Having any kind of criminal record can very negatively impact your life. It can make it harder to get jobs and to find a nice place to live and just cause general difficulty and tension in your life. After all, no one wants to have to explain to a new partner that he or she was once convicted of a crime.

While any kind of criminal record is certainly not a good thing, there is perhaps no worse record than one that involves a sex crime. This is especially true if the sex crime leads to an official label of being a "sex offender." This label has many serious consequences, which is why you should do everything you can to fight such a conviction and the subsequent label that comes with it.

Living Limitations

To begin with, if you are convicted of a sex crime, one of the most serious restrictions that will typically be placed upon you is that you can only live in certain approved areas. While the exact laws and rules do vary from state to state, in most cases, homes of registered sex offenders cannot be within a set number of miles from a school or other area where children frequent, such as a daycare. Obviously, this can make it incredibly difficult to find any place to live, let alone a nice, safe place.

Required Registration

When you are a registered sex offender, you will be forced to register as such no matter where you move or live. And, as mentioned above, each state has its own laws and requirements related to sex offenders, some much more strict than others. Whenever you move and register, you will then be subjected to the laws of that state, which can greatly limit your choices of viable places to live.

Furthermore, when you move, in addition to standard registration, many states will actually require you to tell your neighbors of your status, which can be incredibly embarrassing and potentially pose neighborhood problems.

As you can see, being a sex offender is certainly not a desirable thing and, in fact, comes with many consequences and difficulties. These are really just a few of many possible consequences. As a result, you will want to do everything you can to avoid being convicted of a sex crime, especially one that requires you to register as a sex offender.

To help keep this from happening, always seek professional legal assistance from a sex crime attorney, such as Gonzales, Joe D, whenever you are charged or think you may be charged with such a crime, whether you are guilty or not.