TN- Notification has harmful effects

2-4-2009 Tennessee:

Public policy should be designed to maximize public safety, but juvenile sex offender registration will undermine, not increase public safety.

There is no evidence community notification reduces sex-offender recidivism or increases community safety. The most appropriate response to children adjudicated for sexual offenses is effective treatment.

Science tells us adolescent brains are not as developed as those of adults, and the part of the brain that deals with judgment and risk assessment is the last to mature. Most children who offend can be safely maintained in the community under supervision by probation officers and be successfully treated in outpatient treatment programs. The National Center on Sexual Behavior of Youth reports the sexual recidivism rate for juvenile sex offenders to be as low as 5 percent.

Incidents of inappropriate sexual behavior often occur within a family setting. Registration laws will almost certainly decrease parental willingness to report or seek help for children's sexual behavioral problems when they understand the result will be lifetime public registration. Therefore, children will be less likely to receive needed and effective treatment.

Registration requirements for children will disrupt families and communities because they don't just stigmatize the child; they stigmatize the entire family, including parents, siblings and extended family members. Typically, the address, telephone number and vehicle registration the child has to provide will be the family's, and required school information will be the same school currently or soon to be attended by a sibling. Publication of this information can make children and their families vulnerable to harassment, threats, assaults and predators.

Registration disrupts rehabilitation
Often, adolescent sex offenses involve inappropriate experimentation. One in three sexually abused children demonstrates a sexual behavior problem in response to his/her own abuse. Children whose conduct involves sexually inappropriate behavior do not pose the same threat to public safety as adults. More than nine in 10 times, the arrest of a child for a sex offense is a one-time event. They have fewer victims and, on average, engage in less serious and aggressive behaviors than adult offenders.

Public registration and community notification requirements complicate the rehabilitation and treatment of these youth. In other states, children required to register have been harassed at school, forcing them to drop out. The stigma that arises from community notification serves to exacerbate the poor social skills many of these children possess, destroying the social networks necessary for rehabilitation. Education itself is vital to reducing the risk of further criminal behavior.

Because residence restrictions are tied to registration status, there probably will be an emergent housing crisis for these youth when they turn 18 and are prevented from living with their families due to proximity to schools, parks and places where children congregate, forcing some to drop out of school at age 18 before graduation, increasing homelessness and isolation, and reducing opportunities for rehabilitation.

With treatment, children who have committed sexual offenses have the potential to become productive law-abiding citizens. Registration will stigmatize them for life and potentially sentence them to a life of crime. ..News Source.. by Linda O'Neal is executive director of the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth.