QUESTION:
The number of juvenile sex offenders (JSOs) -or- the number of registered juvenile sex offenders (JRSOs) are both elusive numbers. So, here we gathered two sources which address those issues and contain numbers which reasonable assertions can be made from.
As we searched for information we began to wonder why these numbers are not readily available? Guessing, lawmakers do not want them easily found because when addressing sex offender issues it is too easy for folks to feel sorry for these offenders, and rally around suggesting changes which lawmakers do not want to make, for fear they will be considered soft on sex offenders. Not good at election time.
Initially we are not going to say much more than, the facts are below, use them as you wish.
For the moment we will leave this and see if we can find anything further to work with.
NOTE: The 2009 DOJ study claims -in 2004- there were 14,000 in 29 states, or 483 per state, which nationally would be 24,150 (JSOs), now the 2011 Marie Claire Survey claims 22,290 in 23 states, or 969 per state, which nationally would be 48,450 (JRSOs).
eAdvocate
FIRST SOURCE:
Juveniles Who Commit Sex Offenses Against Minors (Dec 2009) NCJ 227763 (DOJ)
http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/ojjdp/227763.pdf
At the very bottom of the following from the bulletin, it says, In 2004, in 29 states, there were 14,000 juvenile sex offenders. Thats a reasonable starting point: 14,000 / 29 = 483 per state, times 50 states = 24,150 nationally (reasonable no.).
If we accept NCMEC map figures (I keep old NCMEC map numbers in the Community Room) and the oldest I have is 2005 which was 549,038 RSOs nationally (I know their numbers are not perfect). So juveniles sex offenders represent 4.4%, I think it is a bit low, but thats how this calculates. Do we accept this?
From that bulletin we see this panel:
The National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS)
The U.S. Department of Justice is replacing its long-established Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) system with a more comprehensive National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). Whereas UCR monitors only a limited number of index crimes and gathers few details on each crime event (except in the case of homicide), NIBRS collects a wide range of information on victims, offenders, and circumstances for a greater variety of offenses. Offenses tracked in NIBRS include violent crimes (e.g., homicide, assault, rape, robbery), property crimes (e.g., theft, arson, vandalism, fraud, and embezzlement), and crimes against society (e.g., drug offenses, gambling, prostitution).
Moreover, NIBRS collects information on multiple victims, multiple offenders, and multiple crimes that may be part of the same episode. Under the new system, as under the old, local law enforcement personnel compile information on crimes coming to their attention and the information is then aggregated at State and national levels. For a crime to count in the system, law enforcement simply needs to report and investigate the crime. The incident does not need to be cleared, nor must an arrest be made, though unfounded reports are deleted.
NIBRS holds great promise, but it is still far from a national system. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) began implementing the system in 1988, and State and local agency participation is voluntary and incremental. By 1995, jurisdictions in 9 States had agencies contributing data; by 1997, the number was 12; and by 2004, jurisdictions in 29 States submitted reports, providing coverage for 20 percent of the Nation’s population and 16 percent of its crime. At the beginning of 2004, only 7 States (Delaware, Idaho, Iowa, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia) had participation from all local jurisdictions, and only 5 cities with a population greater than 500,000 (Columbus, OH; El Paso, TX; Memphis, TN; Nashville, TN; and Milwaukee, WI) were reporting. The crime experiences of large urban areas are thus particularly underrepresented. The system, therefore, is not yet nationally representative, nor do its data represent national trends or national statistics. Nevertheless, the system is assembling large amounts of crime information and providing rich detail about juvenile offending and victimization that was previously unavailable. The patterns and associations these data reveal are real and represent the experiences of a large number of youth.
For 2004, the 29 participating States* reported more than 4,037,000 crime incidents, with at least 14,000 involving an identified juvenile sex offender. As more jurisdictions join the system, new patterns may emerge.
More information about NIBRS data collection can be found at these Web sites:
(1)
www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm#cius
(2)
www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/nibrs.htm
(3)
www.jrsa.org/ibrrc
* In 2004, participating States included Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
SECOND SOURCE:
Kids on the Sex-Offender Registry: A Marie Claire Survey 8-26-2011...
As American teenagers increasingly get labeled as sex-offenders — for offenses such as sleeping with an underage high-school sweetheart — Marie Claire conducted an exclusive survey, state by state, to determine how many juveniles are on the sex-offender registry. Learn more about this issue in our story, "The Accidental Sex Offender."
Every state has a sex-offender registry, and there are now more than 650,000 registered sex offenders nationwide. Not all states register juveniles. Of the 34 that do, only 23 keep track of the number of juveniles on the registry. In those 23 states, there are an estimated 23,000 registered juveniles. No states monitor whether the number of juveniles is on the rise or not, but one state, Oregon, provided an estimate, reporting a 70 percent jump in that state since 2005.
To be sure, some of the juveniles on the registry are guilty of violent sexual crimes. The grassroots movement in writer Abigail Pesta's story is trying to help a different group of people: the high-school lovers who get labeled as sex offenders for behavior that may technically be a crime, but which, activists argue, should fall into a different category.
As of May 2011, here are the 23 states that register juveniles, along with the number of registered juveniles in each state:
Alabama (1,594)
Colorado*
Florida (127)
Idaho (116)
Illinois (1,962)
Iowa (295)
Louisiana (91)**
Michigan (4,392)
Minnesota (2,417)
Missouri (156)
Montana (103)
New Mexico (0)
New York (40)
North Carolina (14)
North Dakota (106)
Ohio (1,251)
Oregon (2,690)
Rhode Island (152)
South Carolina (923)
South Dakota (69)
Texas (3,853)
Washington (424)***
Wisconsin (1,515)
*Colorado does not release number of registered juveniles to the public.
**This number does not include people who registered as juveniles and are now over the age of 18.
***This number does not include people who registered as juveniles and are now over the age of 18.
As of May 2011, here are the 11 states that register juveniles but don’t keep track of the number of registered juveniles:
Arkansas
Arizona
California
Delaware
Indiana
Kansas
Massachusetts
Mississippi
New Hampshire*
New Jersey
Virginia
*Juveniles only register if court-ordered to do so; they are not automatically required to register.
As of May 2011, here are the states that do not register juveniles.
Alaska
Connecticut
District of Columbia
Georgia
Hawaii
Kentucky
Maine
Maryland
Nebraska*
Nevada
Oklahoma
Pennsylvania
Tennessee
Utah**
Vermont
West Virginia
Wyoming
*Offenders who were convicted in juvenile court in another state and then moved to Nebraska are required to register; juveniles from Nebraska are not required to register.
**In Utah, a juvenile is required to register if he or she entered the Youth Corrections system within 30 days of his or her 21st birthday.
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