Sex Offender Legislation: Necessary Or Harmful?

The purpose of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 was established to protect children from sexual exploitation and violent crimes, to prevent child abuse and child pornography with an emphasis on comprehensive strategies across federal/state/local communities, to prevent sex offenders access to children, to prevent internet safety.

The Sex Offender Act 1997 stated that people who have been convicted of a Sexual offence must register their address with police and may be served with an order preventing them from going near places where children are.

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.

Laws regarding child abduction and molestation have strengthened and improved over time. Liam Dillon describes the improved consequences for sex offenders due to Chelsea’s Law.

Some of these cases had the involvement of a sexual offense against a child however, they were committed by individuals who were not registered as a sex offender. Emily Horowitz a professor at Saint Francis College in the department of sociology and criminal justice made a statement about the recidivism rate. Horowitz stated it's obvious “that all of the evidence and all of the data shows that most sex offenses are committed by first-time offenders, for whatever reason, people who are on the registry have a very low recidivism rate, and if one is really concerned about decreasing sex offenses, they kind of have to look elsewhere instead of people who have already been convicted of sex

With the sex offender’s registries controlled by each individual jurisdiction, maintaining a registry is time consuming and costly. The separate jurisdictions maintain their own registry is through the Justice Assistance Grant (JAG). The grant only deducts 10% of their budget if that jurisdiction in not following the minimal guidelines of SORNA. We see an issue with who to hold accountable when the inaccurate information and lack of information is projected to society. Take for instance an article wrote titled, Sex offender registration changes: not worth the cost? by Gunnarsson. In her article she states, “Estimates of how much Illinois risks losing for its noncompliance with SORNA range from $900,000 to $1.6 million. But the loss of Byrne

In extending the current sex offender and housing literature, this study explored whether the presence of RSOs were associated with a decrease in sale prices of homes in a major metropolitan U.S. county. Previous research has established that sex offender legislation has produced unintended social and financial consequences in communities located in urban areas. Economically speaking, scholars have demonstrated a relationship between home sale values and the presence of RSOs (Bian et al., 2013; Caudill et al., 2014; Larsen et al., 2003; Linden & Rockoff, 2008; Pope, 2008; Wentland et al., 2014). Based on this scholarship, home sale values have financially reacted in decreased values to the nearby presence of RSOs, even though public members

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

Sex offenders can be described as a person who has committed any of a variety of offenses, including rape, child abuse, possession of child pornography, exhibitionism (flashing), and even consensual sex amongst teenagers.They can vary between adults or juveniles, male or female, and the perpetrators may even be strangers, acquaintances, or related to their victims. Based on the different characteristics and motivations for committing these heinous offenses, these offenders require different responses that are appropriate in order to accurately treat, manage, and supervise them. This research paper will review types of offenses and offenders; pervasiveness of sexual abuse and recidivism; and responses to sexual offending, including treatment, supervision, and management practices for this population.

California enacted the first sex offender register law in 1944. However, sex offender registers in the United States did not become widespread until the 1990s. The Jacob Wetterling Act 1994 was named after 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling who was abducted and to this day has never been found. The Jacob Wetterling Act implemented the first nation-wide sex offender register. Originally, the concept of a sex offender register was intended to for use solely by law enforcement; it was not an intention for the sex offender register to be public. However in 1996, Megan’s Law was added to the Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act 1994 and made it a requirement for the information on sex offender registers to be accessible by the public. Megan’s Law was enacted as a result of a heinous crime where 7-year-old Megan Kanka was raped and murdered by her neighbour, who had two previous convictions for sexually assaulting young girls. In 2006, Congress passed the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act. This Act required states to enact stricter registration requirements, including an increase in the penalty for not registering and more frequent verification of sex offenders’ locations. Since 2006 public access to sex offender registers has been accessible on the Internet in most states. On these websites you can search for an offender by name or location, and find information such as their photo, convictions, address,

Notification: Public Attention, Political Emphasis, and Fear”, by Richard G. Wright, makes the following statement that goes along with issue involving the allocation of funds, “For the millions of direct and indirect expenditures spent on compliance and implementation with registration and notification laws, there is very little funding spent on sexual assault prevention, victim support, and offender treatment” (Wright 102). It is extremely important to put money towards rehabilitation, and the support of the victims of sexual assault, not just the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act.

The internet has become so helpful and useful about keeping the public alerted and informed on their surrounding as well as their children’s surrounding. The internet is now the primary source for finding for finding information on any registered sex offender no matter where they might be. The sex offender registry was created the public about sexually predators that might live in any area. The registries increase the

Perception is not reality. The common assumption that the court system often treats female sex offenders differently than male sex offenders, the punishments of female sex offenders are more lenient than men who commit the same types of crimes, and the differences between male and female victims are all perception and not reality. Objective considerations to additional factors make the perceptions baseless. These additional factors solidify the factual differences between male and female sex offenders.

Jesse was a convicted child molester who lived with two other registered sex offenders and lived near the young girl and her family at the time. After the rape and death of young Megan, a law was passed, known as “Megan’s Law” (Meloy). This law provides the general public with the location and images of registered sex offenders so people may protect themselves and their children (Harris). The problem with the law is that it states, “so people may protect themselves and their children”. If the law feels that families should have to protect themselves and their children from these types of “people”, why do they let them out of jail in the first place? (See Fig.

Should sex offenders be castrated? Support your position/list pros and cons. Distinguish physical vs. chemical castration. Discuss the best treatment programs for sex offenders.