S.B. 486, An Act Concerning Notification to Boards of Education of the Release of a Juvenile Sexual Offender and a Model Policy Concerning the Reentry of Such Juveniles into the School System

The ACLU-CT believes that this bill’s broad mandate is bad public policy. There is not a one-size-fits-all approach for these complicated cases. Notification of a board of education of the release of a juvenile who was convicted of a certain sexual offense should be based on a case-by-case determination depending on the situation, not a broad mandate. Releasing such information about a juvenile can be counter to that juvenile integrating back into the community, especially if that information is disseminated by a superintendent throughout a town or district. Furthermore, this proposal is unnecessary, as current law permits the courts to transfer serious sexual assault cases involving juvenile suspects to adult court, where registration on the Connecticut Sexual Offender Registry would be required following conviction.