Assumptions and Evidence Behind Sex Offender Laws: Registration, Community Notification, and Residence Restrictions

<p>The victimization of Adam Walsh, Jacob Wetterling and Megan Kanka has been instrumental in designing sex offender laws. Registration and Community Notification Laws (RCNLs) are informally known as Megan’s Law (Terry 2011.) This paper explores sex offender legislation from the Durkheimian framework of retribution versus rehabilitation. In this paper I attempt to answer the research question: Does sex offender legislation respond to the diluted stance of punishment, which Durkheim envisioned is characteristic of modern societal sentiments (rehabilitation replacing retribution)? Why or why not? I first outline a brief history of sex offender legislation, followed by a discussion of select characteristics of societies that exhibit retributive and rehabilitative justice. Based on scholastic evidence presented in this paper, I conclude the punitive tendencies of current sex offender legislations are more retributive than rehabilitative. Current policies do not conform to the progress of punishment which Durkheim envisioned is concomitant to social evolution, and in many ways, demonstrates taking a step backwards.</p>

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The War on Sex Offenders: Community Notification in Perspective

Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology ◽

10.1177/000486580103400304 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 34 (3) ◽

pp. 256-276 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Lyn Hinds ◽

Kathleen Daly

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Sex Offenders ◽

Sex Offender ◽

The United States ◽

Community Notification ◽

Megan's Law ◽

The Public ◽

Public Campaign ◽

Recent Developments ◽

Naming And Shaming

This article explores the contemporary phenomenon of “naming and shaming” sex offenders. Community notification laws, popularly known as Megan's Law, which authorise the public disclosure of the identity of convicted sex offenders to the community in which they live, were enacted throughout the United States in the 1990s. A public campaign to introduce “Sarah's Law” has recently been launched in Britain, following the death of eight-year old Sarah Payne. Why are sex offenders, and certain categories of sex offenders, singled out as targets of community notification laws? What explains historical variability in the form that sex offender laws take? We address these questions by reviewing the sexual psychopath laws enacted in the United States in the 1930s and 40s and the sexual predator and community notification laws of the 1990s, comparing recent developments in the United States with those in Britain, Canada, and Australia. We consider arguments by Garland, O'Malley, Pratt, and others on how community notification, and the control of sex offenders more generally, can be explained; and we speculate on the likelihood that Australia will adopt community notification laws.

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Sex Offender Notification and Protective Behavior

Violence and Victims ◽

10.1891/vivi.19.3.289.65762 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 19 (3) ◽

pp. 289-302 ◽

Cited By ~ 28

Author(s):

Victoria Simpson Beck ◽

Lawrence F. Travis

Keyword(s):

Exploratory Study ◽

Sex Offender ◽

Community Notification ◽

Protective Behavior ◽

Community Members ◽

Reporting Behavior ◽

Precautionary Behavior ◽

Sex Offender Notification ◽

Hamilton County

A primary purpose of sex offender community notification statutes is to give community members the opportunity to engage in precautionary behavior to prevent victimization. This exploratory study examines the effect of notification by comparing the behavior of 87 Hamilton County, Ohio, residents receiving sex offender notification to the behavior of 149 other residents who had not received notification. The findings indicate that notified respondents are significantly more likely to engage in behaviors to protect themselves and others from victimization, and to engage in community reporting behavior.

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