Delinquency and Punishment: The Impact of State v. Williams on Juvenile Sex Offender Registration in Ohio
![handle is hein.journals/ucinlr81 and id is 297 raw text is: DELINQUENCY AND PUNISHMENT: THE IMPACT OF STATE V.
WILLIAMS ON JUVENILE SEX OFFENDER REGISTRATION IN
OHIO
Amy Grover*
The juvenile justice system was founded upon the notion that children
who commit acts that would be crimes if committed by adults are
different than adults who engage in the same behaviors.' This
distinction led to the establishment of a distinct court system for
juveniles that focused on rehabilitating youth rather than punishing
them, with an ultimate goal of piding them toward life
as .. . responsible, law-abiding adult[s]. However, recent federal and
state laws that require youth who are adjudicated delinquent in juvenile
courts to register as sex offenders are more punitive than rehabilitative,
and actually can deter children who commit sex offenses from later
becoming productive members of society.3 In State v. Williams, the
Supreme Court of Ohio recently held that these registration
requirements were punitive,4 and effectively admitted that Ohio's
juvenile justice system has been punishing juvenile sex offenders
instead of rehabilitating them.
I. INTRODUCTION
The Supreme Court of Ohio's holding in State v. Williams has
significantly impacted the way the law approaches sex offender
registration.5 Prior to the court's decision, Ohio considered sex offender
registration laws to be a primarily remedial measure rather than a
punitive restriction. However, the court determined that new
amendments to Ohio Revised Code Chapter 2950 had made the
registration requirements primarily punitive, therefore making
* Associate Member, 2011-12 University of Cincinnati Law Review.
1. ABA Division for Public Education,THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION, DIALOGUE ON
YOUTH AND JUSTICE 5 (2007) , available at http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/
aba/migrated/publiced/features/DYJfull.authcheckdam.pdf
2. Id.
3. See generally JUSTICE POLICY INST., REGISTERING HARM: How SEX OFFENSE REGISTRIES
FAIL YOUTH AND COMMUNITIES 5 (2008), available at http./wwwjusticepolicy.org/images/uploadO8-
11 RPT WalshActRegisteringHarmJJ-PS.pdf
4. State v. Williams, 952 N.E.2d 1108, 1112 (Ohio 2011).
5. Id.
6. See State v. Bodyke, 933 N.E.2d 753, 758 (Ohio 2010); State v. Ferguson, 896 N.E.2d 110,
117 (Ohio 2008).
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Delinquency and Punishment: The Impact of State v. Williams on Juvenile Sex Offender Registration in Ohio
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