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17 Widener L. Rev. 127 (2011)
Net-Widening in Delaware: The Overuse of Registration and Residential Treatment for Youth Who Commit Sex Offenses

handle is hein.journals/wlsj17 and id is 129 raw text is: NET-WIDENING IN DELAWARE: THE OVERUSE OF REGISTRATION AND RESIDENTIAL TREATMENT FOR YOUTH WHO COMMIT SEX OFFENSES CHRYSANTHI LEON,* DAVID L. BURTON AND DANA ALVARE*** ABSTRACT This article examines recent legislative and judicial changes to Delaware's approach to youth who have sexually offended and contrasts these changes with findings from empirical research. Since the early 1990s, laws related to sex offender registration, penalties for sex offenses, and waiver of adolescents to adult court have all become more stringent; yet, recent research into the youth targeted by these laws demonstrates that they are not comparable to youth who have sexually offended in other states. Delaware's aggressive legislative approach, although softened by judges in practice, has apparently led to net- widening. Placing youth who are at low risk for re-offense in detention and residential treatment, and in public registries, costs the state millions of dollars and undermines public safety. The legislature should revise existing statutes so that many of these youth can be properly treated and supervised in the community. INTRODUCTION: THE CONTEXT OF SEX OFFENDER LEGISLATION SINCE THE 1990S Since the 1990s, popular tough-on-crime legislation has capitalized on the public's fears of the violent recidivist. The spirit of California's three strikes and you're out approach has influenced sentencing reform in states across the country, with most states shifting from indeterminate to determinate sentencing structures for certain offenses.1 Interestingly, violent crime rates have consistently fallen during the period of panic over recidivists,2 but the * J.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Sociology and Criminal Justice, University of Delaware. The authors wish to thank the many people in Delaware who strive on a daily basis to meet the needs of youth in trouble. In addition, we appreciate the research assistance of Marc Felizzi, Janice Neiman, Jessica Gimbutas and Jen Presta. Please address all correspondence to santhi@udel.edu. ** Ph.D., Associate Professor, Smith College School for Social Work. *** J.D., graduate student, Sociology and Criminal Justice, University of Delaware. 1. FRANKLIN E. ZIMRING ET AL., PUNISHMENT AND DEMOCRACY: THREE STRIKES AND YOU'RE OUT IN CALIFORNIA 159 (2001). See also BRUCE WESTERN, PUNISHMENT AND INEQUALITY IN AMERICA 62-65 (2006). 2. David Finkelhor & Lisa Jones, Why Have Child Maltreatment and Child Victimizaion Decined?, 62 J. Soc. ISSUES 685, 685-86 (2006) (showing the decline of violent child victimization during this time). See also Fed. Bureau of Investigation, Crime in the United States 2006, (Sept. 2007), http://www2.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2006/documents/violentcimemain.pdf.

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