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Recidivism rates in child sexual offenders
Statistics on sexual offender registries
Essay on Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act
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Recommended: Recidivism rates in child sexual offenders
Sex offender notification laws have been among the most widely discussed and debated criminal justice policy issues in recent years. Numerous studies have been conducted on various views of sex offender notification laws. A vast majority of these studies have mixed research, some showing that sex offender notification laws are more beneficial than harmful and should continue, and others showing the exact opposite. Reasons such as public safety, the fear factor, and the hope for future recidivism to go down are some examples of why many believe that sex offender notification laws are beneficial to society. Others believe that such laws are a continuation of punishment for those who were convicted of a sex offense. Studies show that these laws make it difficult for sex offenders to return to society. These different views of …show more content…
Some major reasons to keep sex offender notification laws in place are the fear factor of citizens, parents having the right to know in order to protect their children, and hopes for a reduction in the recidivism. The fear of offenders coming back into society without being supervised and not knowing what could happen is terrifying to many, especially parents who just want to protect their children. Others have high hopes that someday the recidivism, even though it is not high, will still reduce as time continues with the laws in effect. On the other end of the spectrum, other people believe that these laws are entirely too much and are unnecessary. Reasons to eliminate these laws include, continued punishment, difficulty returning to society, the fact that recidivism is extremely low compared to other offenses, and there is little evidence that shows the laws make society safer. There is still much more research that needs to be done with these laws to decide if they are necessary for today’s
The sex offender’s registry plays on parent’s emotional instincts to protect their children instead of really protect them. It gives parents a false sense of protection. The regis...
The following research will display an overview of the process in Texas on how sex offenders are registered along with the notifications that are followed after registration. Texas, as many other states, has a procedure which requires sex offenders to register with the local law enforcement agencies at the time of their discharge. In addition to registration, they must also comply with further probation regulations. Research has concluded that there are four basic phases of registration and notification. Beginning with offender notified, following the offender registration and community notified and ending with public notification
Megan's Law - Protection More Important than Privacy? In 1994, twice-convicted sex offender Jesse Timmendequas raped and murdered Megan Kanka, a seven-year old girl who lived across the street. In reaction to this emotionally-charged crime, Megan's home state of New Jersey ratified a community notification bill - dubbed "Megan's Law" - just three months later. This fall, a national version of the law went into effect, mandating that all fifty states notify citizens in writing of the presence of convicted sex offenders within their communities. Certainly, society has a responsibility to protect children from sexual offenders, and many feel that Megan's Law is the best course of action.
In the event that a prisoner (particularly a sex offender) does complete rehabilitation, he carries with him a stigma upon reentering society. People often fear living near a prior drug addict or convicted murderer and the sensational media hype surrounding released felons can ruin a newly released convict’s life before it beings. What with resident notifications, media scare tactics and general concern for safety, a sex offender’s ability to readapt into society is severely hindered (554). This warrants life-skills rehabilitation applied to him useless, as he will be unable to even attempt to make the right decision regarding further crime opportunities.
The United States of America has always supported freedom and privacy for its citizens. More importantly, the United States values the safety of its citizens at a much higher level. Every year more laws are implemented in an attempt to deter general or specific criminal behaviors or prevent recidivism among those who have already committed crimes. One of the most heinous crimes that still occurs very often in the United States is sex offenses against children. Currently, there are over 700,000 registered sex offenders and 265,000 sex offenders who are under correctional supervision. It is estimated that approximately 3% of the offenders who are currently incarcerated will likely commit another sex-related crime upon release (Park & Lee, 2013, p. 26). There are several laws that have been in place regarding sex offenses for decades, including Megan’s Law which was enacted in 1996.
Many resources go into the prevention and management of sex offenders. However, very few effective programs exist that decrease the likelihood of reoffending. Through the use of meta-analyses, Seto and Lalumiere (2010) evaluated multiple studies that examined sex offenders. Emphasis was put on etiological explanations in the hopes of identifying factors associated with sex offending. Seto and Lalumiere’s (2010) findings help in creating effective programs to decrease recidivism rates.
This essay will discuss the many different types of sex offenses that are considering a crime. It will then talk about some of the historical sexual offenders laws that have shaped society as a whole. It will also define the role religion plays on the emergence of new Sex offender’s laws that we have in contemporary societies. And finally talk about the emergence of some currents sex offenses laws we have in our nation.
The acceptance that the court system often treats female offenders differently than male offenders is an accurate statement; however, it comes with many caveats. Generally, the public views women as nurturers, motherly and incapable of harming a child. Research indicates that female sex offenders capable of committing such acts have serious psychiatric and psychological problems. In comparison, research indicates male sex offenders are more callous, more antisocial, and promiscuous, involved in the criminal justice system, and have more victims (Miccio-Fenseca, 2012, slide 7). The consensus is that men commit their acts for sexual pleasure while women commit their acts due to psychiatric and psychological problems. Law enforcement, juries, and judges tend to empathize more when there are additional mitigating factors such as emotional or psychological problems. Due to these mitigating factors, it appears treatment of female sex offenders is more lenient than male if their crimes are similar in nature. Research by Miccio-Fenseca (2012) indicates that in comparison to their male counterparts, “female sex offenders rarely use force or violence far less than often…rarely use threats of violence to silence victims…rarely use threats o...
It may also bring issues of anger as the sex offenders laws state that some of the rights of the person being denied in some states sex offenders cannot attend Halloween and even lose their parental rights this may do more harm or good to the person and give him an I don’t care attitude. However flipping the coin to the other side legislation has helped with the integration of the sex offenders as in most cases those who have registered rarely repeat their crime. For example in New York between 1985-2001 out of the registered 11898 only 251 were returned to jail for recidivism which is about 2.1% this shows that it works as the cases have
Sex offender legislation has become a controversial topic in the recent years. There have been numerous laws enacted in response to sex offender crime. Do these laws really work to help minimize re-offending, or do they give the public a false sense of security and cause recidivism? In a several studies researchers found no evidence of sex offender registries being effective in increasing public safety. Some studies have found that requiring sex offenders to register with law enforcement may significantly may reduce chances of recidivism. However, the research also found that making registry information available to the public may back fire and lead to higher levels of overall sex crimes
In today’s society, juveniles that commit a sexual assault have become the subject of society. It’s become a problem in the United States due to the rise of sexual offenses committed by juveniles. The general public attitude towards sex offenders appears to be highly negative (Valliant, Furac, & Antonowicz, 1994). The public reactions in the past years have shaped policy on legal approaches to managing sexual offenses. The policies have included severe sentencing laws, sex offender registry, and civil commitment as a sexually violent predator (Quinn, Forsyth, & Mullen-Quinn, 2004). This is despite recidivism data suggesting that a relatively small group of juvenile offenders commit repeat sexual assaults after a response to their sexual offending (Righthand &Welch, 2004).
The lack of opportunities to secure housing and employment and loss of family and friend support are all consequences of community notification. More than one third of registrants surveyed in a study reported they had lost a job, been denied a place to live and been harassed and treated rudely in public as a result of public knowledge of sex offender registers. Offenders are more likely to be driven underground when they are unable to secure employment or a place to live due to their status on the sex offender register. Employers are less likely to employ a sex offender due to fear of losing business from an informed public. These issues on top of the stress of being released from prison and trying
"US: Sex Offender Laws May Do More Harm Than Good." http://www.hrw.org. 2014, Human Rights Watch, 11 September 2007. Web. 13 Feb 2014. <
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 crimes(Oakes 99). This presents a
Requirements that sex offenders reside in excess of 2,500 feet from where children congregate in the State of Florida is an excellent first step of removing the “crimes of opportunity” type re-offenses that might otherwise occur if such distance requirements were not in effect. While 2,500 feet is indeed an arbitrary number and does not necessarily reflect a “safe magic number” (measured in feet) that sex offenders ought to stay away from children, it is a good first step to mitigating the inherent risk sexual predators pose to children in the community by their proximity. The only instance, in my opinion, that a sex offender registry would provide for a false sense of security is if parents become complacent and shirk their responsibility to do regular research on sex offenders living in their immediate vicinity, identify any such offenders, and develop action plans to isolate their children from them at all times. In this case, a registry would in my opinion prove wholly ineffective as the foundational idea behind them is to alert the community as to an offender's presence so they can take