Intensive Program for Juvenile Sex Offenders

The Counterpoint residential program for boys is a year-round program with an on-site academic program. Boys stay an average of 18 months. They come into the program by referral from the juvenile justice system or on the recommendation of family, school or social service agencies.  Counterpoint is based on a cognitive behavioral and relapse prevention therapy model. The key is for offenders to take responsibility for their abusive actions and reject the “thinking errors” they used to justify their abuse of another child.

Only 6% of all juvenile sex offenders who receive treatment re-offend.

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Collision Between Laws to Protect the Public and Laws to Shield the Identities of Children

Laws meant to protect the public by listing sex offenders on Internet registries are colliding with laws intended to shield the identities of children who get into trouble. A proposed federal law would require states to put juveniles on public registries after sex offenses are handled in juvenile court. Some states, on the other hand, have reconsidered putting juveniles on sex offender registries.

• Vermont no longer applies sex offender laws to people ages 15-18 who engage in consensual sex, joining other states with “Romeo and Juliet” laws that keep such teens off offender registries.
• Kansas gave juvenile court judges the discretion to keep juveniles off the public registry.
• In Missouri, a teenager convicted of consensual sex with another teen can appeal to be removed from the non-public police registry. Missouri does not put juveniles on its public registry.

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Report of the Task Force on Children with Sexual Behavior Problems

ASTA, The Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers, has released this report. The Task Force was asked to address how assessment should be linked to intervention activities, what intervention models or components are most effective, and the role of family involvement in intervention. It also addressed a number of scientific and public policy issues concerning child with sexual behavior problems. 32 page pdf file.

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Sexual Assaults by Children

In decades past, social workers would recognize sexual assault by children as a red flag for similar abuse in the home. Youngsters committing sexual offenses were found to be sexual victims. Experts now worry about some children “acting out” because of the proliferation of sexuality on the internet and in graphic video games, on cable TV and in their parent’s stash of explicit DVDs. Experts say the signs of sexually reactive behavior include:

• Sexual molestation of other children
• Mutual advanced sexual activity with other children
• Excessive, age-inappropriate sexual play with other children
• Excessive masturbation, sexual thoughts, gestures
• Public masturbation or exposure
• Use of force, bribery or coercion to engage in sex play with friends
• Oversexualization in drawings, paintings, play with dolls
• Sexual molestation of other children

The article above includes a list of resource organizations.

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Two Maine Sex Offenders Killed by an Apparent Vigilante – The Death of One Raises Questions About the Appropriate Use of Registries

The death of one of the two reignites the national debate over sex offender registries. William Elliott, 24, had been convicted of having sex with a girlfriend when she was two weeks shy of her 16th birthday and he was 19. There is some question whether he should have been on the registry at all.  Maine posts online everyone convicted of a sex crime, their addresses, and pictures, on a database accessible to anyone with an Internet connection.

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National Sex Offender Public Registry Web Site

The Department of Justice has activated its National Sex Offender Public Registry (NSOPR) web site which provides real-time access to public sex offender data nationwide in a single Internet search. The site allows parents and concerned citizens to search existing public state and territory sex offender registries beyond their own states. Data from twenty-two states is currently available on the NSOPR web site.

Click here for an article about Utah’s participation in the web site.

++++++++++GPS to Track Sex Offenders

The California Department of Corrections has purchased 500 Global Positioning devices for sex offenders on parole. Within three months, about 180 sex offenders in Orange, San Diego, San Bernardino and Riverside counties will wear ankle monitors all day, every day. The devices page parole officers when sex offenders approach forbidden zones, such as schools or day-care centers.

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