NCJ Number
239953
Date Published
2004
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This executive summary of a book entitled, "An American Travesty: Legal Responses to Adolescent Sexual Offending" by Franklin Zimring develops the rationale for the argument that "to impose on one-time juvenile offenders a permanent identity as a sexual predator is a travesty that strikes at the heart of the juvenile justice system - a system established to act in the best interest of the child."
Abstract
This summary proposes a new framework for managing adolescent sex offenders in the justice system based on existing research on the distinctive patterns of adolescent sex offenders that distinguishes them from adult sex offenders. Four general policies, based on the known patterns of juvenile sex offenders, compose the new framework. First, the power to decide whether and how juveniles accused of sex offenses will be prosecuted and adjudicated should be shared by judges and prosecutors, just as it is for juveniles charged with non-sex offenses. Second, non-predatory, consensual peer sex should be decriminalized for juveniles. Rather than imposing criminal penalties, two options are possible. Either remove the juvenile court from intervening in consensual juvenile sex cases or put such cases in the category of "minor in need of supervision." Third, unless there is a clear, sustained, and unusual pattern of multiple offenses, predictions of a first offender's future sexual dangerousness should not determine either the type or the duration of penal sanctions. Fourth, a second involvement in the justice system of a previously adjudicated juvenile sex offender justifies tighter monitoring and other measures to lower the risk of another offense. This summary also proposes three research programs that are essential for policymakers in developing an appropriate and effective response to child and adolescent sex offenders.