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 problem for the public, as potential victims, and the legal system which is entrusted by the public for protection. It would be irresponsible for the legal system to ignore the criminal class of sex offenders, for they are subject to a recurring physiological urge that requires the use of effective restraints that would curb the habitual repetition of episodes producing the harmful consequences to the public(Schopf 95). In light of this realization, steps beyond treatment have been taken to reduce the recidivism rate of sex offenders. Notification laws, special supervising techniques by parole officers, and both surgical and chemical castration are techniques used in various forms in this country and abroad with success. However, notification laws and both forms of castrations have not come about without criticism on constitutional grounds. Any criticism should take into account the extraordinary recidivism rates found only in the criminal class of the s... ... middle of paper ... ...Interpersonal Violence, Vol. 15. pp. 279-290 Martin, R. (1996). Pursuing Public Protection Through Mandatory Community Notification of Convicted Sex Offenders: The Trials and Tribulations of Megan's Law. The Boston Public Interest Law Journal, Vol. 6, Issue 29 Oakes, S. (1999). Megan's Law: Analysis on Whether it is Constitutional to Notify the Public of Sex Offenders Via the Internet. The John Marshal Journal of Computer and Information Law Sampson, E. (1999). Supervising Sex Offenders: Alternatives to Incarceration, Bethpage, Vol. 5, pp.6-7 Schopf, S. (1995). "Megan's Law": Community Notification and the Constitution. Columbia Universtiy School Journal of Law and Social Problems, 29 Seto, M. & Barbaree, H. (1999). Psychopathy, Treatment Behavior, and Sex Offender Recidivism. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Vol. 14, pp.1235-1248
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
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.
In the end, the debate over Megan's law reduces to one issue: how can we best ensure the safety of our children and the security of our communities? Because of the extremely high recidivism rate associated with sex crimes, because society has a duty to protect those who can not protect themselves, and because concerns for the good of our society as a whole outweigh any individual right to privacy, it is imperative that Megan's Law be maintained.
Veysey, B. M. Zgoba, K. & Dalessandro, M. (2008). A preliminary step towards evaluating the impact of Megan’s Law: A trend analysis of sexual offenses in New Jersey from 1985 to 2005. Justice Research and Policy, 10(2), 1-18.
It is typically thought that sex offenders are the type of individual that needs to be tried in our courts and then sentenced because there is really no hope for an individual that harms the most innocent of our society. But there just may be an exception to this way of thinking. Juveniles who at one point themselves may have been victims, and as they have grown into adolescence not knowing why they are thinking the way they are, turn around and abuse others. Then what happens is that these adolescents once found out, are then tried in our courts as adults because in the mind of the court they are committing an adult crime. But there are alternatives for these juveniles that are being placed in our court system. Because at this stage in their development they are more receptive to treatment options and there are treatments available with valid research to substantiate them. Our judicial system just needs to recognize these options in order to try to lessen the amount of trauma inflicted on these already potentially traumatized individuals.
In the past, sex offenders treatment programmes included surgical treatment, pharmacological treatment and psychological treatment. Nowadays, however, surgical and pharmacological are deemed unethical and the emphasis on psychological treatment are more prominent features in the criminal justice system. Although surgical procedures were deemed unethical, it was recorded as a 1% reoffending rate which can be portrayed as remarkable. However, as citied by D. Perkins et al (1998) there was a 33% increase, after surgical treatment, in non- sexual violent crime committed by previous sex offenders.
Ever since the bill for having a Canadian Sex Offender Registry was passed, in December of 2004, it has been a heated debate in many boardrooms across the country. On the one hand, there are the defence attorneys deeming it slightly mentally damaging and unnecessary for their client(s). On the other side of the coin, there are the individuals claiming it to be a great idea if used in the correct manner. A sex offender registry is only useful when used correctly, with updated and accurate profiles, while remaining conscious of charter rights.
Davis, Kent F., Cruel and Unusual Punishment for Whom? Advocating the Imposition of Penile Plethysmography and Chemical Castration as Conditions of Supervised Release for Habitual Child Sex Offenders (April 18, 2012). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2041769 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2041769
When one hears the label “sex offender” it is associated with a negative stigma. Society has reinforced the label while encouraging individuals to associate a profile to the offender. Typical words that are connected to a sex offender may include monster, horrific, heinous, and sickening. When conceptualizing the victim, some associations made could include words such as rape, molestation, women, or even juvenile. Typically, when society hears the word juvenile being associated to a sex offense, it is assumed that the juvenile is the victim. Though this is true in some cases, there is an increasing number of sex offenses being committed by juvenile offenders. According to the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), “juvenile sex offenders comprise more than one-quarter (25.8%) of all sex offenders and more than one-third (35.6%) of sex offenders against juvenile victims” (Finkelhor, D., Ormrod, R., & Chaffin, M., 2009, p. 1). The following report will examine sex offenses committed by male juveniles. The report will include characteristics of the type of crime, crime factors, an application of the biosocial theory, and the strengths and limits presented by the theory.
This law is named for a child named Megan, who was raped and murdered by her next-door neighbor. Megan’s parents did not know the person living right next door to them was a child sexual offender. They felt that knowing this information may have saved their daughter. In order to save other children, Megan’s family worked to have the addresses of child sexual offenders made public. The family decided to take political action and got a law passed stating that child sex offenders need to be on a sexual offender registry. This notification system is for the public and also lets the community know when an offender is being released and where the offender will be living. The family managed to make this a law in every state in the United States. The family worked in their home state to make a law and then worked to make it a federal law. Megan’s Law was passed in 1994. Two years later “the U.S Congress passed Megan’s Law as an amendment to the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children’s Act.” (Charles Montaldo). The Jacob Wetterling Act of 1994 was similar to Megan’s Law, however, Jacob’s Act stated the registry was only for law enforcement. The Megan’s Law amendment that was added to the Jacob’s Act required that every state in the United States have a child sexual offender registry and a notification system that informed the community when a child sexual offender was being released into the
In a study more than one half of all responding registrants reported having lost a friend as a result of public knowledge of their sexual offending. There is also evidence that family members of registered sex offenders experience persecution and threats when the information is public. Consequently, the offender might lose support from both friends and family, which further hinders their ability to rehabilitate into
Ohio state laws define a sex offender as one of three: a person who committed a sexually oriented crime, a habitual sexual offender, or a sexual predator. All sex offenders are required by law to notify the State Bureau of Criminal Investigations or local Sheriff Offices within three days of entering any county or changing their address. Sexual offenders are required to submit their fingerprints, photo, DNA, vehicle information, and criminal history. Certain individuals are eligible for a written notice about all sexual predators and habitual sexual offenders. Those individuals are local law enforcement patrons, all residents within 1000' of the offender's residence; the director of the public children services agency; the superintendent of each board of education of a school district; the director of each preschool program, and the administrator of each child day care center. These regulations, as harsh as they may seem, were creat...
It is no secret that the issue of punishment of sex offender is steadily growing. From what kind of sex crime was committed, to who committed it , the bottom line is we need change. The main argument that people bring up now a days is that if you commit a crime, then you should suffer the consequences and face your punishment , and I totally agree. But when you start going overboard and start making people publicly display there long gone past, then you start to have problems.To name a few, inability to find a job, inability to find a place to stay, and last but not least the person’s overall character is destroyed.
Witt, P., Greenfield, D., & Hiscox, S. (2008). Cognitive/behavioural approaches to the treatment adult sex offenders. Journal of Psychiatry & Law, 36(2), 245-269, retrieved from EBSCOhost
This paper presents a critical analysis of the effects of chemical castration and physical castration on the recidivism rates of sex offenders. In this paper, the term sex offender is defined as a person who has been convicted of a sex crime and