Reportable Kidnapping

In the course of robbing a convenience store, a man restrains a 17-year-old clerk. Suppose the parties work out a plea to second-degree kidnapping. Everything is fine until the judge advises the defendant of the maximum permissible punishment for his Class E crime: 136 months. “136 months?” his lawyer said, puzzled. “I thought it would be 88.” “It would be,” the court replied, “if this crime didn’t require registration as a sex offender.” The judge is correct. Kidnapping—first- or second-degree—is one of three North Carolina crimes that can fall into the category of “offense against a minor.” G.S. 14-208.6(1i). The other two are abduction of children (G.S. 14-41) and felonious restraint (G.S. 14-43.3). All three require sex offender registration if (1) committed against a minor (2) by a defendant who is not the minor’s parent. When those two additional facts apply, the crime becomes a reportable offense for which defendant must register as a sex offender. Registration in that case is mandatory; is not optional within the discretion of the trial court judge, as it is for crimes like secretly peeping or sale of a child. There is no exception for a defendant under 18 who commits a covered offense against another minor. People are sometimes surprised to learn about these reportable sex crimes that have nothing to do with sex. But the sex offender registry is actually called the “Sex Offender and Public Protection Registration Program,” and the Generally Assembly specifically found that certain types of offenses other than sex [...]