# "Mission Creep" in law -- can it be prevented? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 30, 2013, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mission-creep-in-law-can-it-be-prevented/677520 "2013-12-30T22:16:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 26
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2013, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mission-creep-in-law-can-it-be-prevented/677520/26 "2013-12-31T15:59:50Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > …because I don’t think there’s a whole huge constituency wanting to keep everyone who’s ever peed in the bushes . . . on a perpetual sex offender registry. Sorry for the hijack, but this little bit of hyperbole keeps coming back, no matter how many times its debunked: > [@Sex offender list notification USELESS](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-offender-list-notification-useless/558391/4): > > There is, and I don’t mean this comment to derail your main point, but since you mention in jest something that a lot of people take seriously, I want to get the straight dope out there again. > > The idea that public urination can cause someone to be registered as a sex offender is greatly overblown. A paper issued by Human Rights Watch made that claim, it it has permeated the Internet; a dozen cites will confidently claim this is a danger. But when **GFactor** and I researched the issue, we discovered that it was very unlikely. In most states were HRW claimed it was a danger, the truth was that some other behavior was necessary, such as multiple convictions, was required. In short, it was highly unlikely that a simple public urination, with no other suspicious factors, would be the predicate offense for sex offender registration. The rest of the thread discusses more detail; the main point remains. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mission-creep-in-law-can-it-be-prevented/677520)._