Minor Sex Offenders

12-24-2007 Montana

HELENA - Recent changes to state laws dealing with juvenile sex offenders are creating debate. According to the Departments of Corrections and Justice. The Montana Sex Offender Registry currently includes 12 juveniles under the age of 19. Six of them are still on parole or probation.

In Montana's Pine Hills Youth Correctional facility 21 of the 80-to-85 juvenile males are in the residential sex offender program, an 18- month treatment program.

Bob Anez, Mt. Dept. of Corrections says, "I think there's a recognition in the program that these are kids. These are individuals that haven't developed as far as adults have in terms of their thought process."

The treatment program focuses on cognitive thinking and the process that leads to the offensive behavior.

"To link up their thought processes with their actions. Thoughts lead to feelings, feelings lead to actions. So they understand what's happening inside their heads and how to deal with that, it's one thing to get them to understand what caused them to act the way they did in the past. But there's an effort to get them to a point where they don't fall into that trap again."

Since May of this year, juvenile sex offenders have been required to register with the state's online sex offender system, outing many of them to neighbors and classmates. The change is, in part, due to laws like the recent Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act and the 1996 Megan's law. Ali Bovingdon, Asst. Attorney General of Mt. said, "They basically direct the state as to what a state needs to do for its registry laws to be in compliance with the federal laws."

eAdvocate Comment: However, the Adam Walsh Act (choose 'Text of Legislation' then '#5')does allow for excluding certain juveniles and minors (Sec 111(8) and 111(5(C)), but officals always fail to tell folks, or act on that.end.

Despite the age of the offender or the specifics of the crime officials say sex offender registries are not meant to consider the possible embarrassment of the perpetrator.

"It does talk about registration being in the interest of public safety and registration is generally not about rehabilitation of an offender, it's about notification to the community of sex offenders who are living in people's neighborhoods."

eAdvocate comment: Nowhere in the act do they provide a dime for treatment when it is known to reduce recidivism. Clearly PREVENTION of future offenses is not the goal of lawmakers!.end

Juvenile offenders can be taken off the sex offender registry if a judge finds that the youth has no prior sex offenses, registration is not needed to protect the public and that it's in the best interest of the public, not the offender.