State v. JEREMY P.State v. JEREMY P.
¶ 1. Jeremy P appeals from a dispo-sitional order adjudicating him to be a delinquent child based on his commission of third-degree sexual assault
BACKGROUND
¶ 2. In 2002, the State alleged that Jeremy, then age 13, had engaged in fellatio with a five-year-old child on two occasions. Pursuant to a negotiated plea, Jeremy admitted he committed one act of third-degree sexual assault. However, he reserved the right to challenge the
¶ 3. Jeremy was placed on supervision for one year with a variety of conditions. The court commissioner who accepted Jeremy's plea specifically imposed and stayed the sex offender reporting requirement pending the trial court's decision on Jeremy's challenge to the mandatory registration statute. The trial court issued a written opinion lifting the stay and requiring Jeremy to register as a sex offender consistent with
DISCUSSION
¶ 4. Jeremy challenges the constitutionality of
¶ 6. We begin our analysis by examining
938.34 Disposition of juvenile adjudged delinquent.
(15m) Sex Offender Reporting Requirements.
(bm) If the juvenile is adjudicated delinquent on the basis of a violation, or the solicitation, conspiracy, or attempt to commit a violation, of s. 940.22 (2), 940.225 (1), (2), or (3), 944.06, 948.02 (1) or (2), 948.025, 948.05, 948.055, 948.06, 948.07, 948,075, 948.08, 948.095, 948.11 (2) (a) or (am), 948.12, 948.13, or 948.30, or of s. 940.30 or 940.31 if the victim was a minor and the juvenile was not the victim's parent, the court shall require the juvenile to comply with the reporting requirements under s. 301.45 unless the court determines, after a hearing on a motion made by the juvenile, that the juvenile is not required to comply under s. 301.45 (lm).
Consistent with this statute, the court is required to order Jeremy, who was found to have committed a violation of
It violates his right to have a trial by jury and procedural due process before adult consequences are imposed upon him for his actions. It violates his substantive due process right to liberty because it does not allow the court to consider his best interest. Finally, it violates his constitutional right to equal protection because it places a disparate burden on him as a child.
We examine each of these arguments in turn.
I. Right to a jury trial and procedural due process
¶ 8. Jeremy contends that
In [Hezzie], the supreme court found that portions of the Juvenile Justice Code provided adult criminal punishment by allowing certain juveniles to be transferred to adult prison at the age of 17. The supreme court reasoned that this meant the juveniles were receiving a "de facto criminal sentence" without a jury trial. Therefore, the supreme court found those portions of the Juvenile Justice Code unconstitutional and severed them from the Code. Similarly .. . the requirement that certain juveniles register as sex offenders subjects those juveniles to adult "collateral consequences" of criminal prosecution but without the adult's right to a jury trial.
Even though the sex offender registration requirement for adults in [Wis. Stat. § 301.45 ] has been found not to be criminal punishment, [citing State v. Bollig,2000 WI 6 ,232 Wis. 2d 561 ,605 N.W.2d 199 ], an adult is only made subject to this regulation after going through the adult criminal system with its constitutional protection of a jury trial. The sex registration requirement for an adult in [§ 301.45 ] is a "collateral consequence" of conviction in the adult criminal system.
(Citations omitted.) He further argues that the registration requirement for juveniles is unconstitutional because if the juvenile stops reporting to the sex offender registry after the dispositional order expires, the juvenile, then an adult, may be imprisoned pursuant to
¶ 9. In response, the State notes that the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the United States Supreme
¶ 10. We conclude that Jeremy's constitutional challenge must fail, consistent with controlling precedent established in Hezzie and Bollig. In Hezzie, the supreme court specifically addressed several juveniles' challenges to seven provisions of Wis. Stat. ch. 938 (1995-96 and 1997-98), 5 including the juveniles' argument that the sex offender registration provision of the Juvenile Justice Code violated the juveniles' constitutional rights to a jury trial. In Hezzie, the court summarized the juveniles' argument:
[T]he juveniles in this case premise their constitutional challenges on the assertion that the [Juvenile Justice Code] is not a juvenile code but is, for all intents and purposes, a "criminal code." Because the juvenile proceedings are therefore akin to a criminal prosecution that may impose criminal punishment, they argue, their right to a jury trial is guaranteed underWis. Const, art. I, § 7 and the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments. To support their argument, the juveniles assert that under certain specific provisions in the [Juvenile Justice Code], a juvenile is potentially subject to: (1) a possible lifetime commitment as a sexually violentindividual under Wis. Stat. ch. 980; (2) a possible need to register as a sex offender; (3) a possible lifetime ban on the possession of a firearm; (4) an adjudication of delinquency being considered in any future adult sentencing; (5) an adjudication of delinquency being considered for future impeachment proceedings and in future bail hearings; (6) the possibility of several years of placement in a juvenile secured correctional facility; and (7) a possible transfer from a juvenile secured correctional facility to an adult prison.
Id.,
The juveniles also argue that an adjudication of delinquency for a sexually motivated offense may result in having to comply with the reporting requirements for sex offender registration underWis. Stat. § 301.45 . The juveniles fail to recognize that those reporting requirements may be waived. UnderWis. Stat. § 938.34(15m)(bm) (1997-98), a juvenile need not comply with the reporting requirements of§ 301.45 if "the court determines, after a hearing on a motion made by the juvenile, that the juvenile is not required to comply under s. 301.45(lm)." Factors that a juvenile court may consider in determining whether to waive the reporting requirements include:
1. The ages, at the time of the violation, of the juvenile and the victim of the violation.
2. The relationship between the juvenile and the victim of the violation.
3. Whether the violation resulted in bodily harm, as defined in s. 939.22(4), to the victim.
4. Whether the victim suffered from a mental illness or mental deficiency that rendered him or her temporarily or permanently incapable of understanding or evaluating the consequences of his or her actions.
5. The probability that the juvenile will commit other violations in the future.
6. Any other factor that the court determines may be relevant to particular case.
Wis. Stat. § 938.34(15m)(c) . The requirements of§ 301.45 , therefore, are only imposed on a juvenile who is adjudicated delinquent where the particular facts of the case and concerns for public safety dictate it. This is not criminal punishment and does not equate the [Juvenile Justice Code] to a criminal code.
Id. at 880-81 (footnote omitted).
¶ 11. Jeremy argues that Hezziés discussion of the sex offender registration provision was based on an erroneous reading of the statute. For juveniles like Jeremy who violate
¶ 12. Jeremy argues that Hezziés misinterpretation of the statute undermines its ultimate conclusion, that was:
The requirements of§ 301.45 , therefore, are only imposed on a juvenile who is adjudicated delinquent where the particular facts of the case and concerns for public safety dictate it. This is not criminal punishment and does not equate the [Juvenile Justice Code] to a criminal code.
Hezzie,
¶ 13. Even if the supreme court erroneously concluded that trial courts have discretion to waive the reporting requirement for those juveniles adjudicated delinquent for offenses specified in
¶ 14. In
Bollig,
the supreme court considered whether a defendant was entitled to withdraw his no contest plea because the trial court had not advised the defendant of the sex offender registration requirement.
Because the duty to register is not punishment, it does not represent a direct consequence of Bollig's no contest plea. Rather, it is a collateral consequence, and Bollig does not have a due process right to be informed of collateral consequences prior to entering his plea.
Id.
¶ 15.
Bollig's
conclusion that the duty to register is not punishment, although decided in the context.of a plea, is relevant in this case because
Hezzie
concluded that if a provision is not criminal punishment, there is no right to a jury trial guaranteed by the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution and article I, section 7 of the Wisconsin Constitution.
See Hezzie,
¶ 16. Moreover, if one considered mandatory sex registration by juveniles to be punishment, the supreme court's decision in
Cesar
effectively attaches a "best interest of the child" consideration to that punishment by permitting the trial court to exercise its discretion to stay that part of the dispositional order.
See
II. Right to substantive due process
¶ 17. Jeremy contends that "the mandatory sex offender registration requirement for juveniles in
¶ 18. Jeremy candidly asks this court to recognize a new constitutional liberty interest contained in the "penumbra" of the Bill of Rights: "that children have a fundamental liberty interest in having their best interest considered in any decision the government makes about their lives." If children do have such a fundamental liberty interest, we would be required to review the question of mandatory sex offender registration while employing a standard of strict scrutiny.
See id.,
¶ 17. This standard requires the State to show that the statute is narrowly tailored to advance a compelling interest that justifies interference with the juveniles' fundamental liberty interest.
See id.
If a fundamental
¶ 19. We decline Jeremy's invitation to recognize a new constitutional liberty interest. The due process clause of the Wisconsin Constitution is the substantial equivalent of the respective clause in the federal constitution.
Joseph E.G.,
"The best interests of the child," a venerable phrase familiar from divorce proceedings, is a proper and feasible criterion for making the decision as to which of two parents will be accorded custody. But it is not traditionally the sole criterion — much less the sole constitutional criterion — for other, less narrowly channeled judgments involving children, where their interests conflict in varying degrees with the interests of others.
Id. at 303-04.
¶ 20. The United States Supreme Court has cautioned against expanding substantive due process rights. " 'Substantive due process' analysis must begin with a careful description of the asserted right, for' [t]he doctrine of judicial self-restraint requires us to exercise the utmost care whenever we are asked to break new ground in this field.'"
Id.
at 302 (citation omitted). In
¶ 21. Jeremy argues that the rights of children to have their best interest considered in any action by the State is "implicit in the concept of ordered liberty," citing
Palko v. Connecticut,
¶ 22. In the alternative, Jeremy argues that even if this court employs the rational basis test, "mandatory registration statutes that allow no judicial discretion should not be able to pass muster." Jeremy devotes only a single paragraph to this alternative argument. Because this issue is not fully briefed, we need not address it.
See State v. Pettit,
¶ 23. Similar to his substantive due process argument, Jeremy asks this court to strictly scrutinize the mandatory sex offender registration provisions to determine whether the statutes violate juveniles' rights to equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution and by article I, section 1 of the Wisconsin Constitution. "Equal protection requires strict scrutiny of a legislative classification only when the classification impermissibly interferes with the exercise of a fundamental right or operates to the peculiar disadvantage of a suspect class."
State v. Annala,
¶ 24. Jeremy argues that in order to apply strict scrutiny analysis, this court should recognize "that a child has a fundamental constitutional right to have his or her best interest considered in any decision about him or her made by the State," and that children are a "suspect class" that likewise requires strict scrutiny.
¶ 25. The Wisconsin Supreme Court has concluded that the equal protection clauses of the Wisconsin and United States Constitutions are equivalent for purposes of interpretation.
Hezzie,
¶ 26. Next, we consider Jeremy's invitation to recognize children as a suspect class. "When the courts speak of a 'suspect' class, they look to 'traditional indicia of suspectness.'"
State v. Martin,
Traditional indicia are found when there is a history of such purposeful unequal treatment, political powerlessness or imposition of special disabilities such that the courts command extraordinary protection from the majoritarian political process. Persons generally are placed in these suspect classes by accident of birth. Examples of suspect classes are race, alienage and national origin. Another example is where a statute classifies by sex.
Id. (citations omitted).
¶ 27. Jeremy argues that children:
are a suspect class because, like the traditional suspect classes, they are a minority without political power. They have been the object of discrimination throughout history. Various laws have had to be passed to protect children, such as child labor laws. It is time for the courts to recognize children as a suspect class who need the equal protection rights of the Constitution to prevent government from applying laws to them that have a disparate impact on them as children.
¶ 29. Because we decline to recognize that children are members of a suspect class with a fundamental liberty right to have their best interest considered before the State makes decisions about them, we decline to apply the strict scrutiny test to Jeremy's equal protection analysis. Jeremy does not argue that the statutes fail under the rational basis test, so we decline to further address his equal protection argument.
W. Discretion to stay the order
¶ 30. Although we have rejected Jeremy's constitutional challenge to the statutes mandating sex offender registration, we reverse and remand the dispo-sitional order so that the trial court can consider whether to stay the registration component of the
¶ 31. We conclude that it is appropriate to give the trial court an opportunity to exercise discretion, as of the date of its original decision, with respect to staying the sex offender registration component of Jeremy's disposi-tional order. Although Jeremy did not explicitly seek this remedy, the heart of his appeal is his desire to avoid having to register as a sex offender. Given this desire, as well as the trial court's opinion implying that if it had the authority to do so, it would consider staying the disposi-tional order, we conclude that the trial court should have an opportunity to exercise its discretion in this case.
CONCLUSION
¶ 32. We reject Jeremy's constitutional challenges to
By the Court. — Order affirmed in part; reversed in part and cause remanded with directions.
Notes
All references to the Wisconsin Statutes are to the 2001-02 version unless otherwise noted.
Jeremy also reserved the right to petition the court for an expungement of the adjudication on or after August 17, 2005. That reservation is not at issue in this appeal.
Pursuant to
(lm) Exception to registration requirement, (a) A person is not required to comply -with the reporting requirements under this section if all of the following apply:
1. The person meets the criteria under sub. (lg) (a) to (dd) based on any violation, or on the solicitation, conspiracy or attempt to commit any violation, of s. 948.02 (1) or (2) or 948.025.
lg. The violation, or the solicitation, conspiracy or attempt to commit the violation, of s. 948.02 (1) or (2) or 948.025 did not involve sexual intercourse, as defined in s. 948.01 (6), either by the use or threat of force or violence or with a victim under the age of 12 years.
2. At the time of the violation, or of the solicitation, conspiracy or attempt to commit the violation, of s. 948.02 (1) or (2) or 948.025, the person had not attained the age of 19 years and was not more than 4 years older or not more than 4 years younger than the child.
3. It is not necessary, in the interest of public protection, to require the person to comply with the reporting requirements under this section.
See
Jeremy's procedural due process argument is based entirely on his assertion that he is entitled to a jury trial before being required to register as a sex offender. He does not argue there are other procedures that are constitutionally mandated before he can be required to register as a sex offender.
In
Hezzie,
See