Branded for Life: Juvenile Sex offenders and the Sex Offender Registry

February 2010:


“ Jack and Jill sitting in a tree K I S S I N G, first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a baby in a baby carriage.” This is a familiar childhood rhyme which used to speak to our sense of innocence. Boy meets girl, they fall in love, then get married, and have kids. Unfortunately, that is not the order in which young peoples’ relationships develop in modern times. We are seeing kids that are younger and younger experimenting with sex and there has been an awareness of kids who not only experiment but also sexually abuse others.

Over the last decade there have been numerous cases in the public involving sexual abuse and especially crimes associated with the sexual abuse of children. Almost once a weekend there is a headline of a child being sexually assaulted, molested, abducted, and even murdered. The public has gotten front row seats to some of the most tragic cases involving sexual predators. This has lead to public outcry and demands for ways of stopping the abuse and punishing the abuser. Communities have spoken out for justice and safety. They have looked to their states and the federal government to enact laws that not only prosecute offenders but to make the public aware of who they are, what they did, where they live and work, what they look like, and more.

There has been this growing sense that information can help stop these predators that commit acts that are so unthinkable. This belief makes the public feel that we have a right to know as much about them as possible in order to safe guard ourselves and our children. This information and safeguard has come in the form of sex offender registries. It is a system by which those convicted of sex crimes can be tracked and monitored for as long as their natural life.

But what happens when it’s our children that are hurting and sexually abusing one another. Do we apply the same laws to them? Do we monitor them and make them register for the rest of their lives for an act they committed at 14?

Take the case of Brandon:

For the remainder of this paper: by Tiffany Verdell