Essay On Sex Offender Typologies

About 43.9% of sex offenders identified both male and female perpetrators as opposed to 9.6% of nonsexual offenders. These individuals were exposed to more severe forms of victimization with a longer duration. Sex offenders endured an average of 5.6 years of abuse while nonsexual offenders experienced 3.9 years. Through the use of logistic regression analyses, Burton, Miller, and Shill (2002) concluded that method of operation and gender of abuser accurately predicts whether an individual will sexually offend. The analysis correctly predicted and placed 78.3% of the sex-offending males into their correct groups.

When I think of a sex offender what automatically comes to my mind is a creepy middle aged white man who lives in close vicinity to their victims. Through my research, I have found that in certain aspects my vision of what a sex offender is right while in other aspects I was wrong. When looking at gender it has been found that sex offenders are overwhelmingly male, however, offenders can still be female with an estimated of 14% of offenders in the cases involving boys and 6% of cases involving girls being female (Statistics). Female sex offenders is a concept that rarely if ever crosses my mind as I am so used to men being portrayed as sex offenders in the media. As for the age of offenders, it can range from young to elderly, but approximately one-third of offenders are juveniles with 23% of reported cases being perpetrated by individuals under the age of 18 (Statistics). Yet again a 17 or 16-year-old sex offender is something I thought could never be

There have been many federal acts passed in correspondence with sex offenses that illicit feat with the public. There are many different types of ways in which Levenson & colleagues’ (2007) describes the perceptions that the public has based on certain factors. For instance, in relation to the perception about the sex offender notification system, a survey produced results of around 80 percent in favor of these registries, because these individuals felt safer in their communities knowing who was in their neighborhood. Further, due to this fear that resonated in the early 1990’s communities do have tools such as residential restrictions, civil commitment, notification procedures, etc. that aid in the protection. However, there are myths associated with sex offenders, for example legislation often states that the reasoning for new laws and regulations is due to the high recidivism rates. However, sex offenders have significantly lower recidivism rates than believed. Also, there are countless people who do not believe that sex offenders can be assisted with techniques from a psychological standpoint. Most people think that these offenders cannot be treated, however, there is research being conducted that is promising. Finally, there is a common misconception that sex offenders kill their victims, especially children more often than other killers, however this is not true.

The stereotype of who a typical sexual assault victim is, is also detrimental to abide by as male victims of sexual assault will often fear being blamed and feel emasculated as a result of their victimisation. The continuation of stereotypic types of victims when considering a certain crime can often distort the seriousness of sexual

When we hear the phrase, sex offender, we normally feel repulsed. We think of dirty old creepy men. I for one used to do this, I won’t lie. This is because people like to rush to judgment. But my opinions changed when I came to the realization that it’s not just creepy old men who are sex offenders. I want to talk about them, but not those who are serial rapists or child molesters; they don’t deserve to be talked about. I’m talking about people who are convicted, whether it’s falsely, or unjustly, and have to wear a stamp on their forehead for the rest of their lives saying they are a sex offender.

Sexual offenders are the most vilified type of offenders within public opinion and the criminal justice system. The American precedent cases of Jacob Wetterling, Pam Lyncher, Megan Kanka, and other notorious crimes perpetrated by sexual offenders with a prior history of conviction have demanded a response from the criminal justice system to increase public safety. In 1994, the Jacob Wetterling Crimes against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Program was passed (Scholle, 2000), the first piece of legislation to advocate for the development of state-maintained registries of convicted sexual offenders. The legislation has been amended numerous times since then; in its present state, the law requires all states to maintain a registry, the mandatory registration of convicted sex offenders after release, community notification laws in place, and public access to the registry (Burchfield and Mingus, 2012; Lees and Tewksbury, 2006; Petrunik, Murphy, and Fedoroff, 2008; Scholle, 2000; Tewksbury and Lees, 2006; Wagner, 2011).

Sex offenders have been a serious problem for our legal system at all levels, not to mention those who have been their victims. There are 43,000 inmates in prison for sexual offenses while each year in this country over 510,000 children are sexually assaulted(Oakes 99). The latter statistic, in its context, does not convey the severity of the situation. Each year 510,000 children have their childhood's destroyed, possibly on more than one occasion, and are faced with dealing with the assault for the rest of their lives. Sadly, many of those assaults are perpetrated by people who have already been through the correctional system only to victimize again. Sex offenders, as a class of criminals, are nine times more likely to repeat their

Women tend to be the overwhelming victims of sexual assault and rape while men tend to be the perpetrators. According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC), one in five women and one in seventy-one men will be raped at some point in their lives. Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of victims are women who have been victimized by men. There are two major forms of sexual assault, which includes non-consensual forced physical sexual behavior such as rape or sexual assault. The second type of assault is the Psychological form of abuse, such as sexual harassment, stalking, human trafficking, and indecent exposure and the targets of exhibitionism, especially children.

The number of registered sex offenders have increasingly grew over the years. Every day you see a man or women added to the registry for crimes against women and mostly children. The sex offender registries biggest and main focus is to keep the people in the community in each city and state informed and protected. ”Sex offenders and sex crimes provoke a great deal of anxiety in our society.” Baker, J, Brannon, Y, N., Fortney. , Levenson, J.S. (“Public Perceptions about Sex Offenders and Community Protection”). The sex offender registry is based solely on protecting the public from being a victim

Since the early 1990s, there has not been a classification of criminals who have been subjected to more extensive legislation than sex offenders. A common belief that sex offenders posed a greater threat to reoffend compared to other types of criminals had surfaced, encouraging immediate action to protect the public from such individuals. In a short amount of time, society had implemented sex offender registration laws and sex offender notification laws in which sexual offenders would have to abide by. These innovational registration laws required sex offenders to regularly provide any identifying details, criminal history, and contact information to law enforcement authorities that would be made available to the public through the use of secluded registries exclusively for those who commit acts of sexual violence.

“Society and policy makers have long struggled with finding effective ways to protect the public from sex offenders. A sex offender is a person who has been convicted of certain sex offense crimes. Examples of sex offenses include:

Sex offenders tend to blend in to society virtually unnoticed until they offend or reoffend (Polizzi, MacKenzie, & Hickman, 1999). Currently, there is a large group of mental health professionals representing a variety of disciplines, including psychology, psychiatry clinical social work, counseling, and medicine, that continue to believe in the potential efficacy of treating sex offenders. Over the past decade, the sex offender treatment field has grown rapidly and the treatment of juvenile sex offenders is on the rise (Parks & Bard, 2006). The rationale for treating juvenile offenders is based on research which indicates that inappropriate sexual behavior patterns develop early and a failure to intervene and change behavior early often means that the offender will continue to escalate his/her inappropriate behavior, which could present an even greater danger to society (Ayland & West, 2006). Vivian-Bryne, (2004) suggests that professionals who treat adult sex offenders report that offenders who are incarcerated will eventually return to the community and therefore, therapeutic measures should be taken to reduce the likelihood that they will reoffend even if those measures have not conclusively been identified as effective. Sexual offenders may find therapy valuable because it can allow them to retrace their upbringing to help them identify and understand the roots of their

Stories of sex offenders have been increasingly a focus of attention by the criminal justice system over the past years. By legal definition, a sex offender “is a person who is convicted of a sexual offense (Sex Offender Law & Legal Definition),” an act which is prohibited by the jurisdiction. What constitutes as a sex offense or normal/abnormal sexual behavior varies over time and place, meaning that it also varies by legal jurisdiction and culture. In the United States of America, for example, a person can be convicted of wide range of sexual behavior that includes prostitution, incest, sex with a minor, rape, and other sex offenses (Sex Offender Law & Legal Definition). As the nature of sex crimes have long held the

When working with this specific population mental health professionals are often called on to evaluate and manage sex offender’s behavior. There are also times when individuals may be asked to give an opinion as to if the offender will repeat the behavior. Often times people that work with this population are referred to as (SOSs) Sex Offender Specialists. They have a specific group of diverse training and background. Some of these trainings incIude but are not limited to cognitive-behavioral, psychopharmacological, and therapeutic orientations.

Another common form of abuse exhibited against women is sexual abuse. Despite sexual abuse having the overarching inclusion of a sexual activity, Women Against Abuse candidly states, “Sexual abuse is not about sex. It is about power, and includes any sexual behavior performed without a partner’s consent” (“Types of Abuse”). Sexual assault is about exerting power over one’s partner, and in similar way,