When I was a kid, on long trips to Maine, my mom would pull over whenever someone had to pee and let us out to go find a nearby tree to relieve ourselves.

Could I have been incriminated for being a sex offender??

The short answer is basically NO.

The more theoretical answer is technically maybe but also, for practical reasons, probably not.

The answer:

Every state has different criminal laws. The laws follow the same general principals, but each state defines certain transgressions differently.

In every state, “sex offenses” are crimes that will put you on the sex offender registry. States are obligated under federal law to maintain a registry website and track sex offenders.

So no matter what state you’re in, the general rule is that committing sex offenses will put you on the registry.

Pretty simple.

When it comes to public urination though, states define and charge the statutes differently.

Some states have charged public urination as littering. Others, as creating a public disturbance. Some states specifically mention in their statutes that public urination, when done for non sexual purposes, is NOT a sex offense. Take the Ohio criminal statute for example which says that Ohio law creates an exception to public indecency for a person who exposes his or her private parts when done for the purpose of “answering an urgent call of nature.” However, it states, if a person is imprudent in choosing a site, at most, the act “might” constitute disorderly conduct. The offense of public indecency was clearly enacted to punish “sexual exposures,” not to punish a person for answering an urgent call of nature.

So, if you’re asking whether or not peeing in public can get you on the registry, you really have to look at your state statutes.

Massachusetts

Massachusetts is one of the only states where it is theoretically possible to get on the registry for public urination. But it would still be very hard.

Massachusetts law says two convictions of indecent exposure will get you on the registry.

Indecent exposure is defined as:

(1) exposing genitals, breasts, or buttocks; (2) intentionally; (3) openly or with reckless disregard of public exposure; (4) in a manner so ‘as to produce alarm or shock’; (5) thereby actually shocking or alarming one or more persons.

The prosecution needs to prove every element of the crime in order to convict… So, in most cases when people pull off to the side of the road and hide behind a tree to urinate, the prosecution realizes that proving the elements of “in a manner to produce shock” and “thereby actually shocking a person” are hard to show. It’s difficult to argue the person was intending to produce shock if the person was concealing their exposed area and making attempts to avoid attention.

However, this doesn’t mean they won’t bring indecent exposure charges, they may bring charges of indecent exposure depending on the circumstances.

So, there is technically a risk of being convicted of indecent exposure twice, and having to register as a sex offender.

But, the liklihood of that happening is slight, and to date nobody in Massachusetts has had to register for public urination. Also, I have scoured the internet and legal research databases and haven’t found a single case of anyone in America ever being forced to register for public urination.

Typically, indecent exposure charges are brought against people who do some seriously messed up stuff.

For example, public masturbators, flashers, and so forth.

Practical considerations

Every state has an agency that maintains the sex offender list. Those agencies are funded by taxes. Those agencies have limited resources. The goal of those agencies are to protect the public from REAL sex offenders.

State agencies designed to promote public safety have bigger fish to fry than public urinators. They have to keep tabs on people who are actually a risk to the public. So, they don’t typically concern themselves with people who they don’t think pose a sexual risk.

The question of whether or not peeing in public will result in you becoming a sex offender is an interesting hypothetical, but keep in mind that prosecutors and public safety agencies aren’t trying trap people into becoming sex offenders through a theoretical loophole in the law. Their goal isn’t to waste state funds by cracking down on public urinators and say “gotcha! you’re a sex offender now, congratulations your life is ruined.”

For example, when the New Haven Police Department considered the issue of public urination in its order maintenance training bulletin, it did not define all cases of “public urination” as disorderly. Instead it delimited the contexts where police should target public urination by informing officers that “we would be less concerned about a person who urinated publicly if the person attempted to find a solitary location and maintain a sense of modesty than someone who flagrantly exposed him or herself in a highly visible location.”

The bottom line

Can you technically be put on the registry for peeing in public? Sure. Is it likely to happen? NO

But don’t be a trendsetter. And more importantly, don’t ruin it for the rest of us.