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72 Fed. Probation 37 (2008)
Juvenile Sex Offenders and Sex Offender Legislation: Unintended Consequences

handle is hein.journals/fedpro72 and id is 201 raw text is: December 2008 37 Nancy G. Calley, University of Detroit Mercy Spectrum Human Services, Inc. & Affiliated Companies DURING THE 1990S, growing concerns from sexual offenders regarding public safety prompted legislation to be enacted through- out the United States. The two primary pieces of legislation resulted in sex offender registration and sex offender notification, both of which were designed to promote public knowledge and visibility of convicted sex offenders. Whereas crimes committed by adult sex offenders against children directly influenced the creation of this legislation (i.e., Megan Kanka and Jason Wetterling), several states have since included juvenile sex offenders in their legislation (Center for Sex Offender Management, 2005). The inclu- sion of juvenile sex offenders in registration and community notification has sparked a great deal of debate as academics, criminolo- gists and lawyers have discussed a range of implications. Two primary discussions have focused on the legislation's interaction with civil rights of juvenile offenders (Turoff, 2001) and with the rehabilitative philosophy of the juvenile justice system (Hiller, 1998; Swearingen, 1997; Trivits & Reppucci, 2002). In addition to these controversial issues, a small body of empirical research on sex offender legislation has begun to emerge addressing such issues as the efficacy of the legislation on sexual recidivism (Petrosino & Petrosino, 1999; Vasquez, Maddan, & Walker, 2008), characteristics of registered juvenile and adult sex offenders (Craun & Kernsmith, 2006), and public perceptions of sex offender legislation (Phillips, 1998; Proctor, Badzinski, & Johnson, 2002; Zevitz 1 This study was funded through the U.S. Bureau of Justice Assistance-Comprehensive Approaches to Sex Offender Management program. & Farkas, 2000). Missing from the empiri- cal research, however, is an examination of the effect of the legislation on juvenile sex offenders, and more specifically, the pos- sible effect of the legislation on dispositional decision-making and subsequent treatment implications for these youth. This article intends to begin to address this gap in the literature through an examination of the treatment implications associated with possible efforts likely to be motivated partly or largely to avoid juvenile sex offender reg- istration. To accomplish this, one full year of juvenile sex offense data from initial charge to treatment outcome was analyzed in a large, urban Midwest region. The findings suggest a possible unintended consequence of sex offender legislation on juvenile sex offenders: withholding juvenile sex offender treatment for youth that have committed sex crimes as a result of reduced charges at disposition in order to avoid registration requirements. Review of the Literature In 1994, President Bill Clinton signed the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Registration Act (Jacob Wetterling Act). The Jacob Wetterling Act established a national registry for sex offend- ers who committed sexual offenses against children or adults or violent offenses against children. Following the inception of the Wet- terling Act, several other pieces of legislation were enacted, including: 1) Megan's Law, 1996 (requiring community notification); 2) the Pam Lychner Sexual Offender Tracking and Identification Act of 1996 (heightening regis- tration requirements for certain serious and repeat offenders); 3) the Appropriations Act for the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary of 1998 (basing reg- istration on a range of offenses specified by state law); and 4) the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Police and Campus Crime Act of 2000 (requiring colleges and universi- ties to notify the campus community about registered sex offenders on campus (Michigan State Police, 2006). It should be noted that although none of this legislation required states to register juvenile sex offenders, 32 states currently require some or all juvenile sex offenders to register and six states have developed separate registration laws for juve- niles and adults (National Sexual Behaviors of Youth, 2008). The most recent legislation, the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, was signed into law in August, 2006. This Act establishes a comprehensive national system for the registration of sex offenders, including juvenile offenders 14 years of age or older whose offense (or attempted offense) was comparable to or more severe than aggravated sexual abuse. The Adam Walsh Act is by far the most comprehensive piece of sex offender legislation that specifically includes juvenile sex offenders. Briefly, the Act contains several provisions related to the type of informa- tion that can be disclosed about the offender, the duration of registration requirements, and the extent of community notification, among other issues. States have three years from the passage of the Act to comply with its requirements. Because of the far-reaching nature of the registration and community notification laws, sex offenders have been significantly differentiated from other types of offenders. As a result, there has been a great deal of

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