Human Rights Watch: A report on children placed on sex offender registries
Wrong!
Below is information about a recent report from Human Rights Watch.
Now, when are they going to figure out that it is not good for adults, either?
-- Randy
The photo of the 11-year-old boy on the cover will break your heart.
From the press release:
http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/05/01/us-more-harm-good
(Washington, DC) – Harsh public registration laws often punish youth sex offenders for life and do little to protect public safety, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. A web of federal and state laws apply to people under 18 who have committed any of a wide range of sex offenses, from the very serious, like rape, to the relatively innocuous, such as public nudity.
The 111-page report, “Raised on the Registry: The Irreparable Harm of Placing Children on Sex Offender Registries in the US,” details the harm public registration laws cause for youth sex offenders. The laws, which can apply for decades or even a lifetime and are layered on top of time in prison or juvenile detention, require placing offenders’ personal information on online registries, often making them targets for harassment, humiliation, and even violence. The laws also severely restrict where, and with whom, youth sex offenders may live, work, attend school, or even spend time.
"Of course anyone responsible for a sexual assault should be held accountable,” said Nicole Pittman, Soros Senior Justice Advocacy Fellow at Human Rights Watch and author of the report. “But punishment should fit both the offense and the offender, and placing children who commit sex offenses on a public registry – often for life – can cause more harm than good.”
States and the federal government should exempt people who commit sex offenses when they are under age 18 from public registration laws because the laws violate youth offenders’ basic rights. (...)
Report description:
Raised on the Registry
The Irreparable Harm of Placing Children on Sex Offender Registries in the US
May 1, 2013
This 111-page report details the harm public registration laws cause for youth sex offenders. The laws, which can apply for decades or even a lifetime and are layered on top of time in prison or juvenile detention, require placing offenders’ personal information on online registries, often making them targets for harassment, humiliation, and even violence. The laws also severely restrict where, and with whom, youth sex offenders may live, work, attend school, or even spend time.
Raised on the Registry
- Contents -
Summary
Methodology
I. Background
II. Children Are Different
III. Who are Youth Sex Offender Registrants?
IV. Registration of Youth Offenders in Practice
V. Life on the Registry
VI. Failure-to-Register Violations: Additional Punishment
VII. Due Process Concerns
VIII. Human Rights and Registration of Youth Sex Offenders
IX. Recommendations
Acknowledgments
Download Raised on the Registry here:
http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/us0513_ForUpload_1.pdf
Source of the above: http://www.boychat.org/messages/1377406.htm
