Sex Offenders Should Be Strict

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.

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,

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.

Sex offender registry laws were intended to increase public safety and to reduce the reoffending rates of sexual offenders. However, this paper will argue that registration has no effect on recidivism rates and that the law actually negatively impacts rehabilitative goals because of the unforeseen issues stemming from registration. An analysis of the existing body of literature concerning registration from the United States will address the

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.

Megan Kanka and several other children have been the reason for the safety of children around this country. I know that you’re wondering in what way this person contributed to the safety of other children. Well Megan Kanko was a 7 years old child who was next door from a previously charged pedophile in Hamilton Township, New Jersey. The difference between then and now is that in the past there were no laws stating that pedophiles had to inform those who lived near them that they were there, of their past convictions, or even some type of registration available. This was the case of Megan Kanka’s offender, Jesse Timmendequas. His record consisted of attempted aggravated sexual assault of a 5-year-old girl in Piscataway, New Jersey, in 1979. He had pleaded guilty to the charges for attempted aggravated sexual assault. He was given a suspended sentence, but he failed to go to counseling, so he was forced to spend nine months at the Middlesex Adult Correctional Center. In 1981, he again pleaded guilty in regards to the sexual assault of a seven-year-old girl and was imprisoned, at Avenel, for six years. He’s an example of a recidivist who was controlled and

Sex offenders have damaged their victims for life, and should be held more accountable for their actions. America has such a prison overcrowding issue that we cannot possibly

Children in the War on Crime: Texas Sex Offender Mania and the Outcasts of Reform, 42 S.Tex.L.Rev. 781 (2002)

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

Throughout my career, I have dealt with a very diverse population of individuals. In the beginning of my career in the helping profession I worked as a houseparent in a residential facility for troubled youth. I lived with and counseled a group of young women that came from a variety of socioeconomic and racial backgrounds. From there, I moved on to casework with a local department of social services. At that time I was involved with case planning and management with families who had their children placed in foster care, or were at imminent risk of placement outside of the home.

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

Over two decades ago, law enforcement started compiling information on convicted sex offenders, in an online database with the exclusive aim of reducing recidivism. Initially, it was for law enforcement, but throughout the years this information became available to the public (McPherson 2016). Before the early 1990’s, a tracking system was unheard of for keeping tabs on sex offenders. Since then, legislatures have enacted laws, with the most recognized act; Sex Offender Registration and Notification (SORN), which is Title I of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act (AWA) of 2006 (“109th Congress Public Law 109-248,” 2006). The Act was amended when a young child by the name of Megan Kanka was raped and murdered by her neighbor. This

A public tragedy often leads to measures being taken to avoid similar tragic events in the future. In 2006, proposition #83 was officially passed by 70% of California voters for the protection of children from repeat sex offenders who had been convicted before. The story behind why the proposition # 83 was originally passed is also a another tragic. Jessica Lunsford, only nine years old, was kidnapped, raped, and murdered by a convicted sex offender named John Couey who was not under the police surveillance and he had relapsed into the same criminal behavior, after receiving sanctions that was not strict enough. Stricter sanctions could had hold him still in jail. If he received rehabilitation, the chances of him relapsing into the crime would had been lower according to the data showing a reduction in recidivism therapy. According to Weinrott & Blackshaw (1989), the recidivism rates for offenders who were treated were reduced compared to recidivism rates for offenders who were not treated. With better police surveillance, the crime could have been prevented if the sex offender was on guard and on lifetime global positioning (prop 83). After proposition was passed, officers are now ordered to keep track of sex offenders and they are forbidden from entering in areas near schools and parks where kids are usually present. It also increased the penalties for repeated sex offenders. Because of this new law, children are now better protected from sex

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

The words “sex offender” immediately make you think of horrible memories of a crime show that portraits sex offenders being a stranger who over and over again rapes women, or a pedophile harming multiple children but in many cases this is not the case. Worldwide sexual offenders are the most sought out to continue to offend even after sentencing. Investigated by the bureau of justice statistics it showed that us of 9,700 tracked sex offenders only 5.3% of these were re-arrested for a sex offense. No matter what the offense was if you’re convicted of all have to register as a sex offender. This means you have to give out your name, address and photograph because you could potentially “offend” again, but this registry can begin to cause more unintended harm.