Pennsylvania Juvenile Defenders

Website made possible with the generous support of the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Publications and Resources

A Snapshot of Juvenile Sex Offender Registration and Notification Laws

The Juvenile Act 2008

Rules of Juvenile Court Procedure: Delinquency Matters

Performance Guidelines for Quality and Effective Juvenile Delinquency Representation

Northeast Regional Defender Center

In order to increase the capacity of the grassroots juvenile defense bar across the country, the National Center incorporated into its design the development of nine Regional Defender Centers. The Northeast Region includes the following four states: Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

State and Local Defender Sites

A Snapshot of Juvenile Sex Offender Registration and Notification Laws

Nicole Pittman and Quyen Nguyen are delighted to present to you an electronic copy of A Snapshot of Juvenile Sex Offender Registration and Notification Laws: A Survey of the United States. The Snapshot consist of background information, charts, maps, and brief summaries detailing the sex offender laws applied to children in the 50 States and the District of Columbia.

This survey is intended to serve as a comprehensive reference guide on sex offender registration and notification laws as applied to children adjudicated delinquent in the juvenile justice system in the United States. The Snapshot surveys the laws in effect at a specific point in time. (The chosen “snapshot” in time is May 1, 2011).

This publication was designed to help juvenile defenders as we continue to fight for the rights of our clients charged with sexual assaults. It is our hope that the Snapshot will provide a straightforward reference guide to the sex offender registration laws as they relate to children during this time of great flux as jurisdictions wrestle with the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) compliance.

PURPOSE AND UTILITY OF THE SNAPSHOT

To remind juvenile defenders that they are not alone in the fight. We want you, as juvenile defenders, to know that you are not alone in this fight. We hear you when you say you feel ill-equipped to advise youth charged with sex offenses during this great time of flux in the laws.
To help us adequately advise our clients charged with as sexual offense through all stages of the proceeding. It is our hope that the information on the unintended consequences of sex offender registration laws can also be used as leverage with some prosecutors and judges, who could never have imagined a scenario where such punitive measures would attach to a juvenile adjudication of delinquency.
To enhance post-dispositional advocacy. Knowing the laws in other states can help us minimize the possible harm that could come from sending a child out-of-state. As defenders we must be aware that registration can attach to out-of-state residents. This means that we must check the registration laws of states before allowing our youthful clients to move to another jurisdiction.
1. Example #1 - State A does not have juvenile registration. Your client is adjudicated delinquent of a sex offense in State A and wants to move to live with his grandmother in State B. Because State B does register children, client could be forced to register in State B.
2. Example #2 – State X has juvenile registration that allows a child to petition for removal from the registry at the age of 18. Client moves to State Y to attend college. State Y has lifetime registration only. Client may be forced to register for life, even though his home state allowed him to petition for removal.

A Snapshot of Juvenile Sex Offender Registration and Notification Laws: A Survey of the United States

A Snapshot: The Executive Report