N.J. high court eases test for juvenile offenders to be removed from sex offender list

Chief Justice Stuart Rabner during a session of the New Jersey Supreme Court on January 30, 2023. (Amanda Brown for New Jersey Monitor)

Some of those placed on the state’s sex offender list as juveniles are not required to stay offense-free for 15 years following their conviction or release, New Jersey’s Supreme Court ruled Monday.

The ruling is a victory for those who have sought to narrow how Megan’s Law registration can be applied to minors. Chief Justice Stuart Rabner, writing for a unanimous court, said deciding in any other way would have required the court to add language to the statute.

“We cannot do so,” Rabner wrote.

Deputy public defender Stephanie Lutz said in a statement the decision underscores a crucial point.

“Minors accused of sex offenses should not be unfairly judged by standards meant for adults convicted of similar crimes,” Lutz said. “The courts have recognized time and again that children are different: They are less mature and developed when they offend, more likely to rehabilitate after their offenses as they age, and extremely unlikely to reoffend as adults.”

New Jersey’s sex offender registration law is among the nation’s strictest. Minors are automatically placed on the list if adjudicated delinquent in family court, and judges have no discretion to keep their names off the list.

Sex offender registrations are lifelong under New Jersey law, but those on the list for non-aggravated offenses can petition to have their names removed. Courts can remove an individual if they find that person is not likely to pose a threat to others and has not reoffended in the 15 years following their conviction or release from a correctional facility.

The court’s Monday decision says juveniles adjudicated delinquent in family court are not subject to the latter test because they could not be convicted unless they were tried as adults. The law’s authors did not include those adjudged delinquent in the offense-free test despite including them elsewhere in the statute, the decision notes.

“The Legislature made policy choices in the way it crafted Megan’s Law. It decided when to extend the law to juveniles adjudicated delinquent and when not to,” he wrote.

In effect, juveniles tried in family court are not subject to the requirement because family courts do not mete out convictions.

Reformers push for Megan’s Law changes for juvenile offenders

Juveniles tried as adults would still be required to stay offense-free for 15 years to have their names removed from the sex offender list.

Those adjudicated delinquent must still show by clear and convincing evidence — evidence that is substantially more likely to be true than not — that they pose no threat to the safety of others to be taken off the sex offender list.

More recent offenses could still factor into an individual’s request to have their name struck from the registry even if they are not subject to the offense-free requirement.

“To develop a persuasive record of rehabilitation takes time. Judges commonly look to whether an individual has made progress over a period of time both during confinement and afterward in the community,” Rabner wrote.

The court’s decision is a response to two cases lodged by juvenile sex offenders who asked the court to strike their names from the registry.

One, identified as R.H. in the court’s opinion, was adjudged delinquent of sexually assaulting his younger brother in 2009 and has not reoffended since, but lower courts found he could not be removed from the registry because of the offense-free requirement.

The other, called T.L., was adjudged delinquent of aggravated sexual assault in 2005 and was convicted of an offensive language disorderly persons charge in 2015. Lower courts said the disorderly persons conviction forced them to keep him on the registry.

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