Mitchell Feld & Ken Harris Council for Children’s Rights Charlotte, NC

1. AWA, SORNA & U = OMG!Understanding how sex offenses and the Adam walsh act affect children and families Mitchell Feld & Ken Harris Council for Children’s Rights Charlotte, NC

2. Presentation outline • Typical client • Adam Walsh Act • Types of sex offenses • Registration issues • “New” sex issues • How to assist families • Resources

3. Who is the typical client?

4. Presenting characteristics • Past victimization • Age victimized • Type of victimization • Surrounding environment – what is witnessed • Supervision issues • Not predatory • Likely admission to wrongdoing • TIP: consider personality & gender of interviewer • TIP: rapport building is HUGE!!!

5. Adam walsh child protection and safety act of 2006 • Purpose of AWA • Title I: SORNA • Adjudicated delinquent & 14 years or older • 18 U.S.C. 2241 • Sexual act: any degree of genital or anal penetration, and any oral-genital or oral-anal contact • “Forcible penetration” • How Children Differ than Adults • AG has no authority to eliminate registration for juvenile’s • “No requirement that jurisdictions register juveniles adjudicated delinquent for lesser sexual assault or for nonviolent sexual conduct whose criminality depends on the age of the victim.” • No lifetime registration ordered

6. Current AWA news • 15 states & 2 territories in compliance • Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Wyoming, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands • Supplemental Guidelines • “(1)Allows jurisdictions, in their discretion, to exempt information concerning sex offenders required to register on the basis of juvenile delinquency adjudication from public Web site posting.” • “(7) Afford jurisdictions greater latitude regarding the registration of sex offenders who have fully exited the justice system but later reenter through a new (non-sex-offense) criminal conviction by providing that jurisdictions may limit such registration to cases in which the new conviction is for a felony.”

7. What compliance means • COST, COST, COST, COST, COST, COST, AND…………………COST • California report – $2.1 million for non-compliance vs. $32.07 million for compliance • Texas – $1.4 million for non-compliance vs. $39 million for compliance • New technology for fingerprinting • New assessments • Law enforcement processing new offenders • Evaluating past and new offenders • Notification

8. SORNA Defined crimes • SEXUAL ACTS AND SEXUAL CONTACT OFFENSES. These include criminal offenses that have an element involving a sexual act or sexual contact with another. The offenses covered include all sexual offenses whose elements involve: (i) any type or degree of genital, oral, or anal penetration, or (ii) any sexual touching of or contact with a person’s body, either directly or through the clothing. • SPECIFIED OFFENSES AGAINST MINORS. A criminal offense against a minor that involves any of the following: • Non-Parental Kidnapping • Non-Parental false imprisonment • Solicitation to engage in sexual conduct • Use in a sexual performance • Solicitation to practice prostitution • Video voyeurism • Possession, production, or distribution of child pornography • Criminal sexual conduct involving a minor • Use of the internet to facilitate criminal sexual conduct involving a minor • Any conduct that by its nature is a sex offense against a minor • Federal Offenses, Specified Military Offenses, Attempts & Conspiracies

9. Juvenile registration offenses in Illinois Any felony or misdemeanor adjudication of any of the following: • Indecent Solicitation of a Child; • Sexual Exploitation of a Child; • Soliciting for a Juvenile Prostitute; • Keeping a place of Juvenile Prostitution; • Patronizing a Juvenile Prostitute; • Juvenile Pimping; • Exploitation of a Child; • Child Pornography; • Aggravated Child Pornography; • Criminal Sexual Assault; • Aggravated Criminal Sexual Assault; • Predatory Criminal Sexual Assault of a Child; • Criminal Sexual Abuse; • Aggravated Criminal Sexual Abuse; • Ritualized Abuse of a Child; • Forcible Detention, if the victim is under age 18; • Indecent Solicitation of an Adult; • Soliciting for a Prostitute, if the victim is under age 18; • Pandering, if the victim is under age 18; • Patronizing, if the victim is under age 18; • Pimping, if the victim is under age 18; • Public Indecency for a third or subsequent conviction; • Custodial Sexual Misconduct (if convicted on or after August 22, 2002); • Sexual Misconduct with a Person with a Disability; • Permitting Sexual Abuse of a Child; • Kidnapping, if the victim is under age 18 and the defendant is not a parent of the victim and the offense was sexually motivated as defined in Section 10 of the Sex Offender Management Board Act and the offense was committed on or after January 1, 1996; • Aggravated Kidnapping, if the victim is under age 18 and defendant is not the parent of the victim and the offense was sexually motivated as defined in Section 10 of the Sex Offender Management Board Act and the offense was committed on or after January 1, 1996; • Unlawful Restraint, if the victim is under age 18 and the defendant is not the parent of the victim and the offense was sexually motivated as defined in Section 10 of the Sex Offender Management Board Act and the offense was committed on or after January 1, 1996; • Aggravated Unlawful Restraint, if the victim is under age 18 and the defendant is not the parent of the victim and the offense was sexually motivated as defined in Section 10 of the Sex Offender Management Board Act and the offense was committed on or after January 1, 1996; • Child Abduction by luring a child under 16 into a vehicle or building and the offense was sexually motivated as defined in Section 10 of the Sex Offender Management Board Act; • First Degree Murder of a Child, when the defendant is at least 17 years of age at the time of the offense and the victim is under age 18. Applies to a person who committed the offense before June 1, 1996 only if the person was incarcerated in the Illinois Department of Corrections on August 20, 2004; • First Degree Murder of an Adult, when the victim was a person 18 years of age of older at the time of the commission of the offense. Applies to a person who was released from the Illinois Department of Corrections on or after January 1, 2002; or • Any attempts to commit any of the offenses listed above.

10. Factual strategies against registration • Plea deal • Age of the juvenile • No prior history • Circumstances surrounding the offense • Sexual predator vs. teenage exploration • Already in JSO treatment • Safety plans implemented

11. Policy strategies against registration • Registration doesn’t work • Registration prevents future success • Potential harm to juvenile & family • Only included in police registry (depends on State & local rules) • Rejection from peer groups & adults • Manifestation of nonsexual feelings • Resulting mental health issues • Ohio Supreme Court argument

12. What do you post on facebook???

13. TEENS Owning cell phones

14. Parents vs. teens & cell phones

15. Texts per day

16. Picture & video messaging

19. Pew 2009 study on sexting In a nationally representative survey of those ages 12-17 conducted on landline and cell phones, the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project found: • 4% of cell-owning teens ages 12-17 say they have sent sexually suggestive nude or nearly nude images of themselves to someone else via text messaging • 15% of cell-owning teens ages 12-17 say they have received sexually suggestive nude or nearly nude images of someone they know via text messaging on their cell phone. • Older teens are much more likely to send and receive these images; 8% of 17-year-olds with cell phones have sent a sexually provocative image by text and 30% have received a nude or nearly nude image on their phone. • The teens who pay their own phone bills are more likely to send “sexts”: 17% of teens who pay for all of the costs associated with their cell phones send sexually suggestive images via text; just 3% of teens who do not pay for, or only pay for a portion of the cost of the cell phone send these images. • Our focus groups revealed that there are three main scenarios for sexting: 1) exchange of images solely between two romantic partners; 2) exchanges between partners that are shared with others outside the relationship and 3) exchanges between people who are not yet in a relationship, but where at least one person hopes to be.

20. Ways children have been bullied

21. Witnessing bullying in social media

25. How to assist families • Safety & supervision plans • JSO programs • Fully licensed clinician that does not require admission for assessment • Past victimization, perpetrator, & PTSD • No cookie cutter recommendations • Address current behaviors • Is an admission required for successful completion of treatment? • Proactive parents monitoring social media • Keeping parents informed about AWA & SORNA • Look for grooming behaviors • Monitoring school piece – ensuring a right to education • Substance abuse or other MH concern to be addressed • Hold disposition open

26. resources • SMART Office - www.ojp.usdoj.gov/smart/ • SORNA Substantial Implementation Checklist - http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/smart/pdfs/sorna_checklist.pdf • Spring 2012 SORNA Implementation Update - http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/smart/smartwatch/12_spring/news-2.html • Federal Register 2011 Supplemental Guidelines - http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/smart/pdfs/SORNAFinalSuppGuidelines01_11_11.pdf • Federal Register 2008 National Guidelines - http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/smart/pdfs/final_sornaguidelines.pdf

27. Resources continued • Ohio Juvenile Registration Form - http://www.opd.ohio.gov/AWA_Information/AW_Jan_1_juvenile_duties_register_form.pdf • Ohio Supreme Court case - http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/rod/docs/pdf/0/2011/2011-ohio-3374.pdf • http://www.pewinternet.org/~/media//Files/Reports/2009/PIP_Teens_and_Sexting.pdf • Justice Policy Institute • http://www.justicepolicy.org/images/upload/08-11_RPT_WalshActRegisteringHarm_JJ-PS.pdf • http://www.justicepolicy.org/images/upload/08-08_FAC_SORNAFactFiction_JJ.pdf • Practitioner’s Guide to AWA - http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/smart/pdfs/practitioner_guide_awa.pdf

28. Resources continued • Collateral Damage: Family Members of Registered Sex Offenders, Levins & Tweksbury, Am J Crim Just (2009) 34:54-68. • http://www.nsopw.gov • Darkness to Light – www.d2l.org • National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers – www.nacdl.org • National Center on Sexual Behavior of Youth - http://www.ncsby.org/