Talk:sex offender

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sex offender

I am specifically wondering if there should not be a delineation or at least a distinction made between this term and sex criminal, the latter more explicit about a breach of criminal law having been perpetrated, the former perhaps allowing more subjective opinion based on someone feeling offended. I'm unsure if citations can be produced for this position though. __meco 20:34, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

In the U.S. at least, a sex offender is definitely a criminal. Indeed, I think our current definition is, if anything, a bit too broad, in that I think a sex offender is specifically someone who's committed a sex crime, while our definition makes it sound like someone who's committed sexual harassment could be considered a sex offender. —Ruakh_TALK 20:54, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

That would make the two terms basically synonymous then? __meco 20:57, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

Well, I guess, except that "sex offender" is a very common term (>1.5 MGhits) while "sex criminal" is fairly rare (<38 kGhits), and I only understand it by making the analogy "crime":"criminal"::"sex crime":"sex criminal". —Ruakh_TALK 03:07, 3 May 2007 (UTC)

I have never heard the term used to mean anything other than a criminal sexual action. The term 'sex offenders register' of sexual offenders would indicate that the law has been broken. Where is it ever used that it means merely offending someone. If that was the definition I would RFV that. The defintion given is accurate, although a little expansion wouldn't hurt.--Dmol 21:02, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

rfvpassed wide use Cynewulf 21:23, 15 June 2007 (UTC)