I don’t believe youths should be jail for having consensual sex .Example ,I know of an individual who had a daughter her age Sixteen years old was dating a seventeen year old boy ,the parents did not approved the relationship ,but these two seem in love ,as soon as the boy turned eighteen her mother had him arrested and charged for having sex with her daughter ,that ruined the young man life, because that stigma as a sex offender , would prevent him from having opportunities in his life ,such as decent jobs. In 2007, Florida created a law known as “Romeo and Juliet law, to address issues such as high school youth being labeled as sexual offenders or sexual predictors, as a result of participating in consensual sexual relationship. Reason being these stigma, can have long term consequences, which can affect the offenders, ability to attend his or her child’s school functions, and where the offender can live.(Florida Senate ,2011). Several states have also participated in the “Romeo and Juliet Law “this law intention is to protect young sexual offenders who are close in age to their victims and engage in consensual sex ,from registering as sexual offenders. However Florida, have done this using a motion or petition process for registration relief, some have provided age-gap provisions. Some states has legalize certain sexual condition between minors, and /or those close in age to avoid not only registration requirement but to avoid but the criminal charge previously
No, I don’t believe a youth younger than 18 years of age should be convicted as an adult in an adult prison. I believe that a youth should carry out his/or her sentence until that youth is 18 years of age. When a prisoner is younger than 18 years of age serving time in an adult prison can cause confusion and mentally illness due to the maturity of other inmates. Other inmates can easily persuade that youth to do whatever he/ or she wants them to do making a bigger issue more than what is was before.
I believe that the justice system should not be harder on youths because we are all too young and naive and might not really know what’s right and wrong. Also, many youth usually get peer pressured into doing wrong things and we can’t really blame them for that. Besides, if the crime is big enough, youth are taken to juvy which is a less serious version of jail. I believe that juvy gives youth criminals a chance to learn about what’s right and wrong and that is all they need. Furthermore, some youth can be given an adult sentence for some very serious crimes.
States control how long they must register for, what types of crimes make them a sex-offender, and what all information must be made public. Juveniles can also be considered sex-offenders, these records are often expunged, but according to the state they can be registered until they are eighteen or even longer (2011). A law with so many layers is bound to cause controversy among the public; although enacting Megan’s Law was done with good intentions it has caused a negative social stigma towards sex offenders with low risk of
(n.d.), 46 percent of people say juvenile offenders should not be tried and punished as adults while 54 percent of people agree with that juvenile offenders should be tried and punished as adults. The common opinion for agreement is that teens can know and understand about what they do and for disagreement is that teens are kids, and they are still in the process of developing to be adults. Especially, it is quite common voice of disagreement that juvenile justice system should punish juvenile offenders because they are criminal offenders even though they are
Although there is the “Romeo and Juliet Law”, which is in place to prevent serious criminal charges against teenagers who engage in consensual sex with others close to their own age. In Florida, there is an exemption for consensual sex when the minor is 14-17 years old and the defendant is no more than four years older. If the defendant meets certain eligibility requirements, the law will remove the requirement of registering as a sex offender. The terms of imprisonment and fines may still be
However if we take a step back and look at how incarcerating youth is hurting them. According to the risks juveniles face when they are incarcerated with adults written by Jason Zeidenberg "juveniles are more likely to be targeted for rape five times more than the adult prisoner and suicide rates among juveniles are 7.7 times higher than those that are in juvenile detention centers." Those two statistics alone explains the reason juveniles should not be placed in prison with adults. Another reason juveniles should not be locked up with adults is because "juveniles are twice as likely to be beaten up by staff." This statistic is very sickening because in the prison the people the juveniles should trust are also bringing them
While sexually deviant behavior among juveniles is not a new phenomenon there has been a dramatic increase in the concern of this problem over the last two decades. As the number of juvenile sex offenders arrested increases, the recognition of it as a serious issue also increases. The anxiety over juvenile sex crimes has led to a wide variety of research being conducted to determine if there are antecedent traits in offenders. The tremendous data collected and analyzed to try to understand the factors leading a juvenile to sexually violate has piloted a wide range of theories and also much disagreement among professionals about the appropriate consequences a violator must face.
Stories of sex offenders have been increasingly a focus of attention by the criminal justice system over the past years. By legal definition, a sex offender “is a person who is convicted of a sexual offense (Sex Offender Law & Legal Definition),” an act which is prohibited by the jurisdiction. What constitutes as a sex offense or normal/abnormal sexual behavior varies over time and place, meaning that it also varies by legal jurisdiction and culture. In the United States of America, for example, a person can be convicted of wide range of sexual behavior that includes prostitution, incest, sex with a minor, rape, and other sex offenses (Sex Offender Law & Legal Definition). As the nature of sex crimes have long held the
Sex offenders can be described as a person who has committed any of a variety of offenses, including rape, child abuse, possession of child pornography, exhibitionism (flashing), and even consensual sex amongst teenagers.They can vary between adults or juveniles, male or female, and the perpetrators may even be strangers, acquaintances, or related to their victims. Based on the different characteristics and motivations for committing these heinous offenses, these offenders require different responses that are appropriate in order to accurately treat, manage, and supervise them. This research paper will review types of offenses and offenders; pervasiveness of sexual abuse and recidivism; and responses to sexual offending, including treatment, supervision, and management practices for this population.
It’s time to separate the child sex offender from the children being accused of sex offending unreasonably. There are many stories of teenagers 15, 16, 17, just trying on young love for the first time. What should be happy memories can be turned to shame, and they don’t even have to have actual intercourse for it to be called a “sex offense.” Here are some examples of needed changes to our laws:
These offenders are people who had consensual sexual relationships with a minor. Sometimes the offender is also a minor, but is older than the other partner. The older person is then charged with statutory rape and are forced to register as a sex offender even though there was no force used. This law is in place to prevent older persons from taking advantage of a minor; however, this is completely unfair, especially if the offender is also a minor. Some opponents might say that “Romeo and Juliet” offenders should be on the registry because their sole purpose is to take advantage of minor to meet their needs. This is true and all “Romeo and Juliet” offenders should pay for the offense in some way; however, their names should not be on the registry and definitely not for life. Alternatives penalties include paying a fine, doing community service, going to counseling, and have the their name on the registry for a short term if the age gap is greater than five years or if the offense is committed more than once. For most offenders, these are foolish mistakes that they made in their teenage years, and therefore shouldn’t pay for it all their life. In addition, there are couples who are happily married even though there is an age gap of five or seven
Sexual offenders are the most vilified type of offenders within public opinion and the criminal justice system. The American precedent cases of Jacob Wetterling, Pam Lyncher, Megan Kanka, and other notorious crimes perpetrated by sexual offenders with a prior history of conviction have demanded a response from the criminal justice system to increase public safety. In 1994, the Jacob Wetterling Crimes against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Program was passed (Scholle, 2000), the first piece of legislation to advocate for the development of state-maintained registries of convicted sexual offenders. The legislation has been amended numerous times since then; in its present state, the law requires all states to maintain a registry, the mandatory registration of convicted sex offenders after release, community notification laws in place, and public access to the registry (Burchfield and Mingus, 2012; Lees and Tewksbury, 2006; Petrunik, Murphy, and Fedoroff, 2008; Scholle, 2000; Tewksbury and Lees, 2006; Wagner, 2011).
In the United States, failure to adequately discriminate between and among sex offenses and the overuse of the label “sex offense” has led to the polarization and over criminalization of sex crimes and has resulted in a lack of reintegration options for these alleged criminals. The term “sex offender” needs to be reserved for those individuals who best represent the meaning of the term. (Colbert, 2011, p. 1) According to US Department of Justice, a sex offender is anyone convicted of an offense of a sexual nature under the law of any jurisdiction, this also includes juveniles fourteen years of age and older. (Colbert, 2011, p. 1) In the United States, the term sex offender is too broad and can be very misleading. There is a widespread misconception among society that the meaning of sex offender is pedophile and rapist, but a sex offender can be someone that was caught urinating in public or they can be underage teenagers having consensual sex. This lack of distinction between sex offenses results in a misinformed society and this absence of information in regards to sex offenses and the presence of the sex offender registry fuels society 's ignorance and heightened prejudices towards "sex offenses." The stigma that comes with the label "sex offense” persists beyond sentencing due to the parameters of the law, making reintegration of alleged criminals into society overbearing and near impossible. These registries are public record, however they only state partial information
In the United States, there are provisions called Romeo and Juliet Laws, which were made known by Texas. The purpose of the Romeo and Juliet Laws is to prevent an individual from being charged with a criminal offense and/or having to register as a sex offender because they engage in sexual
This paper will mainly discuss sexual crimes. It will explain the differences about various sexual crimes. It will also go into detail about sexual crimes that revolve around men, women, and children. It will also talk about the history of sex crimes, along with some of the different types of sexual crimes committed. This paper will provide explanations as to what these sexual crimes are in their nature. Sexual offenses are serious crimes that occur more than that should. There are a wide range of victims from male and female children to male and female teens to young adults attending college to adults. Many people have to deal with the results of these sexual offenses. This paper will also discuss the transition of child sexual assault