KS: Changes to juvenile offender registration shelved

[gctelegram.com] TOPEKA — A Kansas House bill contemplating changes to juvenile offender registration has been delayed so that it can be reviewed by the Judicial Council. The council will review the legislation and make recommendations on how to proceed, Rep. J. Russell Jennings, R-Lakin, said during a committee meeting last week. No legislative action is expected this session. Last month, three people spoke in favor of the measure, which proposed treating juvenile sex offenders the same as adult sex offenders in terms of registration requirements. Information on adult sex offenders…

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AL: Will state legislators render teachers ‘improper’ sex cops?

[al.com] We want schools to be educational safe havens for our children. At the same time, public policies designed to make schools safer may carry unintended consequences. Legislation making teachers liable for policing “improper sexual conduct” is winding its way through the Alabama Legislature, and it shouldn’t become law without serious vetting by legislators. Senator Clyde Chambliss (R-Autauga County) introduced SB26 responding to a constituent family’s preference that juvenile sexual offenders (JSOs) not be “mainstreamed” in Alabama’s public schools. At the beginning of this school year, the family’s son spotted…

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KS: Kansas bill would reveal names of juvenile sex offenders

[kake.com] TOPEKA, Kan. (KAKE) – The family of a Newton mother and daughter who were killed last year is pushing for a new law that would reveal the names of child sex offenders. Keith Hawkins was sentenced this month to life without the possibility of parole for the deaths of 24-year-old Alyssa Runyon and 4-year-old Zaylynn Paz. In a letter to Runyon’s family, Hawkins said he harmed the child first. When Hawkins was 12 years old, he was convicted of indecent liberties with a 5-year-old girl. But because he was…

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AL: Bill would change school reporting, enrollment for juvenile sex offenders

[decaturdaily.com] MONTGOMERY — Juvenile sex offenders who are considered high or moderate risks for repeating such crimes would not be allowed to attend traditional public schools under proposed legislation in the Statehouse. Senate Bill 26 also would require the State Board of Education to develop by next year a policy for the supervision and monitoring of juvenile sex offender students considered by courts to be low risk for offending again. “Essentially, we’re trying to give those who are responsible for the care of children all the information that they need,”…

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AL: Alabama schools struggle with juvenile sex offenders in classrooms

[montgomeryadvertiser.com] PRATTVILLE — The parents of a young Autauga County sex crime victim want something done. Three years ago, their daughter was victimized by a then-14-year-old boy. What happened next combines the heartache of a family trying to get back to “normal,” a young man paying his debt to society, old wounds being reopened and a bureaucratic maze of board of education meetings and potential legislative action. Read more  

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