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Summary Of The List By Sarah Stillman

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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 …show more content…

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

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