FLORIDA DEBATE

What punishment fits crimes of young sex offenders?

Some experts say juvenile sex offenders can be rehabilitated; others say they belong behind bars.
They commit adult crimes that come with adult consequences.
But they aren't adults; they are juvenile sex offenders and, unlike their adult counterparts, the question of how to hold them accountable for their crimes is anything but clear-cut.
While some experts believe juveniles need treatment and rehabilitation instead of being locked up, victims' rights advocates say these youthful offenders should pay for their crimes and the lives they have destroyed.

Social worker Laura Ahearn, executive director of Parents for Megan's Law in New York, said the organization fully supports adult sentences for juvenile sex offenders ages 13 and older who commit violent sex crimes, such as forcible rape, sodomy and aggravated sexual battery.
“We're too soft on juvenile offenders,” Ahearn said in a recent phone interview. “We send a message of tolerance to these offenders, but they should be sentenced as adults ... the punishment should fit the crime.”
But Jodi Lane, associate professor of criminology at the University of Florida, said that adult prisons are not places designed for children — regardless of their crimes. Juveniles have varying emotional and physical needs that differ from adults and they can be rehabilitated more easily than adults, Lane said.
“Being a kid in prison alone puts them at a disadvantage,” Lane said. “They are often victimized and being a sex offender is a double-whammy when you're a juvenile. They become worse offenders in adult prisons.”

It is estimated that juveniles account for up to one-fifth of all rapes and one-half of all cases of child molestation each year, according to the Center for Sex Offender Management. In 1995, youths were involved in 15 percent of all forcible rapes cleared by arrest, meaning that about 18 juveniles per 100,000 were arrested for forcible rape. In the same year, about 16,100 juveniles were arrested for sexual offenses other than rape and prostitution, the center reports.
In recent data from 2004, 33 juveniles were referred to the Department of Juvenile Justice in Alachua County for felony sex crimes and five for misdemeanor sex crimes, according to the agency. Florida law requires a “conviction” offense as criteria for sex offender registration; this does not include a juvenile with a delinquency adjudication in the juvenile court system, so there is no required registration for a juvenile sex offender, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
In fact, because they are minors, Florida law prohibits the release of juvenile records to the public unless they are tried as an adult.
Lane said that society's stereotypes of sex offenders is an inaccurate portrayal of juveniles who commit sex offenses. Attaching the label of “sex offender” to a child for touching another child is a far cry from a teen who forcibly rapes another teen or a child, Lane said.

“It's easier to help juvenile sex offenders than it is to help adult offenders,” Lane said. “They are still growing; they're not ingrained sex offenders. But if they don't get the treatment they need, they don't have a chance.”
And while Ahearn agrees that not all juvenile sex offenders are the violent rapists people usually envision when they hear the label, she said young offenders should still be registered and tracked like adult offenders up to a period of 10 years.
Access to a juvenile sex offender's background information should be limited only to people on a “need-to-know basis,” such as school teachers and day-care workers, she said.
“You can't take a five- or seven-year-old and put them in prison; that would serve no purpose,” Ahearn said. “People have a false of sense of security because they think an offender is easy to spot. There is no profile of a sex offender. They are people who look just like you and me — relatives, neighbors, coaches ... and juveniles. They are people in positions of trust. We need to know who they are.”
Balancing act for state attorney Balancing the need to protect the community with the possibility that a juvenile sex offender is more likely to be rehabilitated and not re-offend sometimes makes State Attorney Bill Cervone's job more complicated.
Although Cervone said several factors, including the type of crime committed, their age and their potential to be successfully rehabilitated, influence his decision on whether to try juveniles in adult court, he is more inclined to do so in cases of older teenagers accused of violent offenses.
“You have to be careful before you mark a child forever like we do adults,” Cervone said. “But if we're talking about a 16- or 17-year-old who has raped someone, I would give strong consideration to trying them as an adult, for fear that the juvenile court does not have the time or resources to deal with (the offender). They can lose jurisdiction within a few years and that short amount of time may not satisfy the needs of protection for the community or provide adequate rehabilitation.”

If anyone knows about being a victim at the hands of a juvenile sex offender, it's 17-year-old Amie Zyla of Wisconsin, who on Thursday urged members of Congress to create legislation that would make public the records of such offenders, according to a CNN report.
Zyla became a sexual assault victim at age 8. Her attacker was then 14-year-old Joseph Wade, who was convicted of the crime. But nine years later, Wade was accused of committing similar offenses, prompting Zyla and her family to take their fight to the state Legislature, CNN reported. Zyla convinced lawmakers in that state to make the records of juvenile sex offenders public.
In January, Wade was accused of assaulting and enticing children to his apartment, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He admitted videotaping dozens of them in his shower, the newspaper reported. He is to be sentenced in August and faces up to 70 years in prison.
“We cannot sit back and allow kids to continue to be hurt,” Zyla told members of Congress. “The simple truth is that juvenile sex offenders turn into adult predators. Kids all over the country need the same kind of protection as in Wisconsin.”

Offering help before it's too late For those who are concerned about the young lives of these offenders, the dilemma of helping them salvage their shaky futures is a challenge.
When Heather Jones, juvenile division chief of the State Attorney's Office, prepares to prosecute a juvenile accused of committing a sex crime, she said she strives to attain the best outcome in the interest of public safety and justice for the victim.
But Jones said the State Attorney's Office also wants to make sure juveniles who commit sex crimes get the help they need before it is too late.
That goal is shared by Susan Sheahan, assistant juvenile public defender. With more of her young clients accused of committing sex crimes, Sheahan said she does her best to work together with the State Attorney's Office to place youthful offenders in community treatment programs so they don't wind up re-offending later in life.
Out of the more than 2,100 total cases sent to the State Attorney's Office, only 36 cases involved juveniles accused of sex crimes last year, Jones said.
“These cases are difficult because you have a very young person's life that is changed forever,” Jones said. “But you also have the victim and parents involved. We want to make a difference, but we can't go back into time and fix things. There's a certain sadness with that.”

From 2001 to 2002, the Department of Juvenile Justice reports that only four youths were found guilty of sex offenses in juvenile court a second time out of the 253 released from high-risk sex offender programs in the state.
National studies across the board suggest that rehabilitation of youthful sex offenders is successful and only about 10 percent of all juvenile sex offenders become adult sex offenders, according to the Department of Juvenile Justice.
A child's successful treatment is dependent on the cooperation and support of their parents, Sheahan said. From the moment the Department of Juvenile Justice becomes involved in any case, the youth is extensively assessed while the department investigates the allegations. Juveniles accused of sex offenses undergo psycho-sexual evaluations that play a major role in what happens to them, Sheahan said.

“I could bring 20 of my clients in and you couldn't pick out which one of them is a sex offender,” Sheahan said. “These kids don't have any idea of the long-term consequences of their actions or what opportunities they've lost in life.”

Deborah Ball
12 June 2005

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