Tag: youth offenders

Supported by lawmakers, opposed by reformers, youth sex offender registries have a long history

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Source: jjie.org 12/8/22 In Wisconsin, two 15-year-olds whose foster parent caught them having consensual sex were charged with felony sexual assault and put on the sex offender registry for at least 15 years. In Arizona, it’s possible for a minor who streaks nude at a football game to be charged with a sex offense and put on a registry. In Massachusetts, teens caught sending a nude photo of themselves could end up on a registry. Existing in every state, registries list children as young as elementary school age; a small…

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Emily Horowitz: 18-Year-Old Faces Possible 70 Years in Federal Prison for Snapchat Sexting Crime

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Source: reason.com 9/14/22 by ACSOL board member Emily Horowitz “I’m not saying my kid should get nothing,” says Eric Beyer Jr.’s mother. “But to take an 18-year-old kid and put him in jail for longer than he’s been alive?” Teens using Snapchat. (Franviser | Dreamstime.com) Let’s say you’re a 17-year-old boy asking two 16-year-old girls to sext you on Snapchat—well, that’s pretty normal these days, right? Let’s agree that it is. Now, let’s say that you possibly paid the girls for their sexts, and then allegedly threatened to expose them…

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VA: Youthful offender law nixes sex assault prosecution

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Source: rutlandherald.com 9/10/22 A man charged with sexual assault on a 14-year-old got the charges against him dismissed due to a gap in Vermont’s youthful offender law, prosecutors said this week. In a decision handed down Friday in a case that originated in Rutland County, the Vermont Supreme Court ruled that the state could not appeal the family court’s dismissal of a juvenile delinquency petition, overturning a precedent from 1991. “In crafting the juvenile-delinquency statutes, the Legislature explicitly intended to protect minors from the consequences associated with a criminal record,”…

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Why Blanket Registration of Youth as Sex Offenders is Bad Public Policy

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Source: thecrimereport.org 8/5/21 We praise children for their curiosity. How else are they to learn to navigate the world? But sometimes a child’s curiosity leads to a lifetime of punishment and ostracism. Sadly, this is the harsh reality of many children who were charged with a sex offense. Although it can be a difficult notion to accept, children may exhibit sexual behavior as part of their normal childhood development. Some behaviors that stem from curiosity, such as ‘playing doctor’ or touching another child in their genital area can be problematic,…

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CO: Greeley’s Alternative Homes for Youth works to rehabilitate juvenile sex offenders

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[greeleytribune.com] Shayna Miller’s goal every day is to help the kids she works with do something in which they can take pride. That can include volunteer work, gardening, schoolwork, art and more. She hopes that way they’ll realize they can be more than the crime they committed. Miller is the executive director of Alternative Homes for Youth in Greeley, a nonprofit agency that works to teach, support and model healthy life skills to youth and families. About 60 percent of the boys in the program have committed a sexual offense,…

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