Effects of juvenile sex offender registration on adolescent well-being

An empirical examination

Bibliographic Data

ID12434528
AuthorsElizabeth J Letourneau (0000-0002-1853-4751, corresponding author), Andrew Harris (0000-0003-2927-8818), Andrew J Harris, Ryan T Shields (0000-0003-4312-492X), Scott M Walfield (0000-0002-6587-496X), Amanda E Ruzicka (0000-0002-0569-0413), Christopher Buckman (0000-0002-7087-3339), Geoffrey Kahn (0000-0001-8151-3059), Reshmi Nair
Year2017
Volume24
Issue1
Pages105-117
Publication date2017-11-27
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenuePsychology Public Policy and Law (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1076-8971 • E-ISSN: 1939-1528
PublisherAmerican Psychological Association (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1037/law0000155
OpenAlexW2768404774
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited20

[Correction Notice: An Erratum for this article was reported in Vol 24(1) of Psychology, Public Policy, and Law (see record 2017-56974-001). In the article, the department and affiliation were incorrectly listed for author Scott M. Walfield. The department and affiliation should have read Department of Criminal Justice, East Carolina University.] For decades, commentators have drawn attention to the potentially harmful effects of subjecting children to sex offender registration and notification policies. To date, however, these concerns have received limited empirical attention. This study is the first to compare registered and nonregistered children on several key domains in an effort to evaluate the unintended consequences of juvenile registration and notification. We surveyed 251 boys receiving treatment services for inappropriate or harmful sexual behavior, of whom 73 (29%) were or had been subjected to registration requirements. As predicted, Registered children reported more problems or fewer strengths on in the domains of mental health, peer relationships, and experiences with safety and victimization. Most notably, relative to Nonregistered children, Registered children reported significantly more severe suicidal cognitions and had higher odds of having recently attempted suicide in the past 30 days. Likewise, Registered children were 5 times more likely to have been approached by an adult for sex in the past year. Unexpectedly, Registered children also reported significantly greater perceived social support, perhaps reflecting efforts by family members and others to mitigate the harmful effects of registration. In combination with the available literature indicating that these policies do not improve public safety, the results of this study offer empirical support for the concerns expressed by those calling for the abolition of juvenile registration and notification policies. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)

Criminal justice · Criminology · Economic Justice · Logistic regression · Mental health · Notice · Odds · Political science · Psychiatry · Public health · Sex offender · Unintended consequences · Child Abuse and Trauma · Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development · Clinical Psychology · Law · Medicine · Nursing · Psychology · Psychopathy, Forensic Psychiatry, Sexual Offending

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