Leah Dubuc was only 12 when she was charged with criminal sexual conduct in first and second degree. Author Sarah Stillman in her article, “The List”, explained that juveniles are getting accused of sexual crimes as young as nine and are put into these public registries humiliating them for life. These teens haven’t reached the age which they were aware. Not only Children shouldn’t be accused of crimes that they didn’t even know existed but also when kids are put on these lists they are exposed to:
Homelessness; getting fired from jobs; taking jobs below minimum wage, with predatory employers; not being able to provide for your kids; losing your kids; relationship problems; deep inner problems connecting with people; deep depression and hopelessness; this fear of your own
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The original intent of registry was to help identify those that were convicted of violent crimes against children but now it has led to unintended consequences of shaming youth by calling them preparators of sex and labeling them as criminals. It becomes their identity and then is put in these residential treatments to ‘cure’ them. Furthermore, when juveniles get accused of a crime, they are handled in the adult court making them exposed to harsher sentences. In addition, to getting harsh sentences, juveniles are put in treatment facilities which only make situations worse. When you put a child who’s young with other kids who committed worse crimes. Frequently, youths accused of sexual crimes are grouped with kids that are at high risk. Stillman wrote that “researchers had already observed that most youths who are charged with a sex offense—upward of ninety-five percent, Letourneau told me—don’t reoffend sexually” (). For this reason, children are not aware of what they’re doing is inappropriate making them unlikely to commit
This study was limited to juveniles who are protected under the law. This research team was required to sign a waiver that the participants would never be identified. Another limitation to the study is the fact that the juveniles might not be aware of the previous incarceration status of their parents.
Children in adult prison are in severe danger. They suffer higher rates of physical and sexual abuse and suicide. Compared to those held in juvenile detention centers, youth held in adult jails are 7.7 times more likely to commit suicide. Five times more likely to be sexually assaulted. Twice as likely to be beaten by staff. 50% are more likely to be attacked with a weapon. In the public’s eye, the teens that suffer through this are just getting what they deserve. But in reality the restricted youth are at great risk of sexual assault. More than 1 in 10 youth in state juvenile facilities and large non-state facilities reported experiencing one or more incidents of sexual victimization by another youth or facility staff in the past 12 months or since admission, if less than 12 months. We agree that adult court is for the most serious and radical offenders. While it is true that juvenile offenders are waivered to adult courts because they are a menace to the community and the reasoning of their crime, did it occur to you that youths held in adult prison are at greater risk of sexual victimization? The National Prison Rape Elimination Commission found that “more than any other group of incarcerated persons, youth incarcerated with adults are probably at the highest risk for sexual abuse.” Some of you may say that this isn’t such a horrible thing compared to their sins. But this crucial and inhuman act may be more deadly than you think.
When we hear the phrase, sex offender, we normally feel repulsed. We think of dirty old creepy men. I for one used to do this, I won’t lie. This is because people like to rush to judgment. But my opinions changed when I came to the realization that it’s not just creepy old men who are sex offenders. I want to talk about them, but not those who are serial rapists or child molesters; they don’t deserve to be talked about. I’m talking about people who are convicted, whether it’s falsely, or unjustly, and have to wear a stamp on their forehead for the rest of their lives saying they are a sex offender.
Sexual offenders are the most vilified type of offenders within public opinion and the criminal justice system. The American precedent cases of Jacob Wetterling, Pam Lyncher, Megan Kanka, and other notorious crimes perpetrated by sexual offenders with a prior history of conviction have demanded a response from the criminal justice system to increase public safety. In 1994, the Jacob Wetterling Crimes against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Program was passed (Scholle, 2000), the first piece of legislation to advocate for the development of state-maintained registries of convicted sexual offenders. The legislation has been amended numerous times since then; in its present state, the law requires all states to maintain a registry, the mandatory registration of convicted sex offenders after release, community notification laws in place, and public access to the registry (Burchfield and Mingus, 2012; Lees and Tewksbury, 2006; Petrunik, Murphy, and Fedoroff, 2008; Scholle, 2000; Tewksbury and Lees, 2006; Wagner, 2011).
Approximately two million adolescents a year are arrested and out of that two million, 60,000 of them are incarcerated according to the American Journal of Public Health. The 60,000 incarcerated adolescents each year are being tried as adults in court because of the serious crimes they have committed. The crimes they have committed are anything from armed robbery to murder. Some juveniles might be first time offenders and others might be repeat offenders. Crimes have always been a major issue in the United States and can cause controversy in the criminal justice system. Charging a minor as an adult in criminal court varies from state to state based on each state’s jurisdiction. Some states consider anyone up to the age of 18 still a juvenile and would not be charged as an adult in criminal court, but other states may charge a juvenile as an adult at the age of 16 or 17. Jordan (2014) states, “Although states already had methods for transferring youth to the adult system, as a result of the growing fear of juvenile violence, most states implemented new laws to increase the number of youth entering the adult criminal system’ (Bernard & Kurlychek, 2010; Torbet et al., 1996)” (p. 315). While it sounds beneficial to incarcerate more adolescents in the adult criminal justice system to avoid juveniles from committing crimes in the future, that is not always the case. Incarcerating these juveniles can be life changing in a negative
It’s time to separate the child sex offender from the children being accused of sex offending unreasonably. There are many stories of teenagers 15, 16, 17, just trying on young love for the first time. What should be happy memories can be turned to shame, and they don’t even have to have actual intercourse for it to be called a “sex offense.” Here are some examples of needed changes to our laws:
Prevention of child sex abuse has risen in recent years with various programs and policies that help reduce the rate of children being abused. Sex offender registries was formed to notify the local communities about a sex offender living near the families. The Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Act requires states
The youngest person that can be place on the National Sex Offender Registry is age 6. Yes, a kindergarten and be found to be a sexual predator as society puts it. Individuals on the registry are all treated equal by the public no matter the details of their actual crime. Even though the sex offender registry is a positive tool in the protection of society, the registry needs to be evaluated because sexual assault is not the only form of child abuse, non-violent offenders are on the registry, and children are now required to register as offenders.
In the article “Sex Offender Registries (SOR’s): TIME-FOR-A-CHANGE”, the topic of changing the se offender registries was discussed and elaborated upon. It began by giving a summary of the history of the sex offender registries. There was a case where a young child was murdered by a sex offender that no one knew lived in the area. To fix this problem, every person convicted of a sex crime had to register as a sex offender. The author of this article, Phil Locke, explained the effects of the sex offender registry on those convicted of sex crimes. Not only are the years served in prison for the crime uncommonly longer than for those who have committed murder, but the offender is then required to go to “treatment” programs and meetings after serving
This may seem good at first because the public have information about every sex offender possible in order to insure the communities’ safety; however a person should only be considered a sex offender if he or she committed a crime involving a sexual act such as rape, human traffickers, and child molestation. Unfortunately, many of those on the list are people who urinated in public, have consensual sex with a minor, visiting a prostitute, and teenagers who take naked photos of themselves who are then charged with child pornography. Of course, these sex offenders should not be praised for their actions, but they certainly should not receive the same penalty as a rapist. For example, in the article, Is It Fair for Sex Offenders to Stay Listed on a Registry for
The number of registered sex offenders have increasingly grew over the years. Every day you see a man or women added to the registry for crimes against women and mostly children. The sex offender registries biggest and main focus is to keep the people in the community in each city and state informed and protected. ”Sex offenders and sex crimes provoke a great deal of anxiety in our society.” Baker, J, Brannon, Y, N., Fortney. , Levenson, J.S. (“Public Perceptions about Sex Offenders and Community Protection”). The sex offender registry is based solely on protecting the public from being a victim
Sex offenders tend to blend in to society virtually unnoticed until they offend or reoffend (Polizzi, MacKenzie, & Hickman, 1999). Currently, there is a large group of mental health professionals representing a variety of disciplines, including psychology, psychiatry clinical social work, counseling, and medicine, that continue to believe in the potential efficacy of treating sex offenders. Over the past decade, the sex offender treatment field has grown rapidly and the treatment of juvenile sex offenders is on the rise (Parks & Bard, 2006). The rationale for treating juvenile offenders is based on research which indicates that inappropriate sexual behavior patterns develop early and a failure to intervene and change behavior early often means that the offender will continue to escalate his/her inappropriate behavior, which could present an even greater danger to society (Ayland & West, 2006). Vivian-Bryne, (2004) suggests that professionals who treat adult sex offenders report that offenders who are incarcerated will eventually return to the community and therefore, therapeutic measures should be taken to reduce the likelihood that they will reoffend even if those measures have not conclusively been identified as effective. Sexual offenders may find therapy valuable because it can allow them to retrace their upbringing to help them identify and understand the roots of their
Sexual assault is one of the fastest growing violent crimes in America. Approximately 20% of all people charged with a sexual offense are juveniles. Among adult sex offenders, almost 50% report that their first offense occurred during their adolescence. (FBI, 1993) There are many different opinions, treatment options and legislation to manage the growing numbers of juvenile sex offenders. In today’s society the psychological and behavioral modification treatments used to manage juvenile sex offenders is also a growing concern. To understand and determine the proposed treatment methods, several related issues will need to be reviewed such as traditional sex offender therapy methods like cognitive therapy and alternative therapies like
For example that will lead you to be a homelessness, poverty, financial difficulties of housing stress, under unemployment or employment, lack of health and support service that is health reasons of mental health issues, substance abuse issues, lack of child support low level of education, poor or no work history, too early childbearing, drug/ alcohol abuse, physical and mental illness, challenges readjusting to civilian life, disabling psychological conditions, accommodations issues about housing crisis, inadequate or inappropriate dwellings and other are transition from care/ custody, lack of support or about discrimination.
Even though people may think that teens are still children, but they are much maturer than we might imagine and can do things that people may never expect them to do. In a recent Broadly report (Kazdin, 2016), I read that on February 27, 2016, Marina Lonina, who was 18 at that time, live streamed her friend being raped by a 29-years-old man on Periscope app. She didn’t call the police and she claimed that she was doing it to stop the incident, but later was “caught up by the likes” so she couldn’t stop. Both the man and Lonina were charged of kidnapping, rape, sexual battery, and pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor.