OK- Oklahoma must add teens to sex offender list or lose grants

The media information is wrong, the Adam Walsh Act DOES NOT REQUIRE juveniles to be added to the registry. What the Act says is, CERTAIN JUVENILES must be added to the registry, those convicted of specific types of serious offenses if they are 14 or older.

7-13-2009 Oklahoma:

Act says sex offender registry must include juveniles

Changes could be coming to Oklahoma’s sex offender registry in order for the state to stay eligible for some federal grants.

The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 requires states to add juveniles to their sex offender lists or lose some vital grants.

A careful review of the following sections of the Adam Walsh Act will show that, NOT ALL JUVENILES are to be added to the sex offender registry. So, if a juvenile is 13 years old or younger, -AND- does not meet the following criteria, they will not be added to the registry.

SEC. 111. RELEVANT DEFINITIONS, INCLUDING AMIE ZYLA EXPANSION OF SEX OFFENDER DEFINITION AND EXPANDED INCLUSION OF CHILD PREDATORS.

In this title the following definitions apply:

(1) SEX OFFENDER- The term `sex offender' means an individual who was convicted of a sex offense.

(8) CONVICTED AS INCLUDING CERTAIN JUVENILE ADJUDICATIONS- The term `convicted' or a variant thereof, used with respect to a sex offense, includes adjudicated delinquent as a juvenile for that offense, but only if the offender is 14 years of age or older at the time of the offense and the offense adjudicated was comparable to or more severe than aggravated sexual abuse (as described in section 2241 of title 18, United States Code), or was an attempt or conspiracy to commit such an offense.

.

The Oklahoma Coalition for Sex Offender Management has decried the suggestion, arguing research shows a low recidivism rate for juvenile sex offenders.

The issue could be a moot point.

There are no names on Oklahoma’s juvenile sex offender registry, even though an average of 90 teenagers have been convicted of sex offenses every year since 2001. There have been 34 so far in 2009, according to the state Office of Juvenile Affairs.

That office has maintained a sex offender list as mandated by a 2001 state law, but director Gene Christian said no offenders have been deemed dangerous to the community by a judge.

Christian, a former prosecutor, said he does not know details of the Walsh Act’s requirements, but he is not opposed to putting juveniles on the sex offender registry — if it is done as mandated by Oklahoma law.

He said teens who fail in treatment are likely to end up in prison, so they should be placed on the public registry for sex offenders.

Oklahoma County Public Defender Bob Ravitz doesn’t like the notion of putting juveniles on the sex offender registry unless they’ve been certified as adults by a judge.

He said anything else is counter to the goals of the juvenile justice system, which is supposed to rehabilitate young offenders.

"If you put them on the offender list, you brand them for life,” Ravitz said.

Ravitz said following federal mandates has not worked out well for the criminal justice system in the past.

He pointed to laws meant to keep offenders in prison for at least 85 percent of their sentence. Such laws have been rescinded in other states, but continue to keep Oklahoma’s prisons full.

"It makes no sense at all,” he said. "Too much meddling in the state’s business is not good for anybody.” ..Source.. by JAY F. MARKS