Sex Offender Registries Essay

There are different types of sex offenders which make recidivism complex to handle. Unfortunately, recidivism remains a difficult concept to measure, especially in the context of sex offenders. The surreptitious nature of sex crimes, the fact that few sexual offenses are reported to authorities, and variation in the ways researchers calculate recidivism rates all contribute to the problem.

102 were charged with any type of offense during the follow-up period, and of those 102, 62 were for violent offenses. The study also found that over the course of a year, the JSOAP-II significantly predicted recidivism rates in all categories. Youths that were registered sex offenders had lower rates of misdemeanor charges, which is likely due to the fact that the registered offenders were lower risk. The study found few differences between registered and unregistered juvenile sex offenders, meaning that it could not conclude that registration lowers the risk of recidivism. These findings are important because it is useful to know the effects that our policies have. The study found that “specific characteristics of a juvenile sexual offense have not proven to be reliable predictors of future offending (Caldwell, 2009).” It’s important to know this so that if current policies are not effective, we can look at new and possibly more effective ways of handling these types of things that could prove to be more effective.

Should some sex offenders be excluded from treatment? The question is particularly daunting since some studies seem to suggest that although treatment can reduce the probability of an offender committing a crime after being treated, it is impossible for adult offenders to be properly cured. An article in the Medical News Today explains that paedophilia and other sex crimes cannot be cured, and although the likelihood of an offender repeating his crimes drops forty percent after treatment, the end result of the treatment is that people are released into society who are just as likely to cause harm. Similarly, the Business Insider explains that since being a sex offender is not a medical issue it cannot be cured, and different measures can be

The term "sex offender" means an individual who was convicted of a sex offense. Research has shown that Sex offenders that commit a crime against a person has not previously been convicted of a violent offence before. They do these crimes unders a masks of a normal relationship. Most Sexual offences committed against the person are mostly perpetrated by family members and acquaintances, and the big majority of them are unreported. Not all crimes are the same because there is such a wide spectrum of sex crimes. The punishments vary widely, between states, from fines and counseling to life in prison. Sex Offenders can be categorized into three tiers according to federal law. A Tier is a level in which a Sex Offender is categorized based on his/her sex offense.

It is debatable if sex offenders names should be public, some people believe is a invasion of there private life, “There is a real danger of vigilantism and publicizing their names (and the info required goes far beyond just their names) is an invasion of privacy of the wives, children and families of these offenders, which is an invasion of privacy no other class of criminal faces”(debate.org) . Others believe this is not even debatable, that Sex offenders name should be public, period, “Once somebody commits a sexual crime, they have given up their right to anonymity. As a parent, I want to be very aware of the sexual offenders who may be near my children. The sexual registry list is a good tool that

There also have been negative effects on sex offenders, particularly trying to reintegrate into society. The purpose of Megan’s law was to keep neighborhoods informed to try to decrease instances of repeat sexual offenses. Megan’s Law does keep neighborhoods informed, so in that area the law was a success. Partially because it is very hard to track, there is no data to show that Megan’s Law has decreased instances of repeat sexual offenses. More studies should be done to see if Megan’s Law is effective and if the decreased rates of sexual offenses are also decreased rates of repeated sexual

No research to date has indicated that applying harsher penalties or mandating national registries has reduced the recidivism rates among sex offenders, reduced sex trafficking against minors, nor child pornography. Despite the ongoing efforts of The Adam Walsh Act alongside other child safety acts as well, children in the United States are still perishing from sexual and physical abuse each day. According to data from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS), “49 States reported a total of 1,585 fatalities. Based on these data, a nationally estimated 1,670 children died from abuse or neglect in FFY 2015, which is 5.7 percent more than in 2011. This translates to a rate of 2.25 children per 100,000 children in the general population and an average of nearly five children dying every day from abuse or neglect”.(www.childwarefare.gov) Human Rights Watch shares that “the real risks that children face are quite different: government statistics indicate that most sexual abuse of children are committed by family members or trusted authority figures, and by someone who has not previously been convicted of a sex offense.”(www.hrw.org) Consequently, when evaluating the evidence that is present it is safe to say, that despite all of the efforts that are put forth every day to protect our youth, some people still have the potential to prey on those whom cannot defend themselves. The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 has afforded the public with ammunition to fire back at those who prey on the vulnerable. Therefore, the foundation has been laid, for the public to build upon and grow with the knowledge that we are able to obtain to keep our children safe. Furthermore, we cannot solely rely on law enforcement, and others to keep our children safe we have to be proactive within the

The most common myth the sex offender registry office receives daily is, “An offender was on the registry yesterday, why are they not on there now?”

Sex offenders come in all status, all colors, creed, and background. But, they still have certain unalienable rights. All persons have the right to be tried in civil or criminal courts and proven guilty. This takes us to the uniformity act in our judicial system. I agree that if a person is young or old, rich or poor, black or white, the law should be enacted and due process enforced. I will repeat again; our system is not perfect. Our last act of criminal law stated is the penal sanction. This law states that all violators will receive just punishment or at least exposed to disciplinary action by the state. I believe the Megan Law can be a characteristic of all five criminal laws listed. The Megan Law states that any person convicted of a sex offense must be listed with the state. "In each state, laws require sex offenders to register with police or some other government agency when they leave prison" (Johnson, 1999, p.1). The key word is convicted. I live in the state of Tennessee. The TN law says a sex offender 's information is not private. I have the right to ask questions about suspected offenders. The Megan Kanka Law is a good law because our children are our prize

The notification system is based on the sex offenders risk to reoffend and the danger they may pose to the community. Many states adopted a three-tier notification system for the sex offender registry; tier one is for offenders evaluated to be low risk for reoffending, tier two is for those offenders assessed at a medium risk and tier three are for those offender that meet criteria for the highest risk of reoffending (National Institute of Justice, 2009a). Megan’s Law is a federal law with subsequent state laws, states have discretion in developing criteria for reporting Megan’s Law however; private and personal information related to the registered sex offender must be available to the public (National Institute of Justice, 2009b). Under Megan’s Law, the tracking database is monitored by states and involves community notification when a sex offender moves into a

This is because the law is overly vast when it describes what the sex offender can and cannot due over the internet. This is unfair because in today’s world almost every website use reviews and opinion based comments. Many of these websites don’t require a user to have any sort of account or username. This means that any person, including minors, are able to use this website regardless of whether or not it is allowed, and the very possibility of a minor being on a website restricts it from the use of a sex offender. An example of this is Cooks.com, this website allows users to leave comments without requiring any type of account, email, or identification. Due to this minors are able to use the website without the knowledge of the website, this means that it is still restricted for sex offenders solely because of the possibility of a minor being present on the site. This restricts almost every website including college sign-up websites, amazon, and even google search engine. The internet is such a part of human life that it is now considered a basic human right by the united nations. If the law is so broad that sex offenders are advised to just avoid it entirely, then they are being denied the basic human rights that all people have. According to Amnesty International “Human rights are basic rights and freedoms that all people are entitled to regardless of

Chapter Eight of the book Flawed Criminal Justice Policies, authors take the closer look at the laws and faulty policy regarding the sex offenders. According to the book policy makers started the myriad laws to protect the public from the sex offenders with increased prison sentences, and restricting the residences to the violators. Today we have very similar situation when it comes to treatment of sexual offenders. The process starts with the sex offender being committed to the prison sentence, and lastly to being registered as a sex offender on many public websites, so that the people could distinguish who the sex offender is and where he/she lives.

n 1984, Leroy Hendricks was convicted of having indecent liberties with two 13-year old boys. As punishment for his action, Mr. Hendricks was remanded to the penal institutional system to serve his prison sentence. After serving ten years in prison, Mr. Hendricks was going to be stepped down to a halfway house. In the state of Kansas, they implemented the Sexually Violent Predator Act in 1994. This act “establishes procedures for the civil commitment of persons who, due to a mental abnormality or a personality disorder, are likely to engage in predatory acts of sexual violence (Brody & Acker, 2010, p.4). Due to the extensive sexually offensive history against minors that Mr. Hendricks had, he was deemed to continue to pose a threat to those in society. It was his past history of performing sexual acts against children and his own admission that he could not control his urges, that inclined the District Attorney’s ofice to file a motion to have Leroy Hendricks civilly committed under the Sexually Violent Predator Act. Mr. Hendricks attorney requested that his client be evaluated to determine if he could be labeled as a sexually violent offender. Based on Mr. Hendricks testimony

I believe that the existence of sex offender registries can offer a positive effect especially for families and parents who want to know if a certain community is safe for their children and it also helps police officers narrow down the location if an offender committed another criminal act. If anything, I believe that the registries need to be updated and not abolished completely. The activities of a sex offender should in fact be monitored and tracked. However, registered sex offenders who committed less serious acts should not be registered for a lifetime. One stupid mistake a person made years ago should not make them a sex offender for life. Just like Maine, Connecticut should change their registry so offenders can only be listed for however