Sex Offender Research Paper

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

An Alabama convicted sex offender was charged Thursday with kidnapping and murdering 12-year-old Naomi Jones after finding Jones's body in a creek near her house.

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.

It’s time to separate the child sex offender from the children being accused of sex offending unreasonably. There are many stories of teenagers 15, 16, 17, just trying on young love for the first time. What should be happy memories can be turned to shame, and they don’t even have to have actual intercourse for it to be called a “sex offense.” Here are some examples of needed changes to our laws:

In the United States, failure to adequately discriminate between and among sex offenses and the overuse of the label “sex offense” has led to the polarization and over criminalization of sex crimes and has resulted in a lack of reintegration options for these alleged criminals. The term “sex offender” needs to be reserved for those individuals who best represent the meaning of the term. (Colbert, 2011, p. 1) According to US Department of Justice, a sex offender is anyone convicted of an offense of a sexual nature under the law of any jurisdiction, this also includes juveniles fourteen years of age and older. (Colbert, 2011, p. 1) In the United States, the term sex offender is too broad and can be very misleading. There is a widespread misconception among society that the meaning of sex offender is pedophile and rapist, but a sex offender can be someone that was caught urinating in public or they can be underage teenagers having consensual sex. This lack of distinction between sex offenses results in a misinformed society and this absence of information in regards to sex offenses and the presence of the sex offender registry fuels society 's ignorance and heightened prejudices towards "sex offenses." The stigma that comes with the label "sex offense” persists beyond sentencing due to the parameters of the law, making reintegration of alleged criminals into society overbearing and near impossible. These registries are public record, however they only state partial information

They can be your next door neighbor, someone down the street, or even a stranger behind you in line at the shopping center. Sex offenders are out there. They do not wear a label on them that says, “I am a registered sex offender”. They are required to register on the sex offender registry list as well as inform neighbors, put it on job applications, live a certain distance away from any zone which contain children, and follow several other places they are forbidden to go as part of their release from prison. However, one thing not stated upon their release is the way they are treated by everyone in the community when the re-enter the world. A sex offender is the pariah of the community. They are not welcome and most certainly are the easy target for society to cast blame when a crime is committed. The community acts the only way they know how, and they will do anything to protect the ones they love.

Community corrections professionals use strategies to monitor sex offenders. The main three general categories of supervision are statutory mandates, treatment, and electronic monitoring devices. Due to the fact that sex offenders are the hardest to supervise, there needs to be effective strategies. This group is the hardest to supervise because a sexual act can occur at anytime and anywhere in a quick timeframe.

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

28% of sexual abuse cases are committed by strangers (Perpetrators of Sexual Violence:Statistics). A list that could help eliminate that statistic is the national sex offender registry. These registries are a very controversial topic. Many people feel that the original purpose of this registry has been lost throughout the years. People argue that these registries are too long and that offenders are unnecessarily put on the registry.

This research paper will argue that based on the evidence we have available for sexual offenders and sex registries, our recent changes in the legislation, which was to add Bill C-26 having tougher sex registries implemented, is not going to change the effect of sex offending due to significant errors that arise within the system and the general problems associated with sex registries causing it to be extremely ineffective and defeating. To begin, by having a sex registry in place would mean that police corrections as well as the public would have access to information on a sex offender who has been released from prison and is living in their own home. “According to Bill C-26, this database would include information such as; offender’s name, physical description, a photo, past offences as well as criminal records, release conditions, and the city where the offender lives and resides” (Press Release 2, Newly Announced Proposed Changes, Government of Canada). Although at first glance and impression, this may seem as a positive strategy to have within communities, but after much thought and knowledge on the issue, there are an abundance of flaws in the system which result in an ineffective way to prevent future sex offences. The reasons why sex registries are not forceful are due to the following; sex registries violate the right and freedom of offenders who have been released from prison as well as bringing collateral harm to sex offenders, the recidivism rate for sex

Although in some courts the registry is stated as a punishment, most sex offenders are not officially given the registry as a punishment during sentencing. This can lead to a few obstacles in the criminal justice system, one of which is that not all punishments are clearly taken into account by the jury and judge. For example, a man convicted of fondling a woman received 5 years in prison and 5 years of probation, but did the judge and jury take into account that the offender will now be on the sex offender registry for the rest of his life? Most likely they did not or if they did they were not fully aware of the impact the registry has on an individual and their reentry back into the community. This harsh lifestyle that can be in part contributed to the registry and it can lead to public harassment, restrictions on employment titles and locations, and sustaining necessary housing. The difficulties presented to sex offenders by the registry gives the ex-offender permanent punishments in which many agree that reoffending and going back to prison is much easier than trying to reenter and sustain themselves in the

We estimate that notification laws reduce the number of sex offenses when the size of the registry is small but that these benefits dissipate as more offenders become subject to notification requirements. This pattern is consistent with notification deterring nonregistered individuals but encouraging recidivism among registered offenders, perhaps be- cause of the social and financial costs associated with the public release of their criminal history and personal information.

Furthering the belief that women cannot be violent, another major distinction between male and female sex offender typologies is the Male- Coerced or Male-Accompanied typology. This typology involves either a passive woman who abuses due to an abusive male partner or a male-female couple who both equally abuse (Vandiver & Kercher). There are many issues involved with these typologies. The first issue is that the male becomes primarily responsible for the abuse instead of the female. In the situation of a passive woman whose abusive partner forces her to abuse, the victims of the abuse are most often their own children.

The purpose of this literature review is to discuss the importance of sexual offender treatment, to compare and contrast research points regarding treatment, and to address the validity of the peer reviewed articles. Every year 6,000 sex offenders enter treatment (Waldram, 2008). Various therapeutic treatment options are offered, and the primary focus is to rehabilitate and change behavior. The body of research reveals different therapeutic treatment models and discusses the purpose and effectiveness of each model. This paper will also discuss some of the challenges of implementing therapeutic treatment schemas as viable alternatives to treat sex offenders. Lastly, the research will also examine the impact of treatment as it relates to

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