By Joe Atmonavege | November 17, 2019
The state’s Public Defender’s office is hoping to join a federal lawsuit that is seeking to eliminate Megan’s Law registration for all juvenile sex offenders in New Jersey, a move the attorneys hope will strengthen their case to end the requirement.
Last week, the office filed an additional complaint against Attorney General Gurbir Grewal and a motion to intervene in the case of a 23-year-old who filed a lawsuit earlier this year alleging the Constitutional rights of juvenile sex offenders are being violated in New Jersey.
Both lawsuits argue that there was a rush to judgment when laws were passed creating sex offender registries that included juvenile sex offenders. Extensive research has shown that recidivism rates for juvenile sexual offenders are extremely low and putting them on a registry may actually have little effect on public safety while causing severe psychological harm to the juveniles themselves, according to the lawsuits.
“Adding another plaintiff to this litigation just shows it is a wide reaching problem,” said Jesse DeBrosse, an attorney in the Public Defender’s special hearings unit.
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Read at NJ.com