Sexual offenders have been a problem that has faced the criminal justice system for a long time. Sexual offenders come in all different types. Most sexual offenders look like anyone else walking down the street. It is very hard to pick out a sexual offender from a crowd of people unless one knows that person or has seen their case broadcasted on the local news. Sexual offenders can have different variations of the sexual offense they have been convicted on. Some sexual offenders are sentenced for statutory rape, others for pedophilic offenses and others for violent sexual assaults. Each one of these offenses has a completely different thought process and level of violence associated with it. All of these offenses devastate the victim and has long lasting effects on the victim’s life. Also, sexual offenders are more likely to commit another offense. Usually with child molesters the child they were prosecuted for molesting is not typically their first victim. Most of the time the compulsion to reoffend is too hard for the offenders to resist. The correctional system, which is a part of the criminal justice system, needs to keep all of this in mind when paroling sexual offenders back into the community. The community deserves to be protected at all costs from these offenders. The criminal justice system and the correctional system have put different programs into effect to help maintain and protect the safety of the community. All sexual offenders are required to register under Megan’s Law. Wherever a sexual offender lives, he or she has to let the police and parole agent know where he or she is located. The public is able to use the Megan’s Law website, especially in Pennsylvania, to see what sexual offenders live in... ... middle of paper ... ...surround the issue of lifetime GPS monitoring of sexual offenders. The criminal justice system has to address that question, but until then police and the school could increase security to try to prevent an attack. If an attack should take place the GPS monitor on the sexual offender could be what solves that case. If electronically monitoring sexual offenders by GPS for life can save even just one potential victim, it is worth the cost. Saving potential victims should be a higher priority than it already is. Saving a potential victim can lower the number of potential sexual offenders in the system, because there is sometimes a connection between being a victim and becoming a perpetrator/offender. Overall GPS monitoring of all sexual offenders is a great idea it should be looked and closely and implemented into the correctional and criminal justice system.
Megan's Law operates under the logic that responsible parents, once notified that a designated "high risk" sex offender lives nearby, will be able to prevent their children from becoming the victims of another attack. One of its primary motivations is the high recidivism rate associated with crimes of sexual molestation. Without even considering the large number of sex offenses that go unreported each ye...
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 Rehablitation of Offenders Act 1974 has been put in place to ease offenders back into society and also make sure that offenders’, that are given under a 30 month prison sentence, convictions are spent. Therefore employers of the recent offender are not allowed to discriminate against that person, allowing the offender more opportunity to gain employment. This briefing note outlines the strengths and weaknesses of rehabilitating sex offenders. By analysing the literature and statistics surrounding rehabilitating sex offenders there is clear evidence that treatment programmes are effective. Punishment, Rehabilitation, Deterence and Incapacitation are the four main objectives for the Criminal Justice system.
An offender could give a false address, name, etc.. again, this was one of the main flaws with regard to the Petiquan case, which is not the only kind of it’s nature. Lastly, any offenders convicted previous to 2004, are not registered with the database, there are literally thousands of sex offenders from before 2004 that are living free and unregistered.
There have been numerous laws enacted in response to sexual 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 several studies, researchers found no evidence of sexual offender registries being effective in increasing public safety. Some studies have found that requiring sex offenders to register with law enforcement may significantly 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 Background A sex offender is a person, male or female who has been convicted of a sex crime.
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
Cognitive behavioral therapy is a promising outlook for the rehabilitation of sex offenders. The therapy is directed towards reconditioning the way a sex offender thinks and operates daily. This makes it possible for offender to apply learned treatment methods and tools to their every day life and more effectively recognize maladaptive thought patterns, which could lead to reoffending. The downside to the therapy is that it relies heavily on the offender to want to change; however, pre-screening into the program helps to ensure only those who want change may participate. In the future there may be more of a shift to the Good Lives Model, which focuses even more on self-worth and self-actualization to make the offender feel important and return to the community as a productive citizen.
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.
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...
Some people might say that if a sex offender does their time in jail that is enough punishment. Others may disagree and say that more action needs to be taken because of stories like the little girl Megan Kanka, who was raped and killed by a sex offender. A sex offender who her parents were unaware of because there was no rule or law that stated anyone else needed to know. Soon after this incident happened, some states passed laws that required local communities to be notified when a convicted sexual offender moved to a specific area. These laws are different in every state. In some, the state requires that convicted sex offenders put up signs in the windows of their homes, so that the neighbors can be aware that a crime has been committed by that person. Some offenders are even required to send postcards to their neighbors, informing them of their crime. These specific states would like the neighbors to be aware of who is living near them. Almost as a “beware” so that they can take action by telling their children to stay away from the sex offenders. The internet also provides extremely convenient websites that allow users to locate addresses and photographs of the offender. The websites also include reasons why the offender was convicted. One of the reasons some say that the laws are too strict on sex offenders is because of people like the woman that actually lived with a sex offender. She was upset because she said he had already served his time and it was unfair to tell everyone in their neighborhood that he had committed that crime. Some of these offenders may constitute an unfair punishment, especially if they are the low-risk, one time offenders who have possibly learned their lesson the first time. It may be unfair becaus...
Policy makers should make registration and notifications mandatory and control where these sex offenders can live. When a child sex offender is released from prison, they should not have the freedom of walking around amongst others, especially children. Child sex offenders may have served their time but they should monitor them because they can repeat the same crime they have committed or be living in an area where they are not supposed to be living. In order to monitor and keep track of child sex offenders, registries and notifications should be implemented in all states: “some governments have attempted to deal with this crime by creating a sex offender register whereby the activities and movements of sexual deviants are monitored and the details of convicted sex offenders are recorded for
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
According to a statement addressing the sexual victimization of college women The Crime and Victimization in America states that, “ One out of four women will be sexually assaulted on a college campus.” This disturbing fact has not minimized throughout the years, instead it is continuing to worsen throughout college campuses. Sexual assault is not an act to be taken lightly. Society must stop pinpointing the individuals who commit these crimes one by one, but rather look at the problem as a whole and begin to understand the main cause of sexual assault and possible methods to reduce these acts of sexual coercion.
Before the registry was enacted, sex offenders who lived in their neighborhood victimized adults and children and no one knew about their prior criminal history. In very public cases, it was brought to light that children were being abducted, violently sexually assaulted, and finally brutally murdered by sex offenders that should have been registered. Those children could have been kept safe and may still be alive today if the public knew the information about their attackers. Also the surviving victims of sexual abuse endure life long suffering in both mental and physical symptoms. In my opinion I think that families should have unlimited access to the personal information of the registered sex offenders regardless of the privacy rights of those sex offenders. I will discuss both the sex offender’s rights as well as the right to
Rape and sexual violence is a very serious problem that affects millions of people each year. Rape is someone taking advantage of another person sexually. Sexual assault can be verbal, physical, visual, or anything that forces a person to join in unwanted sexual contact or attention. ("Sexual Assault.") Rape is one of the most underreported crimes. In 2002, only thirty-nine percent of rapes and sexual assaults were reported to law officials. ("Sexual Violence: Fact Sheet.") Victims sometimes do not report that they have raped because of shame or feeling that it was their fault. It is never the victim's fault. "Victim blaming" is holding the victim of a crime to be in a whole or in partly responsible for what had happened to them. Most victims believe this. ("Myths and Facts about Sexual Violence.")