This< /a> is a couple of days old, but I just saw it and can't pass it up:
A man who grabbed a 14-year-old girl's arm to chastise her after she walked in front of his car, causing him to swerve to avoid hitting her, must register as a "sex offender," the Appellate Court of Illinois has ruled. ...
"If you see a 15-year-old beating up your 8-year-old and you grab that kid's hand and are found guilty of unlawful restraint, do you now have to register as a sex offender?"
The trial judge explained that he:
... ordered registration reluctantly, acknowledging it was "more likely than not" Barnaby only intended to chastise the girl. "I don't really see the purpose of registration in this case. I really don't," Morse said. "But I feel that I am constrained by the statute."
Sorry, but basic statutory construction teaches that if a literal construction of the words of a statute is absurd, the act must be so construed as to avoid the absurdity. Holy Trinity Church v. United States, 143 U.S. 457 (1892).