Should Teen Offenders Be Exempt from Registries - Essay Example

submitted Should teen offenders be exempt from registries? Introduction The laws of a country are a reflection of the moral standards and values of its citizens. Therefore, the laws need to be reformed as the values and needs of the society change. Examples of conditions that may bring a about modification of a certain law include failure of the law to deliver, the influence of new technologies or international law changes. A sex offender is someone who commits a sex crime: which includes assault, child molestation, rape or sexual assault. A sex crime varies by legal jurisdiction and culture meaning different acts concerning sex could be categorized as sex crimes depending on where someone commits them (Howard, 12). Every society has the right to be protected from sex offenders, especially for the families with children. Sex offenders who molest children leave them with permanent emotional damage, images that could never be taken from the kids head (O'Brian, 6). Living among such people can be quite challenging for communities and for such reasons the law requires that sex offenders be tracked after leaving jail. This law provides that everyone charged as a sex offender is permanently entered into a sex offender registry of that particular state. This makes these offenders chances of having a normal life impossible, even after serving their time (Petteruti & Walsh, 14). However, most teen offenders usually commit these crimes when they are very young some from around 13 years of age, and at such a tender name they receive lifetime labels as sex offender. Such are robbed of a normal life that they could have led and given a life that was not meant to be theirs; this is quite unfair (Weill,22). Where one resides should be their business only, unfortunately, this is not a privilege that sex offenders get to have. This is information that everyone can access at any sex offender registry. All one has got to do is search for their names and all details including their area of residence will be clearly be shown (Zott, 13). Also the chart boards in their lawns indicating that they are sex offenders, this does not help in this. In the internet every household with a sex offender has a big red button on it for everyone to notice. People stalk them, branding them as criminals who are out to get their kids. Five years ago, Juan Marcelo did something stupid, something he that haunts him up date. He groped a 15-year-old girl, a friend’s daughter. The 20-something Californian was put behind bars for thirteen months, given a five year probation and required by the law to post a large sign on his front yard that reads: ‘Beware, a registered sex offender resides here’. Marcelo (not his real name) claims he has gotten used to random people driving past his house shouting rude insults. He has also grown used to the neighborhood kids stealing this sign and fixing it on other neighbors’ lawns as a joke. However, what truly bugs him, he says, is the permanent inclusion in the California’s sex offender registry, where anybody in the whole world can be able to download his name, the charges he was convicted for, his home address and even his mug shot. Instead of getting a new start after serving his term in jail, which is his right since he paid for his crimes, the online registry has began haunting him. Recently one of his co-workers at the construction company which he works for came up to him, asking him about his ‘secret’ after he had seen his name on the site. He was shocked, embarrassed and even thought of quitting his job, as he later narrated. Now every time he sees two people talking at work he wonders if they're talking about him. He says he’s only waiting to see what happens when his supervisor finds out (McNamara, 26). Posts that must be put in every household with a sex offender Having a social life is a very important part of modern day routine; it also affects hugely ones health. However, most young people that committed such offenses while very young are forces to give up their social lives. Having a major blow to their confidence since no one would want their kids hanging out with a registered sex offender (Petteruti and Walsh, 28). Joshua Michaels (not his real name) can not be able to do a lot of the normal things parents do, like dropping his daughter off at school, attending parent teacher conferences, or taking his son to the park, or a library or anywhere else that children gather. The law banishes him from going to any of those places and by doing that he would have violated his parole. His offense being wrongly touching his 7 year old sister when himself he was 12 of age, Michaels, 25, has spent practically half his life registered as a sex offender. The label subjects him to zoning and residency restrictions that command where he can live and spend his time. This has also made him an easy target of aggravation, death threats and hindered his ability to find a stable job or keep a happy normal home. When he gets a job the maximum amount he can keep it because his record is searched and traced back to him is one month, after which his employer always gets an excuse to fire him. As he understands it, his wife and three children are paying the price for a crime he did as a child. He says the largest effect of all this is clearly not being able to give them a stable housing and a stable environment. He missed the first days of school of his two children; events he knows can never be relived (Weill, 48). Interview with a few people in my neighborhood on views on this matter gave me the following views. When asked about what they thought about registries for teen offenders who committed these acts at a young age mostly from 15 years of age. They insisted that their names and identities remain a secret. Jonathan (not his real name) says: I think it is crazy that there is a list for sex offenders and not drug dealers or murderers, robbers or drunk drivers. These I believe are the most dangerous people who cost us our lives every day. There is a better chance of a drug dealer selling drugs to your kids or getting robbed. The ignorance in the society need to be addressed. Also these registries only make people live in fear after being notified of the criminals that live around people tend to get terrified. People should stop being fooled and start acting like educated adults. Mathew: Teenagers should be exempted from these registries. Of course after they go through with the punishment of what they did. It is hard enough being punished for such a crime and anybody who would want ones name to be in a registry at such a tender age is just insane. The registries make it impossible for them to have a normal life; they can not go back to school or even live with their family. How then are they supposed to be rehabilitated? There is no evidence whatsoever that shows that registration of juveniles in this registry lead to a safer community. Solution A large majority of sex offenses are usually done by trusted relatives, friends, and clergy. Such cases go unreported due to the manipulation of the victims by these people that they trust. This was most vividly seen when lawsuits brought to light the facts that the Catholic Church had ignored and kept secret uncountable cases of child sexual abuse for many decades, and choosing to safeguard its reputation over the well being of the children under its care. Regrettably, this happens in families even more frequently (Petteruti and Walsh, 232). Since the most cases of sex crimes so often go unreported, a greater percentage of sex offenders are never arrested and thus never form a part of the criminal justice. They do not have criminal records thus they never even make it to the registries and banishment zone laws (Price, 52). Consequently, these laws give the society a false idea of security, giving people the false impression that sex offenders have been banished from their neighborhood, and that if one does live nearby, they will receive notifications of his presence (Petteruti and Walsh, 236). This is not usually the case, sex offenders live in every community thus children should not go unsupervised with or without notification. Laws which banish offenders from living near other people and playgrounds or schools actually makes the society less safe, as they hinder rehabilitation of offenders thereby increasing the possibility of re-offense (Cherry, 43). People who shift from prison into the society face numerous challenges, with most having limited resources, mostly financial or even otherwise. People who want a second chance, to lead law-abiding lives, start a fresh after serving their prison sentences want to create stability in their homes, and jobs and families (Breitkeruz, 37). They need peace, support and lots of love, not the opposite. These things under normal circumstance are not easy to achieve but add when laws and limits to places sex offenders can live are added to this; very few of them have the slightest hopes of succeeding. They already feel shunned and hated by the whole community; this pushes them to go underground, where they can easily escape the watchful eyes of parole and police officers (Petteruti and Walsh, 253). These laws that banish offenders keep them away from their families where they could have had support to communities where people only view them as the ultimate enemies. Sooner or later they succumb to the pressure and start feeling alone in the world especially for teenagers who can not fit in or those who can not find friends to hangout with. Their friends’ parents ban them from seeing them and this just makes the situation worse (Hopes, 72). Furthermore, they lose their jobs, frequently receive death threats, get evicted, and harassed by neighbors. With some even getting their new homes burned down or being attacked and beaten by different groups of people. Managing this amount of stress is close to impossible, without very strong support systems they feel they are doomed to fail. They feel they have nothing to lose since the society already hates them, a big reason for backsliding (Petteruti and Walsh, 266). If one doubts whether they should care about the suffering and stress of somebody who once committed a sex crime, then they should also consider the problems in a society when an ex-offender fails. When nothing seems to work out for him home, job and even family: such individuals are most likely to give up on life and reoffend (Howard, 56). Rather than concentrating more on banishing sex offenders and expecting them to succeed in an environment that is hostile, the focus should be on resources, policies and programs that will, in reality, reduce the possibility of sex offenses occurring in the beginning. There need to develop and support public training programs that educate on the effects of sex crimes and the significance of reporting cases of abuse so that it could be stopped (Petteruti and Walsh, 272). There is need to improve the systems that handle abuse reports by assigning direct telephone lines that handle such cases and making such information available through advertisement. Provision of mental healthcare, guidance and counseling for previous sex offenders also should be made available for offenders in and out of prison (O'Brian, 67). There is no easy fix to the upsetting issue of sex abuse. Instead of using constitutionally popular measures that make little or no difference or in fact make the society more risky, turning attention and resources to ways of address the issue of sex abuse that, which will in fact work so that more would-be victims can be spared before its too late (Petteruti and Walsh, 280). Also, research shows that family members are most likely to carry out these offenses than strangers. So parents should be worried about the people who are always areound than the new people from prison that move to their neighborhood. Either way children are not safe with or without these offenders Family members and acquaintances are most likely to commit the crimes Conclusion In my opinion, I do not have faith in in sex offender registries. I instead have confidence in in harsh sentencing of the convicted person. If someone is convicted of molesting a child, he should get life. I believe that registries violate the right of a person. For instance, a man is convicted of sexual abuse in say 1982, he does his time, gets out of prison and leads a law abiding life. Then years later the government enacts a law requiring him to be registered as a sex offender. He is then kept t from visiting his grandchildren and made to him move since his house is within 2400 feet of a school. Obviously, it’s easy to dislike a sex offender, but if the society gives the government the move ahead to basically violate a man's rights, they better believe it will not stop there. On the contrary the recidivism rates for sex offenders have been found to be the lowest in all crimes with drug dealers having the highest recidivism rate. Another reason I do not believe in these registries is because gives the society an upper hand to overreact to an, otherwise, minor charge like statutory rape. An 18 year old boy gets caught sleeping with a 16 year old girlfriend should not be branded a lifetime label like that one. The kid should get in trouble, I agree but he should not be made an outcast for the rest of his life because of that. Ten years down the line the community will not consider how young you were when you committed the crime but instead you have already been marked as a sex offender thus flushing down the toilet any opportunity of one ever having a future. In fact, if the court penalty fits the crime, then there is no need for the registries especially for teens. Works Cited Breitkeruz, Gary. Statutory review of the Sex Offender Information \registry act. Ottawa: NGP, 2008. Cherry, Guy. Sex offenders inand the impact of the Federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act. Annapolis: Office of General Assembly, 2010. Hopes, Bobbie G. Teen sex offenders. Greensboro: Avision press, 2007. Howard, Barbaree. The Juvenile Sex offender. New York: Guilford Press, 2008. McNamara, Robert Hartmann. The lost population : status offenders in America. Durham: Carolina press, 2008. O'Brian, M. "Adolescent Sex Offenders." Preventing Sexual abuse (1986): 70. Petteruti, Amanda and Nastassia Walsh. Registering harm : how sex offense registries fail youth and communities. Washington DC: Justice Policy Institute, 2008. Price, Susan. Juvenile sex offenders. Hartford: Assembly Press, 2008. Weill, Sabrina Solin. We're not monsters : teens speak out about teens in trouble. New York: Hamper Tempest, 2002. Zott, Lynn M. Sex offenders and public policy. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2008. Read More