VI. Failure-to-Register Violations: Additional Punishment

Nearly all jurisdictions have made failure to register a criminal offense punishable by fines and imprisonment. In many states, the sentence for a single offense of failure to register can be as long as 10 years in prison, and in two states—Louisiana and Nebraska—the sentence for a second failure-to-register conviction is 20 years imprisonment.[299]

Our research suggests that most youth offenders do not understand the many rules incumbent on registrants or the full implications of failing to comply with all of the rules. In many cases, they do not even know that a serious criminal sentence is hanging over their heads should they fail to comply with every particular.

As noted above, registrants begin their sex offender registration after release from detention, jail, or prison. Over 84 percent of the youth offenders we interviewed were still age 17 or younger at release. Many youth offenders we spoke with reported that they were not permitted to have a parent or guardian accompany them during their initial registration at the local state police or sheriff’s office, where they had to read, acknowledge, and sign multiple forms with long lists of detailed conditions, indicating that they understood and acknowledged their duty to register as sex offenders.

Connor S., who first began registering at age 13, described how nervous he was during his initial registration: “I was shaking when I went to the sheriff’s office to register … the volume of information they throw at you is a lot … it’s just too much information to remember.” Connor said he had to read a list of 70 requirements that “you have to initial and acknowledge that you understand.” [300] When Human Rights Watch interviewed Connor, he was 21 years old and had recently been arrested and convicted for failing to register his college dorm address. “I had to plead guilty to the failure-to-register charge. They had paperwork from when I was 13 where I acknowledged that I understood that condition.” [301]

To date, no study has examined failure to register from the perspective of individuals placed on the registry for offenses committed as children. Our interviews indicate that it may be particularly difficult for youth offenders to meet all registration requirements, for reasons linked to their youth and immaturity as well as the onerous nature of the requirements.

Why Youthful Offenders Fail to Register

Studies of the failure-to-register offense among all offenders (adults and children) emphasize the difficulty of maintaining registration, noting the sheer volume of obligations and the constant vigilance required of registrants to stay in compliance.[302] For young people, who are inherently immature, keeping track of and complying with these requirements may be even more confusing and challenging than for adults. Many of the young people interviewed for this report who were convicted of failure to register were unable to afford registration fees, obtain a proper residence, or otherwise comply with requirements to obtain identification. For example:

• Gabriel P. was arrested in 1996, when he was 11 years old, for sexually touching a playmate. He has not reoffended, but now, at age 26, Gabriel has three felony convictions for failure to register associated with his inability to obtain a proper residence. Since being released from the Texas Youth Center (TYC) at age 17, Gabriel has struggled with finding housing and employment due in part to his status as a sex offender. By law, he was restricted from living in public housing, certain areas, or in a house with children under the age of 14. Gabriel quickly found himself homeless. In 2003, less than a year after being released from TYC, Gabriel was arrested and convicted for his first failure-to-register offense: he was living on the streets, moving nightly from place to place, and had failed to register a suitable address. He served nearly a year in prison. Once released, he again found himself homeless and, in 2004, he was arrested and convicted for again failing to provide an adequate address. He served four more years. In 2010, Gabriel was arrested for his third failure-to-register offense for not residing at the address on record. He served nearly a year for this offense. Since his release from prison in late 2010, Gabriel has not been convicted for a new failure-to-register offense.[303] He attributes much of his recent success to his wife, whom he married while in prison, and who helped find a place where they could live together.
• Jason Q. was 15 when he was released from the Texas Youth Center for an offense committed at the age 0f 11. In Texas, registered sex offenders must obtain a “special driver’s license.”[304] The license is required regardless of whether the registrant plans to drive or is of driving age.[305] Registrants must obtain this special license no later than the 30th day after the date of their release. Jason says that he put off going to get his driver’s license because he was scared. “I had just gotten out of juvenile prison. I didn’t know what was going on.”[306] Finally, he said “on the 30th day of getting home from placement, my mom dragged me down to the Department of Motor Vehicles.”[307] Jason recounts the trip: The room was filled with teenagers waiting to get their driver’s permits or something. When the lady called my name, I nervously walked across the room to her window. She looked at my paperwork and shouted, “since you are a registered sex offender I have to call the main office in Austin.” It felt like she just announced it over the loudspeaker. The teenage girls in the lobby started snickering. I started getting sweaty, dizzy, and ran out of the DMV mortified. My mother and I came back the next day. The DMV notified the police that I was in violation of my registration requirements [because I was then one day late]. I was arrested for failure to register for failing to obtain my driver’s license within 3o days of release.[308]
• Samuel L., who started registering at age 13, said he received his first failure-to-register conviction at age 18, during his senior year of high school. He told Human Rights Watch that he tried to register on his birthday as required by state law, but the state police turned him away, saying they changed their registration hours to Wednesdays only. “I showed up that next Wednesday around 4:30 p.m. and was told that they stopped doing registrations at 4:00 p.m. and to come back next week,” he said. Samuel said this was the week of final exams and he had two term papers and two final exams. “With all my attention focused on my schoolwork, I forgot to re-register. I remembered weeks later and went to the police station. I was informed on the spot that I was under arrest for failure to register.”[309]
• Max. B. began registering as a sex offender at age 12 in Texas. Being on the registry interfered with his ability to complete high school and left him completely isolated during his formative developmental years. On his 19th birthday, in an act of defiance, Max failed to go to the sheriff’s office to update his registration. Max’s father states, “he was an angry young man and sick of it all.”[310] Max ended up serving one year in prison for failure to register, which is a felony conviction. Max is now in his late twenties and completed his 15-year obligation to register, but his failure-to-register conviction has meant that many employers will not hire him.
• David H., who first began registering at age 13, was 21 years old when he was interviewed by Human Rights Watch about his failure-to-register conviction. He spoke about the volume of information he felt was thrown at him when going to register at the sheriff’s office: “It’s just too much information to remember. There are over 70 requirements you have to initial and acknowledge that you understand.”[311] David said he told his university and the campus police department that he was a registered sex offender attending the school, and thought he had fulfilled his duty to notify the university. He continued, “I registered my new address with the local state police, but was not aware that I also needed to tell them that I was a student…. I was not trying to deceive anyone. I was just unaware.”[312]
• After being released from a juvenile facility at the age of 17, Luke J., who was a registered sex offender since the age of 14, learned that he could not go back to school. Sex offender buffer zones barred him from coming within 1,000 feet of a school or place where children congregate. Luke’s former counselor from the juvenile treatment facility helped him enroll in an online virtual high school. Shortly after the start of his first semester of high school, Luke was arrested and convicted of failing to provide the email identifier for his new online school. Under the state law, registered sex offenders are required to submit their email addresses and any identifiers they use before logging into websites, Facebook, MySpace, or making comments on newspaper websites. Luke explained, “I registered but I forgot to add my new email address that was given to me from my online virtual high school.”[313]

Failure to Register and Recidivism

The serious sentences imposed on youth offenders for failure–to-register crimes appear disproportionate to the offenses, given that their youth and immaturity can make it exceptionally difficult for them to comply with registration laws.

It is unclear whether prosecutions for failure to register are having the desired effect of deterring subsequent sex crimes. Four published studies have examined the relationship between failure to register and sex-offense recidivism. [319] These studies, which looked at all sex offenders (adults and children), concluded that,

• Failure to register is not a significant predictor of sexual recidivism, casting doubt on the idea that sex offenders who are noncompliant with registration are especially sexually dangerous.[320] Instead, results indicate only that a failure-to-register conviction significantly increases the likelihood of subsequent failure-to-register arrests.[321]
• Failure to register is the most common offense leading to reincarceration for convicted sex offenders released from prison, facilities, or treatment and placed on the registry.[322]
• Registered offenders with failure-to-register convictions are more likely to be subsequently rearrested than registered offenders without such convictions. Most of the new convictions, however, are for general, non-sexual crimes and new failure-to-register crimes.[323]

Human Rights Watch was not able to find any studies on the relationship between failure to register and sex offense recidivism among youth sex offenders, but there is no reason to think one would find a stronger correlation in the youth offender population than in the overall offender population. Given that existing research finds very low rates of sex offense recidivism among youth sex offenders, neither public safety nor crime deterrence appears to justify their incarceration for failure-to-register crimes. Even if one thinks registration is appropriate for some youth sex offenders, there is strong reason to question whether offenders under age 18 should be subjected to criminal prosecution for failure to register.