NJ: Reformers push for Megan’s Law changes for juvenile offenders
Then there’s J.
The North Jersey man, who asked that his name be withheld because of the stigma sex offenders endure, was 14 when he says a hangout with a younger friend in a treehouse turned sexual. The other boy’s parents found out and reported him to police.
“I denied it because I was embarrassed by it,” J said. “And then, you know, it just kind of snowballed from there.”
Wanting to put it behind him, J pleaded guilty and was sentenced to counseling and six months of probation.
That’s where it should have ended.
But because of a shoplifting incident months later, a judge ordered J to lifelong registration as a sex offender.
Cases like J’s have prompted calls for reform from juvenile justice advocates who say children don’t deserve that label for life — or even at all.
So, does shoplifting make one a sex offender? What are the zealots going to think up next?
I was thinking the same thing. How the hell does a shoplifting charge equate to being put on the registry for life?
I’m also confused as to why a 14 year old boy who was just fooling around with his friend can be held accountable for his actions, yet a 14 year old girl who has sex with her 18 year old boyfriend is not held accountable because she lacks mental capacity to consent. Doesn’t the 14 year old boy also lack the mental capacity and understanding, or does that only apply to girls? A 14 year old girl cannot legally consent to sex, but the same 14 year old girl can be charged as an adult of she murders someone. Something is wrong with that picture.
I think all of us here agree that a 14-year-old cannot consent to sex with an adult. Where is the confusion?
Good point. It sounds like the kid was on probation for his “sex offense” at the time of the shoplifting. The judge had the authority to punish him for a probation violation, but how does the registry possibly relate to that crime? The moral panic around sex offenders gets more absurd every day.
The other salient point is that the judged ordered lifelong registration. Judges impose punishment under specific criminal statutes, not collateral consequences like registration or voting restrictions. Incidents like this seem to bolster the argument that registration is indeed punishment.
Nice of the gentleman to share his story, it’s what helps to open people’s eyes, to the Idiocracy of these archaic laws!
Who, who… anyone ever thought it was right to put children on a registry that was formed to keep them protected from those adults???
This government-sponsored sex blacklist must be abolished in its entirety for ALL people!
Half measures are anathema that do nothing but erode the number of supporters and advocates who support abolition.
Justice must be for ALL !!
Ms. Difilippo’s second paragraph is particularly deplorable. I have sent her some information/research correcting her misstatements. It would be good if others would also politely correct her statement of “MANY are considered repetitive, compulsive offenders, so likely to reoffend that the state warns the public about them.”
Her email address: ddifilippo@newjerseymonitor.com
I tried to find Ms. Difilippo’s Mailing address for Phase IV of the Media Blitz, but I was unable to find it.