It’s not uncommon for individuals to be forced to urinate in public places, but do you realize the punishment you can receive as a result? Public urination is disgusting but everyone has had to do it at least once in their life. Many people don’t realize that is a very illegal act. In many states public urination can result in an individual having to register as a sex offender. This type of punishment is pretty outrageous in my opinion because everyone has urinated in public.
Registering as a sex offender has an immense amount of negative effects on a person’s life. Some of these negative effects are; not being able to live within a certain amount of feet from a school, not being able to work with children, having to warn your neighborhood that you’re a registered sex offender, having your address on a website, etc. These types of consequences are important in offenses that involve sexual assault. However, public urination shouldn’t merit this type of punishment.
I believe public urination should be reviewed along with the punishments that follow it. The criminal justice system has a habit of harshly punishing small offenses, while not acknowledging large ones and it has to change.
Please comment your opinions on the punishments regarding public urination!