Juvenile Sex Offenders (H 7197)

Currently, any juvenile charged with a serious sex offense can be waived into adult court where conviction of, or plea to, an offense would automatically subject them to the onerous and punitive requirements of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, or SORNA. However, even juveniles whose charges are dealt with as delinquent conduct in Family Court are subject to the same requirements, needlessly damaging their lives and rehabilitative efforts. To address this harmful practice, this legislation, supported by the ACLU, would severely limit the number of juveniles adjudicated in Family Court for sex offenses who would be required to register under SORNA.