applied to those convicted of 2nd degree (statutory) rape or, as one Corrections Department official put it, could even apply to a college student caught urinating in public.

Under current law, none of these can live near schools, playgrounds, parks or daycare centers, and all must register as public sex offenders for the rest of their lives.

In our society, should an 18-year-old who had sex with a younger teen schoolmate (statutory rape) be classified as a sex offender for the rest of his or her life?

Certainly, it’s time to look at defining levels of sex offenders, with the worst being labeled as Class 1, with perhaps one or two levels behind that. In that instance, convicted Class 1 sex offenders would be required to abide by the strictest provisions, while those classified in the lower levels would be subject to lesser restrictions.

Redefining these restrictions may be tough politically because no one wants to appear to be easy on sex offenders. However, classifying certain types of sex offenders to abide by certain types of restrictions will make more sense and will also serve the system better.