19,000?
Published March 20th, 2009That’s the number of minors I said — in last Saturday’s talk — were on sex offender registries nationally. But the statistic kept bothering me. To say the least, it seemed high, even if it included (as the source indicated) those people who were no longer minors but were under the age of consent when they committed the offenses.
I went back to the article, at a website called Citizens for Change. On second look, it’s iffy. For one thing, the writer is extrapolating from an inspection of the SORs of Georgia and Kansas, which have extraordinarily harsh sex offender laws and ferocious enforcement, especially regarding minor offenders.
And then there’s the following disclaimer:
All of the information contained in this website is purely speculation. Anything contained within this website is NOT presented as fact as most has been presented from various writes from around the world. No steps have been taken to verify what is contained in this website.
So I apologize for spreading a nasty rumor. It could turn out to be true, and I’m going to keep looking for credible estimates (any relevant cites are welcome). Until confirmation, however, take that claim with more than a grain of salt.
One thing is certain: the number of kids on SORs will grow when all the states come into compliance with the federal Adam Walsh Act, which requires offenders as young as 14 to register if the “victim” is 12 or under.
And already, 29 states require minors convicted of consensual sex to register. That’s according to No Easy Answers, an excellent — and highly critical — report on U.S. sex offender laws published in 2007.
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