Speaker and Presenter

Speaker and Presenter

Biography

Nicole I. Pittman, ESQ.

CONSULTANT | Advocating for Youth Affected by Sex Offender Laws

Nicole is a leading expert on the impact of sex offense registries on children in the juvenile justice system. She has also served as a consultant on legal and legislative issues related to juvenile sexual offending behavior and the use of forensic science to better defend juveniles in delinquency proceedings. Since 2006, Nicole has provided expert testimony on the Adam Walsh Child Protection Act and sex offender notification and registration issues as they relate to children to over 30 states and before United States Congress. She has also presented widely on these issues to public defenders and juvenile advocates.

Nicole, a graduate of Duke University and Tulane Law School, has held staff positions at the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana, the Orleans Parish Indigent Defender and the New Orleans Pro Bono Project. From 2005 – 2011, Nicole worked as the Juvenile Justice Policy Analyst Attorney for the Defender Association of Philadelphia.

In the fall 2011, Nicole released her first publication entitled, A Snapshot of Juvenile Sex offender Registration and Notification Laws: A Survey of the United States.

In April 2011, Nicole was awarded the prestigious Soros Foundation Justice Advocacy Fellowship to raise awareness around the country regarding the excessively punitive effects and harmful impact of including children in sex offender registration and notification systems. From 2011 – 2013, as a Soros Senior Justice Advocacy Fellow hosted by Human Rights Watch, Nicole researched and wrote a Human Rights Watch report on the human rights violations that can stem from subjecting children (age 18 and younger) to sex offender registration, notification, and residency restrictions. The report which relied heavily on first-person testimony and interviews with child registrants from all parts of the country and entitled, “Raised on the Registry: The Irreparable Harm of Placing Children on Sex Offender Registries in the US,”was released on May 1, 2013. Despite, the existence of the laws for nearly two decades, the report was the first examination of the collateral consequences of registration and notification for youth sex offenders. Research findings revealed that restrictions can permeate nearly every aspect of young person’s life causing a cascading set of collateral consequences that severely restrict where, and with whom, youth sex offenders may live, work, attend school, and even spend time. In these circumstances, youth sex offenders are often depressed and even suicidal. Additionally, the harm suffered by victims of sexual assault, as well as their family members and their communities, can be harrowing, and tragic.

In November 2013, Nicole received the “Distinguished Research of the Year Award” from the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers (ATSA), an international scientific and public policy professional organization dedicated to preventing sexual abuse through evidence-based practice. Each year one award winner who has produced seminal work in the field is chosen by a panel of distinguished researchers. Nicole is the first attorney/non-scientist to ever receive this award.

Nicole is currently seeking opportunities to reform laws that expose children in the justice system to overly harsh consequences.