Acknowledgments

[1] For readability, this summary avoids the term “adjudicated delinquent” to describe a finding of guilt in a juvenile court judgment. However, this phrase is used in the remainder of this report because juvenile court judgments are not considered convictions.

[2] The Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) is section 111 of the Adam Walsh Act Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, codified at 42 U.S.C. §16911, which governs the applicability of SORNA’s sex offender registration requirements to juvenile offenders who are adjudicated delinquent of a sex offense. 42 U.S.C. §16911(8) requires jurisdictions to expand sex offender registration to juveniles. At the time this report was written, only 18 states in the nation were deemed to be in “substantial compliance” with the federal law.

[3] “Number of Registered Sex Offenders in the US Nears Three-Quarters of a Million,” National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, press release, January 23, 2012, http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/number-of-registered-sex-offenders-in-the-us-nears-three-quarters-of-a-million-137880068.html (accessed March 8, 2013).

[4] US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, “Criminal Victimization, 2009,” October 2010, http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/cv09.pdf (accessed March 21, 2013). These data are compiled by the National Crime Victimization Survey, in which a representative sample of US households reports on non-fatal crimes (irrespective of whether they are reported to police).

[5] These estimates, as reported by the Department of Justice, are based on 10 or fewer sample cases. US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, “Criminal Victimization, 2009,” October 2010, http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/cv09.pdf (accessed March 21, 2013).

[6] Anna Salter, Transforming Trauma: A Guide to Understanding and Treating Adult Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse (New York: Sage Publications, 1995).

[7] Patricia Tjaden and Nancy Thoennes, National Institute of Justice (NIJ), “Extent, Nature, and Consequences of Rape Victimization: Findings from the National Violence against Women Survey,” January 2006, http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/210346.pdf (accessed July 13, 2007).

[8] Human Rights Watch email correspondence with Dr. Marc Chaffin, March 5, 2013. See also MaryLee Floric and Matthew Broyles, Sexual Abuse (New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc., 2012).

[9] Ibid.

[10] Howard N. Snyder, Bureau of Justice Statistics, “Sexual Assault of Young Children as Reported to Law Enforcement: Victim, Incident, and Offender Characteristics,” July 2000, http://bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/saycrle.pdf (accessed March 21, 2013), p. 11.

[11] Ibid.

[12] Safe Horizon, “After Sexual Assault: A Recovery Guide for Survivors,” undated, http://www.safehorizon.org/files/After_Sexual_Assault_Bklt.pdf (accessed January 8, 2007).

[13] American Psychological Association, “Understanding Child Sexual Abuse: Education, Prevention, and Recovery,” 2001, http://www.apa.org/releases/sexabuse/effects.html (accessed July 13, 2007).

[14] Human Rights Watch email correspondence with Dr. Marc Chaffin, March 5, 2013.         

[15] Stop It Now! PARENTtalk, “Loving Them Both,” vol. 5, no. 1 (Spring 2005), http://www.stopitnow.org/files/webfm/Parent%20Talk/PT_Spring05_V5N1.pdf (accessed March 21, 2013). PARENTtalkis a Stop It Now! publication by and for parents and caregivers of youth with sexual behavior problems. (The name “Denise” is a pseudonym for the mother in this story, whose name was “anonymous” in the publication).

[16] Ibid.

[17] Ibid.

[18] Dean G. Kilpatrick and Anne Seymour, National Victim Center & the Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center, Medical University of South Carolina, “Rape in America: A Report to the Nation,” April 23, 1992, http://www.musc.edu/ncvc/resources_prof/rape_in_america.pdf (accessed April 19, 2013); Ted R. Miller, Mark A. Cohen, and Brian Wiersema, National Institute of Justice (NIJ), “Victim Costs and Consequences: A New Look,” January 1996, https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/victcost.pdf (accessed April 19, 2013).

[19] Center for Sex Offender Management (CSOM), “Understanding sex offenders: An introductory curriculum,” undated, www.csom.org/train/etiology/index.html (accessed April 19, 2013).

[20]Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act, Pub. L. No. 103-322 tit. XVII, subtit.A, 108 Stat. 2038-2042 (1994). Title XVII of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, 42 U.S.C. 14071 et seq. The Wetterling Act was passed in response to the unsolved abduction of Jacob Wetterling while he was riding his bicycle in a small town in Minnesota.

[21] Center for Sex Offender Management, “Sex Offender Registration: Policy Overview and Comprehensive Practices,” October 1999, http://www.csom.org/pubs/sexreg.pdf (accessed March 21, 2013).  

[22] Megan’s Law of 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-145, 110 Stat. 1345 (1996) (codified at 42 U.S.C. § 14071(e)(2) (2000)). Megan’s adult attacker, previously convicted of child molestation, lived near her home in a community release program. In testimony before Congress, Megan’s parents, Richard and Maureen Kanka, asserted that they would have been more vigilant had they known about the offender’s presence.

[23] Megan’s Law of 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-145, 110 Stat. 1345 (1996) (codified at 42 U.S.C. § 14071(e)(2) (2000)).

[24]Pam Lychner Sexual Offender Tracking and Identi­fication Act of 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-236, 110 Stat. 3093 (42 U.S.C. 14072, as amended). Pam Lychner was a 31-year-old woman who was attacked by a previously convicted sexual offender in Houston, Texas.

[25] 42 U.S.C. §16911, §129(a) of the The Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) of the Adam Walsh Act Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 (States that “Sections 170101 (42 U.S.C. 14071) and 170102 (42 U.S.C. 14072) of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, and section 8 of the Pam Lychner Sexual Offender Tracking and Identification Act of 1996 (42 U.S.C. 14073) are repealed.”).

[26] Recent decades have been marked by periods of intense media coverage of crimes committed by children. For example, presidential candidate Bob Dole said during his 1996 campaign, “[u]nless something is done soon, some of today’s newborns will become tomorrow’s superpredators—merciless criminals capable of committing the most vicious of acts for the most trivial of reasons.” Policymakers used the notion of the juvenile “superpredator” (coined by academic John DiIulio) as a justification for increasingly punitive and harsh treatment of children under new criminal laws. See generally Jonathon Simon, Governing through Crime: How the War on Crime Transformed American Democracy and Created a Culture of Fear (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007) (addressing the importation of crime control into school administration); Aaron Kupchik, Judging Juveniles: Prosecuting Adolescents in Adult and Juvenile Courts (New York: New York University Press, 2006) (describing a “sequential model of justice,” or a system that borrows both a criminal justice model and a juvenile justice model, as a way of understanding prosecution of adolescents in criminal court). The superpredator myth has been discredited. Dire predictions that “the rise in violent arrests of juveniles in the early 1990s would combine with a growing youth population to produce an extended crime epidemic” have proved inaccurate. Juvenile crime rates began a steady decline around 1994, reaching low levels not seen since the late 1970s. Lori Dorfman & Vincent Schiraldi, Building Blocks for Youth, “Off Balance: Youth, Race & Crime in the News,” April 2001. 

[27] Elizabeth Garfinkle, “Coming of Age in America: The Misapplication of Sex Offender Registration and Community Notification Laws to Juveniles,” California Law Review, vol. 91, no. 1 (January 2003), pp. 163-208.

[28] Quyen Nguyen and Nicole Pittman, “A Snapshot of Juvenile Sex Offender Registration and Notification Laws: A Survey of the United States,” Pennsylvania Juvenile Defenders, July 2011, http://www.pajuvdefenders.org/file/snapshot.pdf (accessed March 12, 2013), pp. 44-53; National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), “Juvenile Sex Offender Registration and SORNA,” May 2011, http://www.ncsl.org/issues-research/justice/juvenile-sex-offender-registration-and-sorna.aspx (accessed March 12, 2013). The 13 jurisdictions are Alaska, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Utah, Vermont, and West Virginia.

[29] Ibid. The 38 jurisdictions are: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

[30] See American Bar Association, Juvenile Collateral Consequences Project, “Think before you plead: Juvenile collateral consequences in the United States,” undated, http://www.beforeyouplea.com/ (accessed April 19, 2013); Nguyen and Pittman, “A Snapshot of Juvenile Sex Offender Registration and Notification Laws: A Survey of the United States,” pp. 44-53; National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), “Juvenile Sex Offender Registration and SORNA,” May 2011; The 27 states are California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. For children adjudicated delinquent in juvenile court, Illinois, Massachusetts, Ohio, Oregon, and Michigan limit the information available to the public. Illinois: 730 Ill. Comp. Stat. 152/120(a) (2010) (limited information on children adjudicated delinquent is made available to the public); Massachusetts: Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 6, § 178K (2)(c) (2010) (Children designated at risk levels 2 and 3 are subject to public notification); Ohio: Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 2152.86 (2010) (A child determined to be a “Public Registry Qualified Juvenile Offender Registrant” (PRQJOR) is subject to public notification); Oregon: Or. Rev. Stat. § 181.592(2)(b) (2009) (limited information on children adjudicated delinquent is made available to the public); Michigan: Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. § 28.728 (2010) (children adjudicated delinquent in juvenile court will not be listed on the public sex offender registry until they turn 18; once they turn 18, their registration will become public and they will be listed on the web-based public registry). See generally In re Wentworth, 651 N.W.2d 773, 777 (2002).

[31] During the March 2006 discussion, Representative John Conyers (D-MI) noted that “this legislation, all 164 pages, has managed to completely circumvent the traditional legislative process.” 152 Cong. Rec. H677 (2006) (statement of Rep. John Conyers). In a July 2006 discussion on the Act, Representative Robert Scott (D-VA) avowed that “unlike most of my colleagues we will hear from today, I believe that we can do better than this bill to effectively address the scourge of child sexual assault.” 152 Cong. Rec. H5723-24 (2006) (statement of Rep. Robert Scott). Regretfully, lawmakers misinformed their peers that individuals convicted of sex offenses are more serious offenders because of their propensity to reoffend. US Representative Ric Keller (R-FL) noted that “[t]he best way to protect children is to keep child predators locked up in the first place, because someone who has molested a child will do it again and again and again.” Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security of the Committee on the Judiciary, 109th Cong.

[32] Title I, §111.8 of the Adam Walsh Act, Pub. L. No. 109-248, (2006). The Amie Zyla provision was named after Amie Zyla of Waukesha, Wisconsin, who was 8 years old when she was sexually assaulted and threatened by 14-year-old Joshua Wade. Wade was adjudicated delinquent in juvenile court, and was therefore required under Wisconsin law to register with local police as a sex offender. Less than a decade later, while still being monitored as a sex offender, Wade was arrested for assaulting and enticing children to his apartment. Wade was never convicted of these charges. However, Amie Zyla and her parents were successful in lobbying the state legislature to take some additional action against children accused of sexual misconduct. Amie and her parents then took their cause to Washington, DC. The Chairman of the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security,  James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), who was also from Waukesha County, arranged for Ms. Zyla to speak behind closed doors, without any expert testimony, before members of Congress, advocating for extending the Adam Walsh Act to children by placing them on public sex offender registries. “The simple truth is that juvenile sex offenders turn into adult predators.… I want to challenge you to look deep down inside. Isn’t it time to put our kids’ safety before the rights of sexual offenders, adult or juvenile? When is enough going to be enough?” asked Ms. Zyla. After Ms. Zyla’s brief speech, Congressional supporters of the act proposed that the Adam Walsh Act be expanded to include children. In less than an hour, without supporting data or expert testimony, Congress voted, for purposes of sex offender registration and notification, to expand the definition of a “criminal conviction” to include an “adjudication of delinquency” of a child. The provision extending sex offender registration and notification was eventually named after the 17-year-old and is now referred to as SORNA Section 111 - Amie Zyla Expansion of Sex Offender Definition provision (Amie Zyla expansion is codified by 42 U.S.C. §16911(8)).

[33] Amie Zyla expansion is codified by 42 U.S.C. §16911(8); The National Guidelines for Sex Offender Registration and Notification, 73 Fed. Reg. 38030 (July 2, 2008).

[34] Title 42 U.S.C.S. § 16913 creates the sex offender registration requirements, and 18 U.S.C.S. § 2250(g) imposes criminal penalties for failing to register under SORNA.

[35]42 U.S.C.S. § 16911(5); The US Department of Justice, under SORNA, expands the definition of “specified offense against a minor” to include all offenses by children. The term “specified offense against a minor” means an offense against a minor that involves any of a list of itemized offenses.

[36]42 U.S.C.A. § 16911 (2)-(4) (Section 111(2)-(4) of SORNA defines three “tiers” of sex offenders. The tier classifications have implications in three areas: (i) under section 115, the required duration of registration depends primarily on the tier; (ii) under section 116, the required frequency of in-person appearances by sex offenders to verify registration information depends on the tier. SORNA sorts offenders into three tiers to determine the duration of their registration obligations. Tier III includes any sex offender whose offense is punishable by imprisonment for more than 1 year and is comparable to or more severe than aggravated sexual abuse or sexual abuse (as described in sections 2241 and 2242 of Title 18). 42 U.S.C.A. § 16911(4). Tier III offenders must register for life. Id. § 16915(a)(3). Tier II includes offenders convicted of sex offenses against minors. Id. § 16911(3). Individuals in Tier II must register for 25 years. Id. § 16915(a)(2). SORNA designates all offenders not included in Tiers II or III as Tier I offenders who must register for 15 years. Id. § 16911(2); § 16915(a)(1). SORNA’s registration requirements apply to offenders whose convictions pre-date the statute. 28 C.F.R. § 72.3.

[37]42 U.S.C. § 16913(b). Under SORNA, registration information is to be provided immediately to “[e]ach jurisdiction where the sex offender resides, is an employee, or is a student.”

[38]42 U.S.C. §§ 16924(a), 16925(a).  Each jurisdiction has until July 27, 2009 to substantially comply with the requirements of SORNA or lose part of its federal funding.

[39]United States Governmental Accountability Office, GAO-13-211 Report to the Subcommittee of Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security, Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, “Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act,” February 2013.

[40] Ibid; Department of Justice, Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART), “SORNA,” http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/smart/sorna.htm (accessed March 5, 2013).

[41] SMART, “SORNA,” http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/smart/sorna.htm.

[42]Human Rights Watch, No Easy Answers: Sex Offender Laws in the US, vol. 19, no. 4(G), September 2007, http://www.hrw.org/reports/2007/09/11/no-easy-answers, pp. 55-58.

[43] In our 2007 report No Easy Answers, Human Rights Watch found that at least five states required men to register if they were caught visiting prostitutes. At least 13 states required individuals to register for urinating in public (in two states, only if a child was present). Thirty-two states registered flashers and streakers. No fewer than 29 states required registration for teenagers who had consensual sex with another teenager. Human Rights Watch, No Easy Answers, p.39.

[44] Mark Chaffin, Barbara L. Bonner, and Keri Pierce, National Center on Sexual Behavior of Youth, “What Research Shows About Adolescent Sex Offenders,” July 2003, http://www.dshs.wa.gov/pdf/ca/NCSBYfactsheet.pdf (accessed March 21, 2013) (citing American Psychiatric Association, “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th Edition), Washington, DC, 1994).

[45] Lisa Sandberg, “Texas Group Fights Sex Crime Stigma Members Call Unfair,” Houston Chronicle, December 14, 2008.

[46] Ibid.

[47] Jeffrey T. Walker et al., National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS), “The Influence of Sex Offender Registration and Notification Laws in the United States,” 2006, https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/publications/Abstract.aspx?id=236182 (accessed March 21, 2013).

[48] Kristen Zgoba, et al., New Jersey Department of Corrections, Office of Policy & Planning, The Research & Evaluation Unit, “Megan’s Law: Assessing the practical and monetary efficacy,” 2008, https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/225370.pdf (accessed April 20, 2013).

[49] As noted by Elizabeth Barnhill, the Executive Director of the Iowa Coalition against Sexual Assault, “The long-term solutions to eradicating sexual violence from our society, however, do not lie in measures taken to stop reoffense, but rather in preventing sexual violence from happening in the first place.” Elizabeth Barnhill, Testimony to Nebraska Judiciary Committee, February 16, 2006, http://legis.wisconsin.gov/lc/committees/study/2006/PLACE/files/murray2_place.pdf (accessed March 21, 2013).

[50] Bureau of Justice Statistics, “Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 1994,” Table 10: Rearrest Rates of State Prisoners Released in 1994, by most serious offense for which released and charge at rearrest, http://bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/rpr94.pdf (accessed April 22, 2013) (giving the following percentages of prisoners rearrested within three years of release for the same type of offense: 1.2 percent for homicide, 2.5 percent for rape, 13.4 percent for robbery, 22 percent for non-sexual assault, 23.4 for burglary, 33.9 percent for larceny/theft, 11.5 percent for motor vehicle theft, 19 percent for fraud, 41.2 percent for drug offenses, and 31.2 percent for public order offenses).

[51] Ibid.

[52]Mark Chaffin, “Our minds are made up—don’t confuse us with the facts: Commentary on policies concerning children with sexual behavior problems and juvenile sex offenders,” Child Maltreatment, vol. 13, no. 2 (May 2008), pg. 114.

[53]Presentation by Bob Shilling, Annual National Juvenile Defender Center Leadership Summit, Seattle, Washington, October 18, 2011 (copy on file at Human Rights Watch).

[54]Detective Robert Schilling on “Barriers to timely Implementation of SORNA,” Testimony to US House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security, March 10, 2009.

[55] William Pfeifer, “Too many registered sex offenders make dangerous sex offenders difficult to track,” Legal News Examiner, September 4, 2009, http://www.examiner.com/article/too-many-registered-sex-offenders-make-dangerous-sex-offenders-difficult-to-track (March 21, 2013).

[56] Carole J. Petersen and Susan M. Chandler, “Sex Offender Registration and the Convention on the Rights of the Child: Legal and Policy Implications of Registering Juvenile Sex Offenders,” William &Mary Policy Review, vol. 3, no. 1 (2011), pg. 11.

[57] Ibid.

[58] Diane Jennings, “Franklin Zimring Objects to Juvenile Sex Offender Registration,” The Dallas Morning News, July 19, 2009.

[59] See, for example, William Gardner and Janna Herman, “Adolescent’s AIDS Risk Taking: A Rational Choice Perspective,” in William Gardner et al., eds., Adolescents in the AIDS Epidemic (San Francisco: Jossey Bass, 1990) (“Adolescent’s AIDS Risk Taking”), pp. 17, 25-26; Marty Beyer, “Recognizing the Child in the Delinquent,” Kentucky Child Rights Journal, vol. 7 (Summer 1999), pp. 16-17.

[60] See Thomas Grisso, “What We Know About Youth’s Capacities,” in Thomas Grisso and Robert G. Schwartz, eds., Youth on Trial: A Developmental Perspective on Juvenile Justice (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), pp. 267-69 (reviewing literature on effects of emotion on children’s cognitive capacities).

[61] See, for example, Kim Taylor-Thompson, “States of Mind/States of Development,” Stanford Law and Policy Review, vol. 14 (2003), p. 155, fn. 107-108 (reviewing research on effects of stress on juvenile decision-making) (“States of Mind/States of Development”).

[62] Elizabeth Cauffman and Laurence Steinberg,“(Im)maturity of Judgment in Adolescence: Why Adolescents May Be Less Culpable Than Adults,” Behavioral Sciences and the Law, vol. 18 (2000), p. 741; see also Laurence Steinberg, Elizabeth Cauffman, et al., “Age Differences in Sensation-Seeking and Impulsivity as Indexed by Behavior and Self-Report: Evidence for a Dual Systems Model,” Developmental Psychology, vol. 44 (2008), pp. 1764-1778; and M. Gardner and Laurence Steinberg, “Peer Influence on Risk Taking, Risk Preference, and Risky Decision making in Adolescence and Adulthood: An Experimental Study,” Developmental Psychology, vol. 41 (2005), pp.625-635.

[63] See, for example, Jeffrey Arnett, “Reckless Behavior in Adolescence: A Developmental Perspective,” Developmental Review, vol. 12 (1992), p. 339; Charles E. Irwin, Jr., “Adolescence and Risk Taking: How are They Related?” in Nancy J. Bell and Robert J. Bell, eds., Adolescent Risk Taking (Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, January 1993), p. 7.

[64] See, for example, Jay N. Giedd et al., “Brain Development During Childhood and Adolescence: A Longitudinal MRI Study,” Nature Neuroscience, vol. 2 (1999), p. 861 (discussing an MRI study of the brains of 145 children, images taken up to five times per child over ten years); Kenneth K. Kwong, et al., “Dynamic Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Human Brain Activity During Primary Sensory Stimulation,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, vol. 89 (1992), p. 5675.

[65]Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551, 570 (2005).

[66] The malleability of a youth’s brain development suggests that young people through their twenties may be especially capable of change as they grow older and attain adult levels of development. Laurence Steinberg et al., “The Study of Developmental Psychopathology in Adolescence: Integrating Affective Neuroscience with the Study of Context,” in Dante Cicchetti and Donald Cohen, eds., Developmental Psychopathology (Oxford: John Wiley & Sons, 2006), p. 727.

[67]Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551, 570 (2005).

[68] Ibid.

[69] J.V. Becker, “What we know about the characteristics and treatment of adolescents who have committed sexual offenses,” Child Maltreatment, vol. 3 (1998), pp. 317-329.

[70] Franklin E. Zimring, An American travesty: Legal responses to adolescent sexual offending (Chicago: University of Chicago Press 2004).

[71] David Finkelhor, Richard Ormrod, and Mark Chaffin, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, “Juveniles Who Commit Sex Offenses Against Minors,” December 2009 (citing Letourneau and Miner, 2005), https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/227763.pdf (accessed March 21, 2013), p. 3.

[72] Zimring, An American travesty: Legal responses to adolescent sexual offending (citing M.F. Caldwell, 2002);“What we do not know about juvenile sexual reoffense risk,” Child Maltreatment, vol. 7, pp. 291-203 (concluding, based on criminal justice cohorts analyzed by Franklin E. Zimring, that “more than nine out of ten times the arrest of a juvenile sex offender is a one-time event, even if the same offender may be apprehended in the future for the same mix of non-sexual offenses that is typical of other juvenile delinquents.”).

[73] David Finkelhor, Richard Ormrod, and Mark Chaffin, “Juveniles Who Commit Sex Offenses Against Minors,” p. 3.

74 Ibid.

[75] M. Chaffin, “Our minds are made up—don’t confuse us with the facts: Commentary on policies concerning children with sexual behavior problems and juvenile sex offenders,” Child Maltreatment, vol. 13 (2008), pp. 110-121—citing studies including but not limited to: M.F. Caldwell, “Sexual offense adjudication and sexual recidivism among juvenile offenders,” Sexual Abuse: A Journal ofResearch and Treatment, vol. 19 (2007), pp.107-113; M.F. Caldwell, “What we do not know about juvenile sexual reoffense risk,” Child Maltreatment, vol. 7 (2002), pp. 291-302; M. Carpentier, J.F. Silovsky, and M. Chaffin, “Randomized trial of treatment for children with sexual behavior problems: Ten-year follow-up,” Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, vol. 74 (2006), pp. 482-488; M. Chaffin et al., Report of the ATSA Task Force onChildren with Sexual Behavior Problems (Beaverton, OR: Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers, 2006); M. Chaffin and B. Bonner, “Don’t shoot, we’re your children: Have we gone too far in our treatment of adolescent sexual abusers and children with sexual behavior problems,” Child Maltreatment, vol. 3 (1998), pp. 314-316; J.A. Hunter et al., “Juvenile sex offenders: Toward the development of a typology,” Sexual Abuse: Journal of Research & Treatment, vol. 15 (2003), pp. 27-48; A.E. Kazdin and J.R. Weisz, “Identifying and developing empirically supported child and adolescent treatments,” Journalof Consulting and Clinical Psychology, vol. 66 (1998), pp. 19-36; E. Letourneau and M. Miner, “Juvenile sex offenders: The case against legal and clinical status quo,” Sexual Abuse: AJournal of Research and Treatment, vol. 17 (2005), pp. 293-312; R.E. Longo and D.S. Prescott, Current perspectives: Workingwith sexually aggressive youth and children with sexual behavior problems (Holyoke, MA: NEARI Press, 2006); J.K. Marques et al., “Effects of a relapse prevention program on sexual recidivism: Final results from California’s Sex Offender Treatment and Evaluation Project (SOTEP),” SexAbuse: Journal of Research and Treatment, vol. 17 (2005), pp. 79-107; W. Marshall et al., “Early onset and deviant sexuality in child molesters,” Journal of InterpersonalViolence, vol. 6 (1991), pp. 323-335; R. Martinez, J. Flores, and B. Rosenfeld, “Validity of the Juvenile Sex Offender Assessment Protocol–II (JSOAP-II) in a sample of urban minority youth,” Criminal Justice and Behavior, vol. 34 (2007), pp. 1284-1295 M.J. O’Brien and W. Bera, “Adolescent sexual offenders: A descriptive typology,” Newsletter of the National Family LifeEducation Network, vol. 1 (1986), pp. 1-5; D. David Finkelhor, Richard Ormrod, and Mark Chaffin, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, “Juveniles Who Commit Sex Offenses Against Minors”; G.A. Parks and D.E. Bard, “Risk factors for adolescent sex offender recidivism: Evaluation of predictive factors and comparison of three groups based upon victim type risk factors for adolescent sex,” Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, vol. 18 (2006), pp. 319-342; A.R. Piquero, T.E. Moffitt, and B.E. Wright, “Self-control and criminal career dimensions,” Journal of Contemporary CriminalJustice, vol. 23 (2007), pp. 72-89; R. Prentky et al., “Risk management of sexually abusive youth: A follow-up study,” Justice Resource Institute, 2002.

[76] M. Chaffin, “Our minds are made up—don’t confuse us with the facts: Commentary on policies concerning children with sexual behavior problems and juvenile sex offenders,” Child Maltreatment, vol. 13 (2008), pp.110-121.

[77] David Finkelhor, Richard Ormrod, and Mark Chaffin, “Juveniles Who Commit Sex Offenses Against Minors.”

[78] Finkelhor, Ormrod, and Chaffin, “Juveniles Who Commit Sex Offenses Against Minors,” citing I. Lambie et al., “Resiliency in the victim-offender cycle in male sexual abuse,” Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, vol. 14 (2002), pp. 31–48; C.S. Widom and M.A. Ames, “Criminal consequences of childhood sexual victimization,” Child Abuse and Neglect, vol. 18 (1994), pp. 303–318.

[79] Franklin E. Zimring, An American travesty: Legal Responses to Adolescent Sexual Offending (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004).

[80] Michael Caldwell, “Study Characteristics and Recidivism Base Rates in Juvenile Sex Offender Recidivism,” International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, vol. 54 (2010), pp. 197-212.

[81] Ibid., p. 207; Franklin E. Zimring et al., “The Predictive Power of Juvenile Sex Offending: Evidence from the Second Philadelphia Birth Cohort Study,” December 2006, http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=995918 (accessed November 30, 2011); see also Margaret A. Alexander, “Sexual Offender Treatment Efficacy Revisited,” Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, vol. 11 (1999), pp. 101-116.

[82] Franklin E. Zimring et al., “The Predictive Power of Juvenile Sex Offending: Evidence from the Second Philadelphia Birth Cohort Study,” June 21, 2007, http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=995918 (accessed November 30, 2011) (some believe that studies report low sex re-offense rates because they sample offenders who commit minor, non-violent offenses; in this study, however, 77 percent of the youth had been convicted of violent sexual offenses.)

[83] Michael Caldwell, “Sexual Offense Adjudication and Recidivism Among Juvenile Offenders,” Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, vol. 19 (2007), pp. 107-113; Donna Vandiver, “A Prospective Analysis of Juvenile Male Sex Offenders: Characteristics and Recidivism Rates as Adults,” Journal of Interpersonal Violence, vol. 21 (2006), pp. 673-688; E.J. Letourneau et al., “Do sex offender registration and notification requirements deter juvenile sex crimes?” Criminal Justice and Behavior, vol. 37 (2010), pp. 553-569. See also Finkelhor, Ormrod, and Chaffin, “Juveniles Who Commit Sex Offenses Against Minors,” https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/227763, p.3 (noting that “multiple short and long-term clinical followup studies of juvenile sex offenders consistently demonstrate that a large majority (about 85-95 percent) of sex offending youth have no arrests or reports for future sex crimes.”).

[84] Caldwell, “Study characteristics and recidivism base rates in juvenile sex offender recidivism,” International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, pp. 197-212.

[85] R. Karl Hanson and Monique T. Bussiere, “Predicting Relapse: A Meta-Analysis of Sexual Offender Recidivism Studies,” Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, vol. 66(1998), pp.348-362.

[86] Pew Center on the States, “State of Recidivism: The Revolving Door of America’s Prisons,” April 2011, http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/news_room_detail.aspx?id=85899358615 (accessed November 30, 2011). The 40 percent recidivism rate applies to prison inmates released in 1999 who returned to prison within three years due to a new criminal conviction or for violating conditions of release.

[87] Franklin E. Zimring et al., “The Predictive Power of Juvenile Sex Offending: Evidence from the Second Philadelphia Birth Cohort Study,” June 21, 2007, http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=995918 (accessed March 21, 2013).

[88] David Finkelhor, Richard Ormrod, and Mark Chaffin, “Juveniles Who Commit Sex Offenses Against Minors,” p.3 (citing Alexander, 1999; Caldwell, 2002; Reitzel and Carbonell, 2007).

[89] Franklin Zimring, “The Wages of Ignorance,” University of California, Berkeley School of Law, July 30, 2009, p. 12.

[90] Devon Adams, Bureau of Justice Statistics, “Summary of State Sex Offender Registries, 2001,” March 1, 2002, http://bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/sssor01.pdf (accessed April19, 2013).

[91] “Number of Registered Sex Offender in the US Nears Three-Quarters of a Million,” National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) press release, January 23, 2012. NCMEC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization established in 1984, authorized by Congress and working in partnership with the US Department of Justice. It is a public-private partnership, funded in part by Congress and in part by the private sector, which has operated under Congressional authority as the national resource center and clearinghouse on missing and exploited children. NCMEC created the survey in 2006, following the enactment of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act in July of that year. Each year since the survey was created, NCMEC contacts the sex offender registry in each state as well as registries located in the District of Columbia and five US territories (Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands). The US Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, and St. Croix maintain separate sex offender registries, bringing the total number of registries surveyed to 57. NCMEC has conducted 13 sex offender register surveys since 2006, and they were performed quarterly until 2009. Since then, they have been done twice each year.

[92] Of these interviews, 281 were with the individuals themselves; 15 were conducted with family members of registrants.

[93] Since Human Rights Watch was seeking individuals willing to speak about the impact registration has had on their lives, it is impossible to know how those interviewed are similar or different from other registrants. Demographic information provided here is not generalizable to a larger population; it merely represents the experiences of the 296 individuals whose cases were examined in this report.

[94] Quyen Nguyen, Nicole Pittman, and Kirsten Rønholt, “Executive Report: A Snapshot of Juvenile Sex Offender Registration and Notification Laws,” Pennsylvania Juvenile Defenders, July 27, 2011, http://www.pajuvdefenders.org/file/snapshot.pdf. (These figures were clarified by the Delaware Public Defender Juvenile Chief, Lisa Minutola, in July 2011).

[95] Ibid. (citing David A. Garcia, “Juveniles crowd Michigan Sex Offender Registry: More than 3,500 teen and pre-teen sex offenders on state list,” The Michigan Messenger, February 10, 2010).

[96] Ibid. (citing Valerie Anderson, “Application of Mandatory Registration and Notification Laws to Juvenile Sex Offenders,” unpublished manuscript, March 26, 2010).

[97] Finkelhor, Ormrod, and Chaffin, “Juveniles Who Commit Sex Offenses Against Minors,” https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/227763.pdf.

[98] The Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) is Section 111 of the Adam Walsh Act Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, codified at 42 U.S.C. §16911.

[99] 42 U.S.C.S. § 16911(8) (Lexis Nexis 2011).

[100] 42 U.S.C.S. § 16911(5)(A)(i) (Lexis Nexis 2011).

[101] 42 U.S.C.S. § 16911(7)(F)-(I) (Lexis Nexis 2011).

[102] 42 U.S.C.S. § 16911(8)(Lexis Nexis 2011).

[103] KANSAS STAT. ANN. § 22-4906(h)(1) (2011).

[104] ARK. CODE ANN. § 9-27-356(b)(1) (2011).

[105] MD. CODE ANN., CRIM. PROC. § 11-704.1(b)(1).

[106] Claire Luna, “3 Guilty of Sexual Assault in O.C. Gang-Rape Retrial,” Los Angeles Times, March 24, 2005, http://articles.latimes.com/2005/mar/24/local/me-haidl24 (accessed March 21, 2013).

[107] Human Rights Watch interview with Mason T., Pinehurst, Texas, April 27, 2012.

[108] Human Rights Watch telephone interview with Sheila F., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, September 28, 2012.

[109] Riley Yates, “Bethlehem Teen Sentenced for Rapes,” Morning Call, March 3, 2010, http://articles.mcall.com/2010-03-03/news/all-a7_3gonzalez2.71939672mar03_1_unstable-childhood-giordano-assaulting (accessed March 21, 2013).

[110] Human Rights Watch telephone interview with C.C., Utah, February 21, 2012; State ex rel. Z.C., 2007 UT 54, 165 P.3d 1206 (2007). In 2011, the conviction requiring the young girl to register was reversed when the Utah Supreme Court concluded that while the children violated this particular law as it is worded, the law was not intended to apply to such cases.

[111] In the Matter of Registrant T.T., 188 N.J. 321 (N.J. 2006): Application for Judicial Review of Notification (A-58-2005) NJ Appellate Division (2005).

[112] Ibid.

[113] Human Rights Watch interview with attorneys for Stella A., Southern Center for Human Rights, Atlanta, Georgia, March 3, 2012; Whitaker v. State, 283 Ga. 521 (Ga. 2008).

[114] Some individuals were convicted of multiple offenses in the same case, while others were convicted of crimes over a period of years. If an individual was convicted of multiple counts of the same crime, this was labeled as a “single conviction (multiple counts).” If there were two convictions with different codes, these were coded as separate offense categories.

[115] H.E. Barbaree, W.L. Marshall, and S.M. Hudson, eds., The Juvenile Sex Offender (New York: The Guilford Press, 1993).

[116] Ibid.

[117] Ibid.

[118] B. Rind, P. Tromovitch, and R. Bauserman, “A Meta-Analytic Examination of Assumed Properties of Child Sexual Abuse Using College Samples,” Psychological Bulletin, vol. 124, no. 1 (1998), http://digilib.bc.edu/reserves/sc563/mcgu/sc56310.pdf (accessed March 21, 2013), pp. 22–53.

[119] Barbaree, Marshall, and Hudson, The Juvenile Sex Offender.

[120] Ibid.

[121] Human Rights Watch interview with Alexander D., Muskegon, Michigan, March 22, 2012.

[122] Lee Higgins, “Young Pittsfield Township man struggles with the sex offender label,” AnnArbor.com, December 18, 2009, http://www.annarbor.com/news/a-young-man-struggles-with-the-sex-offender-label/ (accessed March 21, 2013).

[123] Human Rights Watch interview with Alexander D., March 22, 2012.

[124] Human Rights Watch interview with Bert Oram, attorney, Tallahassee, Florida, July 2009.

[125] Human Rights Watch interview with Grayson A., Panama City Beach, Florida, May 3, 2012.

[126] Bill Kaczor, “Crist delays decision on Florida ‘Romeo and Juliet’ Case,” South Florida Sun-Sentinel, June 11, 2009, http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/sfl-romeo-juliet-sex-offender-061009,0,1939750.story (accessed March 5, 2013).

[127] Human Rights Watch interview with Bert Oram, July 2009.

[128] Opinion Staff, “Sex Offender No More,” The Palm Beach Post, August 3, 2009, http://blogs.palmbeachpost.com/opinionzone/2009/08/03/sex-offender-no-more/ (accessed April 19, 2013).

[129] Finkelhor, Ormrod, and Chaffin, “Juveniles Who Commit Sex Offenses Against Minors,” https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/227763.pdf (citing “Using the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) to Investigate Juvenile Sex Offenders”).

[130] Human Rights Watch telephone interview with Nicholas T., August 26, 2012.

[131] The National Sex Offender Public Website (NSOPW), located at www.nsopw.gov, was created by the US Department of Justice in 2005. The NSOPW works like a search engine by pulling information that is placed by states and local jurisdictions on their own public websites; it does not independently verify that information. US Department of Justice, Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering and Tracking (SMART), “Sex Offender Registration and Notification in the United States: Current Case Law and Issues,” July 2012.

[132] To the best of our knowledge, it appears that seven states (Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Nevada, Tennessee, and Wyoming) changed their laws between 2007 and 2012 to require that children be subjected to community notification via the internet. In December 2012, Pennsylvania enacted SORNA and included children on the registry for the first time; however, the new law does not require children to be posted on the web.

[133] Maggie Jones, “How Can You Distinguish a Budding Pedophile From a Kid With Real Boundary Problems?” New York Times Magazine, July 22, 2007 (interviewing Brenda V. Smith, author of Breaking the Code of Silence: A Correction Officer's Handbook on Identifying and Addressing Staff Sexual Misconduct with Offenders, US Department of Justice, National Institute of Corrections Project on Addressing Prison Rape, DC (June 2007)).

[134] 76 F.R. 1632. Official Public Comments to the National Guidelines for Sex Offender Registration and Notification, 73 Fed. Reg. 38030, July 2, 2008, https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2011/01/11/2011-505/supplemental-guidelines-for-sex-offender-registration-and-notification#h-9 (accessed March 21, 2013). Several comments focused on how, as a society, Americans generally refuse to punish the nation’s youth as harshly as they do other adults, or to hold them to the same level of culpability as people who are older and more mature. The avowed priority of the US juvenile justice system (in theory if not always in practice) has, historically, been rehabilitation rather than retribution. Juvenile proceedings by and large take place away from the public eye, and delinquency adjudications do not become part of a young person’s permanent criminal record.

[135] 42 U.S.C. §16901 (2006), et seq. All United States Code references are current as of December 2012. Two sets of guidelines have been issued to assist in the implementation of SORNA. The National Guidelines for Sex Offender Registration and Notification, 73 Fed. Reg. 38030 (July 2, 2008) [hereinafter Final Guidelines], and the Supplemental Guidelines for Sex Offender Registration and Notification, 76 Fed. Reg. 1630 (Jan. 11, 2011) [hereinafter Supplemental Guidelines]. SORNA’s minimum standards require that jurisdictions register juveniles who were at least 14 years old at the time of the offense and who have been adjudicated delinquent for committing (or attempting or conspiring to commit) a sexual act with another by force, by the threat of serious violence, or by rendering unconscious or drugging the victim. “Sexual Act” is defined in 18 U.S.C. §2246. The Supplemental Guidelines for Sex Offender Registration and Notification give jurisdictions full discretion over whether they will post information about juveniles adjudicated delinquent of sex offenses on their public registry website. Supplemental Guidelines, supra note 6 at 1636-37.

[136] United States Governmental Accountability Office, GAO-13-211 Report on the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act to the US House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security, February 2013.

[137] Quyen Nguyen, Nicole Pittman, and Kirsten Rønholt, “Executive Report: A Snapshot of Juvenile Sex Offender Registration and Notification Laws,” Pennsylvania Juvenile Defenders, July 27, 2011, http://www.pajuvdefenders.org/file/snapshot.pdf (accessed March 21, 2013), pp. 44-53.

[138] Ibid.

[139] Ibid.

[140] Human Rights Watch telephone interview with Nicholas T., August 26, 2012.

[141]  Ibid.

[142] Human Rights Watch interview with Bruce W., Texas, May 1, 2012.

[143] Human Rights Watch telephone interview with Mary S., February 22, 2012.

[144] A disclaimer on the HomeFacts website states, “No representation is made that the person listed here is currently on the state’s offenders registry…. Owners of Homefacts.com assume no responsibility (and expressly disclaim responsibility) for updating this site to keep information current or to ensure the accuracy or completeness of any posted information.” HomeFacts, http://www.homefacts.com/offenders.html (accessed March 21, 2013).

[145] See HomeFacts “Terms of Use,” http://www.homefacts.com/termsofuse.html (accessed March 21, 2013).

[146] See, for example, Offendex home page, http://offenders.offendex.com/ (accessed March 21, 2013).

[147] Human Rights Watch interview with Maya R., Howell, Michigan, February 2, 2012; at the time of the offense, second-degree criminal sexual conduct was defined as indecent exposure such as public urination, public nudity (flashing breasts etc.), and lewd behavior in public and a violation of Mich. Crim. Laws § 750.520c(1)(b).

[148] Human Rights Watch interview with Maya R., March 18, 2013.

[149] Ibid.; see Katie Walmsley, “NJ Case Raises Questions About Meghan’s Laws ,” ABC News, July 27, 2011,  http://abcnews.go.com/US/nj-case-raises-questions-meghans-laws/story?id=14171897 (accessed March 21, 2013).

[150] Human Rights Watch interview with Maya R., March 18, 2013.

[151] Ibid.

[152] Ibid.

[153] Michigan Compiled Laws (MCL) § 28.721, et seq. describes confidentiality; exemption from disclosure of juvenile offenders.

[154] See MCL 28.728(2) and In re Ayres , 239 Mich App 8, 12 (1999).

[155] See MCL 28.728(2) and In re Ayres, 239 Mich App 8, 12 (1999).

[156] Human Rights Watch interview with Maya R., March 18, 2013.

[157] Ibid.

[158] Ibid.

[159] Ibid.

[160] Human Rights Watch interview with Maya R., March 18, 2013.

[161] Richard Tewksbury, “Collateral consequences of sex offender registration,” Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, vol. 21 (2005), pp. 82-90; see, for example Cal. Penal Code §3003.5 (2012); Idaho Code § 18-8329 (2012); 57 Okla. Stat. §590  (2012).

[162] Paul A. Zandbergen, Jill S. Levenson, and Timothy C. Hart, “Residential proximity to schools and daycares: An empirical analysis of sex offense recidivism,” Criminal Justice & Behavior, vol. 37, no. 5 (May 2010).

[163] Richard Tewksbury and Wesley G. Jennings, “Assessing the Impact of Sex Offender Registration and Community Notification on Sex Offending Trajectories,” Criminal Justice and Behavior, vol. 37, no. 5 (2010), pp. 577-580 (comparing the number of charges filed for sex offenses with minor victims in the 12 months prior to the enforcement of the Iowa residency restriction with the number of charges filed within 24 months after implementation. No reduction in sex crime rates was detected; in fact, follow-up revealed that the number of charges steadily increased each year. Furthermore, when the distances to places where children commonly congregate were considered along with other risk factors, proximity was not a significant predictor of recidivism among registrants.); Paul A. Zandbergen and Timothy C. Hart, “Geocoding accuracy considerations in determining residency restrictions for sex offenders,” Criminal Justice Policy Review, vol. 20, no. 1 (March 2009), pp. 62-90 (concluding that individuals in Florida on the sex offender registry who lived closer to schools and daycares were not more likely to reoffend, and living father from schools and daycares did not diminish the probability of sexual reoffending); Zandbergen, Levenson, and Hart, “Residential proximity to schools and daycares: An empirical analysis of sex offense recidivism,” Criminal Justice & Behavior (examining whether a broader local buffer zone was more effective in protecting children than the state’s 1,000-foot restriction. The authors of the study were unable to find evidence that a larger buffer zone of 1,500 or 2,000 feet was more effective in protecting children than the state’s 1,000-foot restriction.).

[164] J.L. Schulenberg, “Predicting noncompliant behavior: Disparities in the social locations of male and female probationers,” Justice Research and Policy, vol. 9, no. 1 (2007), pp.25-57; G.M. Willis and R.C. Grace, “Assessment of community reintegration planning for sex offenders: Poor planning predicts recidivism,” Criminal Justice and Behavior, vol. 36 (2009), pp. 494-512; P.A. Zandbergen and T.C. Hart, “Reducing housing options for convicted sex offenders: Investigating the impact of residency restriction laws using GIS,” Justice Research and Policy, vol. 8, no. 2 (2006), pp. 1-24; Zandbergen et al., “Residential proximity to schools and daycares: An empirical analysis of sex offense recidivism,” Criminal Justice & Behavior, vol. 37, no. 5 (2010).

[165] According to the Justice Department, 93 percent of sexually abused children are molested by family members, close friends, or acquaintances. US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, “Sexual Assault of Young Children as Reported to Law Enforcement: Victim, Incident, and Offender Characteristics (No. NCJ 182990),” 2000.

[166] Peter Whoriskey, “Some Curbs on Sex Offenders Called Ineffective, Inhumane,” Washington Post, November 22, 2006, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/21/AR2006112101468_pf.html# (accessed March 21, 2013).

[167] Ibid.

[168]A recent study in three states, including Florida, has shown that most citizens live within 2,500 feet of a school, park, daycare, or bus stop, and therefore as distance buffers grow, compliant housing for individuals on registries becomes harder to find. Preliminary data from Broward County, Florida illustrated that cities with larger buffer zones had significantly lower numbers of compliant dwellings. Broward Sex Offender & Sexual Predator residence Task Force Report, July 2009. See also “Final Report: Broward Sex Offender & Sexual Predator Residence Task Force Report,” July 2, 2009, http://www.ovsom.texas.gov/docs/FL-Residence-Task-Forc-%20Final-Report-August-2009.pdf (accessed April 23, 2013), p. 26 (These facts raised concern for Broward county commissioners because in the State of Florida, registrants who cannot find housing may be forced to register as “transient” or “homeless.”). In 2009 Broward County Commissioners appointed a task force in an effort to research and anticipate the possible outcomes of increased residency restrictions. The task force, made up of various stakeholders in the community, held differing views and perspectives. However, they agreed on two issues: “that children need to be protected from sexual abuse, and that a public policy should not cause any human being—even a sex criminal—to face homelessness.” The task force made clear in their report that their findings and conclusions were not motivated by sympathy for “sex offenders or a lack of concern for children.” They stated that their main objective was simply to inform the development of effective strategies to better protect communities from the threat of sexual violence.

[169] In re Registrant J.G ., 169 N.J. 304, (2001).

[170] Human Rights Watch interview with Gabriel P., Bryan, Texas, May 2, 2012.

[171] Human Rights Watch interview with Diego G. , Houston, Texas, May 2, 2012; and telephone interview, January 5, 2013.

[172] Human Rights Watch interview with Nolan L., Ypsilanti, Michigan, April 2, 2012. 

[173]Smith v. Doe, 538 U.S. 84, 84 (2003) Brief for Office of the Public Defender for the State of New Jersey et al. as Amici Curiae 7-21; Citing E.B. v. Verniero, 119 F.3d 1077 (3d Cir.1997).

[174]  M. Chaffin and B. Bonner, “Don’t shoot, we’re your children: Have we gone too far in our response to adolescent sexual abusers and children with sexual behavior problems?” Child Maltreatment , vol. 3, no. 4 (1998), pp. 314–316.

[175] See Franklin E. Zimring and et al., “Sexual Delinquency in Racine: Does Early Sex Offending Predict Later Sex Offending in Youth and Young Adulthood?” Criminology and Public Policy, vol. 6, no.3 (2007), pp. 507-534.

[176] See note, “Shame, Stigma, and Crime: Evaluating the Efficacy of Shaming Sanctions in Criminal Law,” Harvard Law Review, vol. 116, no. 7 (May 2003), pp. 2186-2207.

[177] Human Rights Watch telephone interview with Christian W., June 2, 2012.

[178] Human Rights Watch interview with Jocelyn K., Dover, Delaware, June 3, 2012.

[179] Human Rights Watch interview with mother of Chase V., Florida, May 27, 2012.

[180] Human Rights Watch interview with Joshua Gravens, Dallas, Texas, April 29, 2012.

[181] Human Rights Watch interview with Elijah B., Houston, Texas, April 28, 2012.

[182] Human Rights Watch interview with Austin S., Denham Springs, Louisiana, March 2012.

[183]Smith v. Doe, 538 U.S. 84, 84 (2003) Brief for Office of the Public Defender for the State of New Jersey et al. as Amici Curiae 7-21; citing Otte, 259 F.3d at 987.

[184] Human Rights Watch interviews with Grace N., grandmother of Dominic G., San Antonio, Texas, November 23, 2012; and with Dominic G., San Antonio, Texas, November 23, 2012.

[185] Human Rights Watch interview with Elijah B, April 28, 2012.

[186] See Mark W. Fraser, “Aggressive Behavior in Childhood and Early Adolescence: an Ecological-Developmental Perspective on Youth Violence,” Social Work, vol. 347 (July 1, 1996).

[187] See Abigail Goldman, “Young, But ‘Predators’ for Life: New Sex Offender Laws, Meant to Protect, May Instead Ruin Lives and Increase Risks,” The Las Vegas Sun, January 6, 2008, http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/jan/06/young-but-predators-for-life/ (accessed April 22, 2013).

[188] Human Rights Watch interview with Reginald W., Mount Pleasant, New Jersey, February 2, 2012.

[189] Human Rights Watch interview with Jayden C., Baton Rouge, Louisiana, February 25, 2012.

[190] Human Rights Watch interview with Gavin R. , Grand Rapids , Michigan, April 3, 2012.

[191] Human Rights Watch interview with Elizabeth M., mother of Noah M., Flint, Michigan, April 1, 2012.

[192] Human Rights Watch interview with Julia L., mother of Nathan L. (who is deceased), Grand Rapids, MI, March 3, 2012.

[193] Human Rights Watch interview with Patricia E., mother of Carson E. (who is deceased), Lacey, Washington, April 26, 2012.

[194] Human Rights Watch interviews with Grace N., grandmother of Dominic G., San Antonio, Texas, November 23, 2012; and with Dominic G., San Antonio, Texas, November 23, 2012.

[195] Human Rights Watch interview with Dominic G., November 23, 2012.

[196] The Texas Code of Criminal Procedure permits a judge to impose any reasonable condition that is designed to protect or restore the community, protect or restore the victim, or punish, rehabilitate, or reform an offender. Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 42.12 § 11(a) (Supp. 2008).

[197] Human Rights Watch Interview with Grace N., grandmother of Dominic G., January 31, 2013.

[198] Ibid.

[199] Ibid.

[200] Ibid.

[201] Human Rights Watch interview with Isaac E., Spokane, Washington, August 27, 2012. Human Rights Watch visited the Washington State Sex Offender Registry in December 2011 to verify the difficulty in determining how old a registrant was at the time of conviction or adjudication. Similar difficulty was experienced on other state registries, such as the Ohio State Sex Offender Registry, available at: http://www.drc.state.oh.us/OffenderSearch/Search.aspx (accessed April 23, 2013).

[202] Human Rights Watch interview with Isaac E., August 27, 2012.

[203] Human Rights Watch interview with Bruce W., Texas, May 1, 2012.

[204] Human Rights Watch Interview with Camilo F., Florida, June 2012.

[205] Ibid.

[206] Human Rights Watch Interview with Patricia E., mother of Carson E. (who is deceased), April 2012.

[207] Human Rights Watch interview with the mother of Zachary S., Dallas, Texas, April 28, 2012.

[208] Human Rights Watch interview with Terrance W., Missouri, July 2012.

[209] Human Rights Watch interview with Molly K., Dover, Delaware, August 2012.

[210] Human Rights Watch interview with Joshua Gravens and his wife, Dallas, Texas, April 27, 2012

[211] Mary A. Farkas and Gale Miller, “Reentry and Reintegration: Challenges Faced by the Families of Convicted Sex Offenders,” Federal Sentencing Reporter, vol. 20, no. 2 (December 2007), pp.88-92; Jill Levenson and Richard Tewksbury, “Collateral damage: Family members of registered sex offenders,” American Journal of Criminal Justice, vol. 34 (June 2009), pp. 54-68; Richard Tewksbury and Jill S. Levenson, “Stress Experiences of Family Members of Registered Sex Offenders,” Behavioral Sciences and the Law, vol. 27, no. 4 (2009), pp. 611-626. Researchers Levenson and Tewskbury found several common themes, including: 86 percent of family members reported that registration has caused stress in their lives; 77 percent often felt a sense of isolation; 49 percent often felt afraid for their own safety due to public disclosure of the sex offender’s status; 50 percent reported a loss of friend or a close relationship as a result of community notification; 66 percent said that shame and embarrassment often kept them from engaging in community activities. Levenson and Tewskbury, “Collateral Damage: Family members of registered sex offenders,” American Journal of Criminal Justice.

[212] Ashley Nellis and Richard Hooks Wayman, The Sentencing Project, “Back on Track: Supporting Youth Reentry From Out-of-Home Placement to the Community,” 2009, http://www.sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/CC_youthreentryfall09report.pdf (accessed March 21, 2013).

[213] Ibid.

[214] See Emanuella Grinberg, “Mothers of sex offenders share responsibility, burden of label,” CNN, May 12, 2012 (“‘Moms often feel terrible that they didn’t recognize the signs sooner or weren’t able to provide a better environment for their kids to prevent whatever offense occurred,’ said Prescott, former president of the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers and current clinical director of the Becket Programs of Maine, which provide treatment for troubled youth in Maine and New Hampshire.”).

[215] Email communication from Luna L. to Human Rights Watch, September 29, 2012.

[216] Human Rights Watch interview with Ignacio P., brother of Fernando P., Grand Rapids, Michigan, April 1, 2012.

217 Human Rights Watch interview with Julián C., Duval County, Florida, May 26, 2012.

[218] Human Rights Watch interview with Sebastian S., Laredo, Texas, February 13, 2012; email correspondence and telephone conversation with Sebastian S., June 12, 2012.

[219] Human Rights Watch interview with Phillip R., New Castle, Delaware, February 12, 2012.

[220] Human Rights Watch interview with Karen S., Everett, Washington, February 26, 2012.

[221] Human rights Watch interview with Jackson D., Garland, Texas, May 2, 2012.

[222] J.S. Levenson and R. Tewskbury, “Collateral Damage: Family members of registered sex offenders,” American Journal of Criminal Justice, vol. 34 (June 2009), pp. 54-68.

[223] Richard Tewskbury and Travis Humkey, “Prohibiting Registered Sex Offenders from Being at School: Assessing the Collateral Consequences of a Public Policy,” Justice Policy Journal, vol. 7, no. 2 (Fall 2010). The study examined the effects of a Kentucky law (KRS 17.545.2) requiring a registered sex offender parent to obtain written permission in order to be on their child’s school grounds for any event. Events requiring permission include but are not limited to: attending a parent/teacher conference, attending a play or concert in which the student is involved, attending a graduation ceremony, attending a sporting event in which the student is participating, and attending a “bring your parent to school day.”

[224]Smith v. Doe, 538 U.S. 84 (U.S. 2003), Amicus Brief of the Office of the Public Defender for the State of New Jersey, the Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers of New Jersey, and the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey; DOC 178.pg.23 (a teenage girl in Texas shot herself to death after her father’s photo appeared on Internet registry, embarrassing her at school); (Amici have lodged with the Court a number of affidavits, newspaper articles, and other materials that shed light on the experiences of the offenders subject to these laws and other issues relevant to this case. The materials lodged under seal are designated as “PD __”; those not under seal are cited “DOC __.”)

[225] Human Rights Watch interview with Hunter E., Delran, New Jersey, July 30, 2012.

[226] Human Rights Watch interview with Mark O. and his family, Grand Rapids, Michigan, March 2012.

[227] Ibid.

[228] Human Rights Watch interview with Cindy D., St. Louis, Missouri, July 18, 2012.

[229] Human Rights Watch interview with Jerry M., Wilmington, Delaware, July 28, 2012.

[230] Ibid.

[231] Human Rights Watch correspondence with Sophie L. on the life of a child of a registered sex offender, July 26, 2012.

[232] Richard Tewskbury and Travis Humkey, “Prohibiting Registered Sex Offenders from Being at School: Assessing the Collateral Consequences of a Public Policy.”

[233]Paul A. Zandbergen and Timothy C. Hart, “Reducing housing options for convicted sex offenders: Investigating the impact of residency restriction laws using GIS,” Justice Research and Policy, vol. 8, no. 2 (2006), pp. 1-24.

[234] Paul A. Zandbergen and Timothy C. Hart, “Geocoding accuracy considerations in determining residency restrictions for sex offenders,” Criminal Justice Policy Review, vol. 20, no. 1 (March 2009), pp. 62‐90.

[235] Richard Tewksbury, “Exile at home: The unintended collateral consequences of sex offender residency restrictions,” Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, vol. 42 (2007), pp. 531-541.

[236]Richard G. Zevitz and Mary Ann Farkas, “The impact of sex offender community notification on probation and parole in Wisconsin,” International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, vol. 44, no. 1 (2000), pp. 8-21.

[237] J. C. Barnes, T. Dukes, R. Tewksbury, and T. De Troye, “Predicting the Impact of a Statewide Residence Restriction Law on South Carolina Sex Offenders,” Criminal Justice Policy Review, July 8, 2008.

[238] Abigail Goldman, “Young, But ‘Predators’ for Life: New Sex Offender Laws, Meant to Protect, May Instead Ruin Lives and Increase Risks,” Las Vegas Sun.

[239] Human Rights Watch interview with Aaron I., Palm Beach, Florida, June 1, 2012.

[240] Human Rights Watch interview with Kyle W., San Antonio, Texas, July 5, 2012.

[241] Human Rights Watch interview with Audrey R., Lake County, Florida, May 26, 2012.

[242] Human Rights Watch interview with Luna L. , Duval County, Florida, May 25, 2012.

[243] Human Rights Watch interview with David H., Grand Rapids, Michigan, March 30, 2012.

[244] Ibid.

[245] University of North Carolina Center for Civil Rights, “Juvenile Delinquency Adjudication, Collateral consequences, and Expungement of Juvenile Records: A Survey of Law and Policy in Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida,” 2011, http://www.law.unc.edu/documents/civilrights/centerforcivilrightsexpungementreport.pdf (accessed March 21, 2013). See also Human Rights Watch, No Second Chance: People with Criminal Records Denied Access to Public Housing, November 18, 2004, https://www.hrw.org/reports/2004/11/17/no-second-chance-0.

[246] Human Rights Watch interview with Lucas W., Bartlett, Texas, April 29, 2012.

[247] Human Rights Watch interview with Emma J., wife of Lucas W., Bartlett, Texas, April 29, 2012.

[248] Human Rights Watch email correspondence with Isabella D., former teacher of Lewis A., October 22, 2012.

[249] Ibid.

[250] Human Rights Watch telephone interview and email correspondence with Isabella D., former teacher of Lewis A., in October 2012 and January 2013.

[251] Human Rights Watch telephone interview with Isabella D., former teacher of Lewis A., January 11, 2013.

[252] Ibid.

[253] Ibid.

[254] Human Rights Watch interviews with Blake G., Gainesville, Florida, March 2012 and May 2012.

[255] Connecticut § 53a-70 (a)(2); § 53a-71 (a)(1). Sexual intercourse with a person under age 13 if the actor is more than two years older is categorized as first-degree sexual assault.

[256] Local ordinance 09-019 in Lee County, Florida.

[257] Ibid.

[258] Zandbergen and Hart, “ Reducing housing options for convicted sex offenders: Investigating the impact of residency restriction laws using GIS,” Justice Research and Policy, pp. 1-24.

[259] Human Rights Watch interview with Elijah B., Houston, Texas, April 28, 2012.

[260] Joanna S. Markman, “Community Notification and the Perils of Mandatory Juvenile Sex Offender Registration: The Dangers Faced by Children and their Families,” Seton Hall Legislative Journal, vol. 32 (2007), pp. 261, 285,http://works.bepress.com/joanna_markman/1 (accessed March 21, 2013) (citing Ala. Code § 15-20-21(4)(m) & -23(b)(3) (LexisNexis 1995 & Supp. 2007)).

[261] Alabama Sex Offender Act, sec. 1, 15-20-214(4)(m) and (b)(3); see Joanna S. Markman, “Community Notification and the Perils of Mandatory Juvenile Sex Offender Registration: The Dangers Faced by Children and their Families”; Michele L. Earl Hubbard, “The Child Sex Offender Registration Laws: The Punishment, Liberty Deprivation, and Unintended Results Associated with the Scarlet Letter Laws of the 1990’s,” 90 NW, U.L Rev. 788 (1996), p. 791 (Time limits vary as to when an offender must register when he moves to a different state, as well as the length of time an offender must remain in the registry).

[262] University of North Carolina Center for Civil Rights, “Juvenile Delinquency Adjudication, Collateral Consequences, and Expungement of Juvenile Records: A Survey of law and Policy in Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida”; “Convicted Sex Offender Expelled from Montana High School,” Associated Press, October 31, 2007, http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,306976,00.html#ixzz2O2cMtbt9 (accessed March 21, 2013).

[263]VA. CODE ANN.§22.1-277.2:1; Va. CODE ANN.§16.1-260(G). Under Virginia law, a student can be placed in an alternative education program if the student is found guilty or not innocent of an offense not related to homicide, weapons or firearms possession, felonious assault, criminal sexual assault, possession of controlled substances, arson, burglary, robbery, criminal street gang activity or recruitment, consumption of alcohol, or any crime that resulted in or could have resulted in injury to another.

[264] University of North Carolina Center for Civil Rights, “Juvenile Delinquency Adjudication, Collateral Consequences, and Expungement of Juvenile Records: A Survey of Law and Policy in Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida”; “Convicted Sex Offender Expelled From Montana High School,” Associated Press, October 31, 2007; see also American Bar Association, Juvenile Collateral Consequences Project, “Think before you plead: Juvenile collateral consequences in the United States, ” undated,http://www.beforeyouplea.com/ (accessed April 19, 2013); certain charges brought against a child can result in the school district placing the student in an alternative education program even without an adjudication of delinquency in states such as California (Cal. Educ. Code §§ 48915(d), 48915.01 (2010)), Tennessee (Tennessee State Board of Education, Alternative School Program Standards, http://www.state.tn.us/sbe/aternativeschool.htm), and Virginia (VA. CODE ANN. §22.1-277.2:1).

[265] University of North Carolina Center for Civil Rights, “Juvenile Delinquency Adjudication, Collateral Consequences, and Expungement of Juvenile Records,” p. 6.

[266] Ibid.

[267] Human Rights Watch interview with Liam L., Fulton, Missouri, March 25, 2012.

[268] Human Rights Watch interview with Jackson D., Garland, Texas, May 2, 2012.

[269] University of North Carolina Center for Civil Rights, “Juvenile Delinquency Adjudication, Collateral Consequences, and Expungement of Juvenile Records.”

[270] J.S. Levenson and R. Tewskbury, “Collateral Damage: Family members of registered sex offenders,” American Journal of Criminal Justice, vol. 34 (June 2009), pp. 54-68.

[271] University of North Carolina Center for Civil Rights, “Juvenile Delinquency Adjudication, Collateral Consequences, and Expungement of Juvenile Records.”

[272] Council of State Governments (CSG), “Legislating Sex Offender Management: Trends in State Legislation 2007 and 2008,” 2010, http://www.csg.org/policy/documents/SOMLegislativeReport-FINAL.pdf (accessed April 22, 2013). Most state bills introduced in the 2007 and 2008 sessions dealt with jobs that would bring the offender into contact with children. Recent legislation also sought to prevent sex offenders from being able to obtain or retain certain professional licenses. According to a 2010 survey conducted by the Council for State Governments (CSG), in at least four states—Arizona, California, Hawaii, and Utah—legislators acted to require the revocation or suspension of teaching credentials upon a conviction of certain sexual offenses. California passed a law (CA Senate Bill 252) to deny or revoke dental licenses and massage therapy licenses to convicted sex offenders. Massachusetts now prohibits certain sex offenders from obtaining licenses to drive buses (MA House Bill 4396), while New York targeted real estate licenses (NY Senate Bill 1531).

[273] Council of State Governments (CSG), “Legislating Sex Offender Management: Trends in State Legislation 2007 and 2008,” 2010.

[274] Human Rights Watch interview with Maya R., Howell, Michigan, February 2, 2012.

[275] Ibid.

[276] Human Rights Watch interview with Maya R., Howell, Michigan, March 18, 2013.

[277] Ibid.

[278] Public Acts 17-19 of 2011 amended Michigan’s Sex Offender Registration Act (SORA), effective July 1, 2011.Individuals who were under the age of 14 at the time of their adjudication are not required to register. Anyone currently on the registry must petition the court for removal if not automatically removed.

[279] Human Rights Watch interview with Maya R., March 18, 2013.

[280] Ibid.

[281] Human Rights Watch interview with Elijah B., Houston, Texas, April 28, 2012.

[282] Human Rights Watch interview with Jackson D., Garland, Texas, May 2, 2012

[283] Human Rights Watch interview with Joshua Gravens and his wife, Dallas, Texas, April 27, 2012

[284] Colorado Criminal Code, Section 18-21-103.

[285] California Criminal Code, Chapter 337, Section 18.

[286] New York Penal Law, Article 60, Section 60.35.

[287] Jessica McMaster, “State Sen. Rick Jones Wants Sex Offenders To Pay Annual Fee,” Fox17 News, http://fox17online.com/2013/02/05/state-sen-rick-jones-wants-sex-offenders-to-pay-annual-fee/#ixzz2Qq1qcUUA (accessed April 22, 2013).

[288] Illinois Child Sex Offender Registration Law. 730 ILCS 150/3; Public Act 094-0994 (2007); Frank Main, “Sex offenders file suit to get $100 registration fee waived,” Chicago Sun Times, November 7, 2012, http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/16220825-418/sex-offenders-file-suit-to-get-100-registration-fee-waived.html (accessed March 21, 2013).

[289] New York Penal Law, Article 60, Section 60.35.

[290] Human Rights Watch interview with Lydia B., Killeen, Texas, April 27, 2012.

[291] Human Rights Watch interview with Ethan Ashley, Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana, New Orleans, Louisiana, February 29, 2012.

[292] Human Rights Watch interview with Ethan Ashley, Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana, New Orleans, Louisiana, February 29, 2012.

[293] Ibid.

[294] Alex Cameron, “Risky Business: Registering Juvenile Sex Offenders in Oklahoma,” NewsOn6, Tulsa, Oklahoma, July 12, 2011, http://www.newson6.com/story/15070600/risky-business-registering-juvenile-sex-offenders-in-oklahoma (accessed April 22, 2013).

[295] Ibid.

[296] Ibid. (quoting Dr. Marc Chaffin).

[297] Human Rights Watch email correspondence with Dr. Marc Chaffin, October 12, 2012.

[298] Steve Berg, “Sex offender non-compliance costs Oklahoma federal funds,”KRMG.com, http://www.krmg.com/news/news/local/sex-offender-Oklahoma/nSYZP/ (accessed April 22, 2013).

[299] The range of sentences imposed by states for failure-to-register crimes is discussed in the 2008 Georgia Supreme Court case Bradshaw v. State, 284 Ga. 675 (November 25, 2008), http://statecasefiles.justia.com/documents/georgia/supreme-court/s08a1057.pdf (accessed April 23, 2013).

[300] Human Rights Watch interview with Connor S., Williamson, Texas, March 15, 2012.

[301] Ibid.

[302] In most states, mistake or ignorance of the law is not an affirmative defense to an arrest for failure to register.

[303] Human Rights Watch interview with Gabriel P., Bryan, Texas, October 2012.

[304] Texas Code of Criminal Procedure - Article 42.016. Special Driver's License or Identification Requirements For Certain Sex Offenders.

[305] The legal driving age in Texas is 16 years old. Individuals under age 18 must meet extra requirements to obtain a driver’s license. See Texas Department of Public Safety, “Fast Facts from the DPS,” http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/director_staff/public_information/pr122101.htm (accessed March 21, 2013).

[306] Human Rights Watch interview with Jason Q., Beaumont, Texas, April 27, 2012.

[307] Ibid.

[308] Ibid.

[309] Human Rights Watch interview with Samuel L., Troy, Michigan, April 1, 2012.

[310] Human Rights Watch interview with Bruce W., father of Max B., Weatherford, Texas, May 1, 2012.

[311] Human Rights Watch interview with David H., Grand Rapids, Michigan, March 30, 2012.

[312] Ibid.

[313] Human Rights Watch interview with Luke J., Orlando, Florida, May 26, 2012.

[314] Human Rights Watch interview with Joshua Gravens, Dallas, Texas, April 29, 2012.

[315] Ibid.

[316] La. Rev. State 32:412(I).

[317] Human Rights Watch interview with Jayden C., Baton Rouge, Louisiana, February 25, 2012.

[318] Human Rights Watch telephone interview with Nathaniel H., February 2009.

[319] Washington State Institute for Public Policy, “Sex offender sentencing in Washington State: Failure to Register as a Sex Offender—Revised,” January 2006, http://www.wsipp.wa.gov/rptfiles/06-01-1203a.pdf (accessed April 22, 2013); Grant Duwe and William Donnay, “The effects of failure to register on sex offender recidivism,” Criminal Justice and Behavior, vol. 37, no. 5 (2010), pp. 520-536, http://www.doc.state.mn.us/publications/documents/03-10FailuretoRegisterstudy.pdf (accessed April 22, 2013); Jill Levenson, Elizabeth Letourneau, Kevin Armstrong &Kristen Marie Zgoba, “Failure to register as a sex offender: Is it associated with recidivism?” Justice Quarterly, vol. 27, no. 3 (2010), pp.305-331; Zgoba and Levenson, “Failure to Register as a Predictor of Sex Offense Recidivism: The Big Bad Wolf or a Red Herring?” Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, vol. 24 (2012), pp. 328-349.

[320] Zgoba and Levenson, “Failure to Register as a Predictor of Sex Offense Recidivism: The Big Bad Wolf or a Red Herring?” Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment.

[321] Duwe and Donnay, “The effects of failure to register on sex offender recidivism,” Criminal Justice and Behavior.

[322] Minnesota Department of Corrections, “The Effects of Failure to Register on Sex Offender Recidivism,” March 2010, http://www.doc.state.mn.us/publications/documents/03-10FailuretoRegisterstudy.pdf (accessed March 21 2013).

[323] Washington State Institute for Public Policy, “Sex offender sentencing in Washington State: Failure to Register as a Sex Offender—Revised,” 2006.

[324] Amanda C. Ferguson, Megan M. Jimenez, and Rebecca L. Jackson, “Juvenile False Confessions and Competency to Stand Trial: Implications for Policy Reformation and Research,” The New School Psychology Bulletin, vol. 7, no.1 (2010).

[325] Ibid.

[326] Ibid.

[327] Ibid.

[328] Human Rights Watch interview with Eva K., mother of Ethan A., Brownwood, Texas, October 5, 2012.

[329] Ibid.

[330] Human Rights Watch correspondence with Ethan A., October 5, 2012.

[331] Ibid.

[332] Human Rights Watch interview with Eva K., October 5, 2012.

[333] Human Rights Watch correspondence with Ethan A., October 5, 2012.

[334] Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 62.102 - Failure To Comply With Registration Requirements.

[335] Renee C. Lee, “Juveniles wait years to get past sex crimes,” Houston Chronicle, September 21, 2009, http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Juveniles-wait-years-to-get-past-sex-crimes-1601637.php (accessed March 21, 2013).

[336] Human Rights Watch interview with Elijah B., Houston, Texas, April 28, 2012.

[337] Human Rights Watch interview with Mason T., Pinehurst, Texas, May 2, 2012.

[338] Human Rights Watch interview with mother of Justin Z., Fort Worth, Texas, April 27, 2012.

[339] 581 F.3d 977 (9th Cir. 2009), vacated and remanded, 131 S. Ct. 2860 (2011), appeal dismissed as moot, 653 F.3d 1081 (9th Cir. 2011).

[340]USA v. Juvenile Male, 131 S. Ct. 2860 (2011).

[341]Padilla v. Commonwealth of Kentucky, 559 U.S. 356 (2010) (requiring defense attorneys to inform clients of the collateral consequences in immigration law of a criminal conviction). See also Taylor v. State, 698 S.E.2d 384, 388 (Ga. Ct. App. 2010) (applying Padilla to sex offender registration). But see Maxwell v. Larkins, No. 4:08 CV 1896 DDN, 2010 WL 2680333, at 10 (E.D. Mo. July 1, 2010) (declining to extend Padilla to sex offender registration).

[342] See, for example, Interest of L.T., 2011 ND 120, PP 20-22, 798 N.W.2d 657, 663 (declining to require the court to advise the child or respondent-parent of the requirement to register as a sexual offender before accepting an admission of guilt to an offense requiring the juvenile to register).

[343] University of North Carolina Center for Civil Rights, “Juvenile Delinquency Adjudication, Collateral Consequences, and Expungement of Juvenile Records: A Survey of law and Policy in Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida,” 2011, http://www.law.unc.edu/documents/civilrights/centerforcivilrightsexpungementreport.pdf (accessed March 21, 2013).

[344] Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which the US has been party since 1992, guarantees the right to security of the person, including a right to protection of bodily integrity. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), adopted December 16, 1966, G.A. Res. 2200 A(XXI), 21 U.N. GAOR Supp (No. 16) at 52, U.N. Doc. A/6316 (1966), 999 U.N.T.S. 161, entered into force March 23, 1976, ratified by the United States on June 8, 1992, art. 9. The United Nations Human Rights Committee (HRC) has made it clear that states party to the ICCPR and other conventions must “take appropriate measures or … exercise due diligence to prevent [and] punish … the harm caused by [rights violations] by private persons or entities.” UN Human Rights Committee, General Comment 31, Nature of the General Legal Obligation imposed on States Parties to the Covenant, U.N. Doc. CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.13 (2004), para. 9. Similarly, the Committee Against Torture (CAT) requires state parties to exercise due diligence in investigating, prosecuting, and punishing perpetrators—including private actors—of rape and sexual assault. UN Committee Against Torture (CAT), General Comment No. 2, Implementation of article 2 by States Parties, U.N. Doc. CAT/C/GC/2 (2008).

[345] The Human Rights Committee has interpreted the ICCPR’s provisions on youth offenders to apply to all persons under the age of 18. Human Rights Committee, General Comment no. 1, Forty-fourth Session (1992), para. 13, in Compilation of General Comments and General Recommendations Adopted by Human Rights Treaty Bodies, HRI/GEN/1/Rev.7, p. 155.

[346] The United States co-sponsored this provision together with Great Britain and India, and it was adopted unanimously. See Marc Bossuyt, Guide to the "Travaux Préparatoires"of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (The

Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1987), p. 307.

[347] The ICCPR contains three additional provisions related to juvenile justice. Article 6(5) prohibits imposing the death penalty on persons who committed crimes while under the age of 18. Article 10(2), subparagraph b, mandates the separation of accused children from adults and the swift adjudication of their cases. Article 14(1) provides an exception for cases involving children to the general requirement that judgments be made public.

[348] Manfred Nowak, U.N. Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: CCPR Commentary (Kehl: N.P. Engel, 1993), p. 266.

[349]Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551, pincite, (2005).

[350]Graham v. Florida, 130 S. Ct. 2011, 2026 (2010).

[351]Miller v. Alabama, 132 S. Ct. 2455, 2466 (2012).

[352]JDB v. North Carolina, 131 S. Ct. 2394, 2404 (2011) (internal citations omitted).

[353] General Comment 16/32, in ICCPR/C/SR.749, March 23, 1988, para. 4. Nicholas Toonen v. Australia, Human Rights Committee, 50th Sess., Case No. 488/1992, U.N. Doc. CCPR/C/50/D/488/1992, para. 8.3. Although the Committee was addressing freedom of movement, the criteria it enunciated apply for all protected rights.

[354] Ibid.

[355] Ibid.

[356] Australia operates a National Child Offender Register (ANCOR) for those who have committed offenses against children, and there are multiple state laws (Victoria Serious Sex Offenders Monitoring Act 2005, Victoria Sex Offenders Registration Act 2004, NSW Child Protection (Offenders Registration) Act 2000, NT Child Protection (Offender Reporting and Registration) Act 2004, QLD Child Protection (Offender Reporting) Act 2004, WA Community Protection (Offender Reporting) Act 2004). Canada has a National Sex Offender Registry (governed by the Sex Offender Information Registration Act). Ireland provides for registration under the Sexual Offenders Act 2001, and the UK operates a Violent and Sex Offender Register governed by the Sexual Offences Act 2003. South Africa operates a national Register for Sex Offenders established by an Act of Parliament in 2007. In France, Law no. 2004-204 created a national judicial database of sex offenders (later extended to include violent offenders) known as FIJAISV (Le fichier judiciaire automatisé des auteurs d'infractions sexuelles ou violentes) governed by the Code of Criminal Procedure. New Zealand and Samoa are both actively considering whether to establish national sex offender registers.

[357] See, for example, Ibbotson v. United Kingdom, No. 40146/98, Decision of October 21, 1998; Adamson v. United Kingdom, Application 4223/98, Decision of January 26, 1999; Massey v. United Kingdom, Application No. 14399/02, Decision of April 8, 2003. Under the UK law, an offender is required to provide basic information to the police who can monitor where they reside, but there is no general public access to the police-held information.

[358] Bouchacourt v. France , application 5335/06; Gardel v. France, application 16428/05; and M.B. v. France, application 22115/06, Judgment of December 17, 2009.

[359] Ibid. para 68.

[360] R (on the application of F) and Thompson v. Secretary of State for the Home Department , April 21, 2010, [2010] UKSC 17 .

[361] Ibid. para 40.

[362] The lead case is S and Marper v. United Kingdom, Application 30562/04 and 30566/04, Judgment December 4, 2008 [2008] ECHR 1581, in which the European Court found that the blanket, indiscriminate, and indefinite retention of DNA samples of suspects, who were never convicted of criminal offences, violated the right to privacy protected by the convention.

[363] M.M. v United Kingdom, Application No.  24029/07, Judgment November 13, 2012. In this case the applicant had been cautioned for child abduction, and that caution remained on her record for life. Twelve years after the caution, the applicant lost an offer of employment as a health worker when she disclosed the caution as part of a criminal-record check by the prospective employer. The disclosure had been made with the applicant’s consent, but the court found that she had no real choice as the employer was entitled to insist on disclosure. The Court held that the retention of a caution on a criminal record for life was a violation of the right to privacy and there were insufficient safeguards in the system to ensure that information relating to the offender’s private life would not be disclosed. At para. 197, the ECtHR expressly endorsed the UK Supreme Court: “The Court also notes that the Supreme Court in R (F and another) recognized the need for a right to review in respect of the lifelong notification requirements imposed pursuant to sex offenders’ legislation (see paragraph 120 above). In doing so, Lord Phillips noted that no evidence had been placed before the court that demonstrated that it was not possible to identify from among those convicted of serious offences, at any stage in their lives, some at least who posed no significant risk of reoffending. In light of the ensuing uncertainty, he considered that the imposition of notification requirements for life was not proportionate. The Court is of the view that similar considerations apply in the context of a system for retaining and disclosing criminal record information to prospective employers.”

[364] In a case brought by four nurses who were prevented from working with children due to minor sex offenses, the UK High Court ruled a system of automatically banning those convicted of or who admitted certain crimes from working with children and vulnerable adults without allowing them to make representations breached their rights to a fair trial. The Royal College of Nursing & Ors, R (on the application of) v. Secretary of State for the Home Department & Anor [2010] EWHC 2761 (Admin) (November 10, 2010). In another case, the High Court ruled that the failure to allow an offender to make representations before information could be disclosed by police about them under the Child Sex Offender Disclosure Scheme (CSOD) violated human rights law. The police had a duty to afford the offender an opportunity to make representations before disclosure was made. Without the offender being afforded such an opportunity, the court reasoned, the decision maker might not have all the information necessary to conduct the balancing exercise that he is required to perform justly and fairly. X (South Yorkshire) v Secretary of State for the Home Department and Chief Constable of Yorkshire[2012] EWHC 2954.

[365] ICCPR, art. 7; Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Convention against Torture), adopted December 10, 1984, G.A. res. 39/46, annex, 39 UN GAOR Supp. (No. 51) at 197, UN Doc. A/39/51 (1984), entered into force June 26, 1987, ratified by the United States on October 21, 1994, art. 16.

[366] The United Nations Human Rights Committee (HRC) has made it clear that states party to the ICCPR and other conventions violate their obligation under these treaties not only when state actors are responsible for the action, but also when the state fails to take necessary steps to prevent violations caused by private actors. The HRC’s General Recommendation 31 to the ICCPR notes that state parties must “take appropriate measures or … exercise due diligence to prevent, punish, investigate or redress the harm caused by such acts by private persons or entities.” UN Human Rights Committee, General Comment 31, Nature of the General Legal Obligation imposed on States Parties to the Covenant, U.N. Doc. CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.13 (2004), para. 9.

[367] Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), adopted November 20, 1989, G.A. Res. 44/25, annex, 44 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 49) at 167, U.N. Doc. A/44/49 (1989), entered into force September 2, 1990, signed by the United States on February 16, 1995, http://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-11&chapter=4&lang=en (accessed April 2, 2013), arts. 28, 24(1).

[368] By signing the treaty the US is obliged to refrain, in good faith, from acts that would defeat the object and purpose of the treaty. See Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, 1969, article 18.

[369] Article 16 of the CRC, following closely the language of article 17 of the ICCPR, states “(1) No child shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his or her honor and reputation. (2) The child has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.”

[370] Administration of Juvenile Justice (“The Beijing Rules”), adopted November 29, 1985, G.A. Res. 40/33, annex, 40 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 53) at 207, U.N. Doc. A/40/53 (1985) (“The juvenile’s right to privacy shall be respected at all stages in order to avoid harm being caused to her or him by undue publicity or by the process of labeling.”).

[371]US v. Juvenile Male, 590 F. 3d 924, 927 (9th Cir. 2010) (dismissed by the US Supreme Court on mootness grounds). One court specified that the issue of confidentiality was immaterial in that particular jurisdiction, mainly because disclosure of juvenile information under its community notification law was limited to law enforcement. In re Appeal in Maricopa County Juvenile Action No. JV-132744, 933 P.2d 1248 (Ariz. Ct. App. 1996). This implies that if notification went beyond law enforcement, it would violate juveniles’ expectation of privacy. Another federal court held that juveniles have a particularized liberty interest in the established policy of “setting aside” their criminal records. However, the court stopped short of finding community notification an impermissible violation of this particularized liberty interest for all juveniles. Rather, it held that procedures to determine who would be subject to notification must consider juveniles’ heightened liberty interests. Doe No. 1 v. Williams, 167 F.Supp. 2d 45, 64 (D.D.C. 2001).

[372] The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “[t]he family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.” Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), adopted December 10, 1948, G.A. Res. 217A(III), U.N. Doc. A/810 at 78 (1948), art. 16(3). The Declaration also states, “Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance.” UDHR, art. 25(2). The ICCPR states in Article 17(1) that no one shall be “subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence.” Article 23 states that “[t]he family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the state,” and that all men and women have the right “to marry and to found a family.” The right to found a family includes the right “to live together.” UN Human Rights Committee, General Comment 19: Protection of the Family, the right to marriage and equality of the spouses, art. 23, July 27, 1990.

[373]Moore v. City of East Cleveland, 431 U.S. 494, 500, 503, n.12 (1977) (plurality).

[374] UDHR, arts. 13(1), 17, 25, and 26.