Sex Registration for Juveniles Debated
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Sex Registration for Juveniles Debated

Date: September 30, 2015
By: Emma Nicolas
State Capitol Bureau

By Emma NicolasBy Emma Nicolas
Intro: 
Missouri's Supreme Court is urged to stop requiring juvenile sex offenders to register on the state's sex offender list.
RunTime:  0:44
OutCue:  SOC

Wrap: Missouri law requires that some juvenile offender name’s appear on the adult sex offender registry.

Before the court was a case of a juvenile found delinquent for committing rape in the first degree.

St. Louis University University Law Clinic Attorney Patricia Harrison argued Missouri's law did not comply with the juvenile court judge’s decision.

Actuality:  HAR2.WAV
Run Time:  00:07
Description: "The statute requires that he be placed on that registry regardless whether the juvenile judge felt that was appropriate."

The statute automatically imposes an adult penalty to a serious juvenile offender. And the adult registry, unlike the juvenile registry, is public and permanent. Assistant attorney general Jonathan Laudano (LA-DAN-O) argued that this law should be carried out in the interest of public safety.

Intro: 
Missouri's Supreme Court was urged to keep juvenile sex offenders off the state's life-long list of registered sex offenders.
RunTime:  0:34
OutCue:  SOC

Wrap: Before the state high court was an appeal filed by lawyers for a juvenile found guilty of rape.

The lawsuit seeks to prevent requiring permanent sex offender registration when the unnamed juvenile becomes an adult.

The state's assistant attorney general Jonathan Laudano defended the current law:

Actuality:  LAUD.WAV
Run Time:  00:13
Description: "Only a subset of juveniles found delinquent, those 14 or older at the time of their offense and who commit an act equal to more severe than aggrivated sexual abuse under federal law must register as adults."

The unnamed juvenile was found guilty of raping his adopted sister.

 

Intro: 
Missouri's Supreme Court heard arguments as to whether a juvenile sex offender should be branded for life.
RunTime:  0:34
OutCue:  SOC

Wrap: Serious juvenile sex offenders in Missouri are required to register with the adult sex offender registry when they become adults.

In case challenging that law for an unnamed juvenile offender. St. Louis Law Clinic Attorney Patricia Harrison argued about the long term effects of the penalty.

Actuality:  HAR1.WAV
Run Time:  00:10
Description: "Missouri is one of the few states who put children on the adult sex offender registry for life, with no possiblity of removal, ever.
But on the other side, an attorney for the state attorney general argued registration protected public safety.