POLICY POSITION ON NOTIFICATION OF JUVENILE SEX OFFENDERS

In 1996, Clinton signed into law a mandate for community notification to be instituted in every state to allow law enforcement personnel to disseminate information about high risk sex offenders to the public while protecting the victims.  Guidelines are being written by the Federal Government.

The Juvenile Justice Coalition supports juvenile sex offenders being held accountable for their actions, being treated for their behavior and utilizing interventions designed to reduce their risk to reoffend.  We also support research to determine the most effective interventions and to assess the effectiveness of community notification.  We further support educational and early intervention efforts to prevent sexual abuse.

Notifications should be made only on those offenders who are determined to be the highest risk to sexually reoffend.  Notification without community involvement and education will not likely be helpful. The state of Washington has studied notification for adult offenders and found that the process has little impact on reoffending rates.

Risk assessment instruments should be developed for juvenile sex offenders using research addressing validity and reliability of the instruments.  In addition, once developed the instruments need to be administered by skilled, trained and supervised professionals.

Identities of all victims need to be closely guarded.  This is particularly important for juveniles because a significant percentage of the victims of juvenile sex offenders are family members.    Family members could be negatively affected when community notification occurs, whether or not the juvenile sex offender returns home.

When considering notification for juvenile sex offenders, in addition to the above concerns, we need to be aware of the developmental states of the juvenile, the impact of peer pressure on juveniles, as well as the impact notification will have on developing peer relationships and the fact that a significant percentage of juvenile sex offenders have been sexually abused as children and need specialized treatment for this abuse.

And, finally, juvenile sex offenders because of the lack of understanding of procedures in the court, including notification, and the developmental stages of children, need to have legal advocacy assistance from the first step in the process, which is usually arrest and detention.

Copyright © 2001, 2002 Juvenile Justice Coalition