PHILADELPHIA – Juvenile law advocates have long argued that minors should not have to register as sex offenders because they rarely reoffend. And they say the sex-offender label thwarts the juveniles' rehabilitation.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court takes up the issue in a York County case on Tuesday.
The Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center is representing seven young offenders who would have to register under a 2012 state law. A York County judge found that law illegal, but prosecutors have appealed to the high court.
The law is required to get federal law-enforcement funding under the 2006 Adam Walsh Act, named for the Florida child who was abducted and killed in 1981.
However, some states are reviewing the policy, and several other courts have found it unconstitutional.
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