5-26-2011 Tennessee:
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Starting this summer, Tennessee will become one of only a few states to have a Juvenile Sex Offender Registry. It is for juveniles 14-18 who have committed violent sexual crimes and are considered likely to repeat their crimes.
To the lawmaker behind the juvenile sex offender registry, it's an extra tool for law enforcement.
"If there's a missing child, before if there was an amber alert, law enforcement can go in and look at all the sex offenders in the neighborhood, but they couldn't give figure out which ones were juveniles, and so it gives law enforcement the opportunity to see if they need to investigate any of those juveniles in that neighborhood," State Rep. Debra Maggart said.
Some who work to rehabilitate juvenile sex offenders believe a teenager's violent offense should not follow them the rest of their lives.
"I am just appalled that somebody could murder someone and no consequences after they do that, but here's somebody that has the potential to get better, and yet we are going to stigmatize them for 25 years," said Dr. Valerie Arnold.
In her work, Dr. Arnold testified 85 percent of sex offenders can be rehabilitated.
"What about the 15 percent, what about the ones that are not rehabilitated, do we just let them rape at will?" asked Rep. Maggart.
But it turns out, the juvenile sex offender registry will not be made public, but it will be easily accessible to law enforcement.
"My original intent was to have it public, so the public could see if they were living next to a violent sex offender juvenile, or not, but the Obama administration was okay with us keeping it private, so I decided I would start there, and see what happens afterwards," Maggart added.
Violent juvenile sex offenders would be subject to some, but not all, of the restrictions imposed upon adult sexual offenders. Juvenile sexual offenders would have to comply with the tracking and registration requirements for life if they have a prior conviction for a sexual offense.
Tennessee's new Juvenile Sex Offender Registry goes into effect July 1. ..Source.. by NewsChannel5.com
Showing posts with label Registry - Juveniles Only. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Registry - Juveniles Only. Show all posts
May 26, 2011
Juvenile Sex Offender Registry Goes Into Effect July 1
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
