Reconsider registry for youth offenders
Your May 24 article tells the tragic story of a 16-year-old boy who allegedly was told that he could be placed on a sex offender registry for recording and sharing a consensual sexual encounter with a classmate.
While police and school officials may have only intended to shame and scare him, he left the school shortly thereafter and ended his life, according to the lawsuit the story reports.
This story raises many important questions, including whether placement on a sex offender registry should even be an option for a child or adolescent.
Research conducted in Illinois and nationally concludes that registry of children and youth is a failed concept. There is no evidence of improved public safety or reduced reoffending. A legislatively established task force currently is studying its impact on adults.
A Juvenile Justice Commission report we co-authored found that most youths on our registry are required to register for life, regardless of their age, offending behavior, whether they had been sexually abused themselves or are likely to repeat harmful sexual conduct.
The research is clear that the vast majority are unlikely to do so. It is also clear that registry can harm intra-familial abuse victims, devastate families and prevent the kind of positive development, education and employment that reduces risks for future sexual misconduct.
When teenagers engage in behavior that is inappropriate or harmful, adults must intervene. But developmentally appropriate and evidence-based approaches are much more effective in holding young people accountable for their mistakes and protecting our communities. The very-real specter of prosecution and registry as a sex offender is not a strategy that research, common sense or compassion tell us will be effective. And in too many cases, there are tragic consequences for all those involved. We can do better. It is time to rethink Illinois' registry of children and youth as sex offenders.
Anita Weinberg
Lisa Jacobs
Loyola University
Chicago