Irreparable Harm: Putting Children on Sex Offender Registries

“But punishment should fit both the offense and the offender, and placing children who commit sex offenses on a public registry – often for life – can cause more harm than good.”

 

 

The common misconception is that the average sex offender is a middle-aged man who is a predator of young children. As such, this image keeps people motivated to support current sex offender limitations such as residency restrictions; which keep them away from locations such as schools and parks. However, what happens when someone who is a registered sex offender happens to be a child? The psychological and developmental issues that develop as a cause of children being placed on the sex offender registry are extremely detrimental. Under the current archaic laws, which claim to protect children, there are underage SOs that are harmed everyday due to harsh restrictions.

 

Residency Restriction laws limit the proximity of a sex offender from certain public areas. On some occasions, between 500 and 2,500 feet need to be kept between the SO’s residency and places like schools, parks, play grounds or even bus stops. Under Florida law, those who have been convicted of violating certain laws are made to live a minimum of 1,000 feet from any institution with children. Florida’s counties and cities increase that buffer zone.

 

Youth sex offender’s violations have a wide range of offenses. They range from sexual assault to consensual intercourse between two minors. It is important for the public to understand that these young children are not all guilty of violent sexual crimes. However, one can imagine the consequences of cutting off a young child from its peers. There are repercussions against isolating a child during their developmental ages when contact with peers their age is most important. More importantly, these laws will eventually infringe upon their rights to receive an education, apply to college and live a normal life. These children are receiving punishments that are created for adults when they are anything but.

 

As a consequence to these draconian laws, many youth offenders become depressed and even suicidal. Social workers and parents concern themselves with the mental health of the young children on the list. These children are subjected to treatment that ostracizes them and seriously affect their childhoods. These punishments become a life sentence, which sadly, some of these children choose not to live out. Laws created with the intent of regulating violent adults should never by applied to non-violent adults, much less children and teenagers starting out their lives. As a society, we should call for more humane ways for instructing and rehabilitating people who break the law – whether on purpose, by foolish mistake or inadvertently. Until these laws are modified to deal with different situations, the very children, whom legislators claim to protect, will continue to suffer greatly.