Sex Offenders in the Community: Post-Release, Registration, Notification and Residency Restrictions

June 2010:

Karen J. Bachar: Today's presentation is on “Sex Offenders in the Community: Post-Release, Registration, Notification and Residency Restrictions.” The management of sex offenders in the community post-release is an issue of increasing concern to law enforcement, policymakers and the public.

In recent years, there've been many efforts made to strengthen registration and notification. At the same time, we haven't paid a lot of attention to related matters, such as how residency restrictions may impact offenders' efforts to find work and stability, how their living arrangements — what happens when they get released from prison, whether rates of recidivism have changed according to these policies and whether these policies have succeeded in increasing public safety. These are some issues that a lot of people ask.

And to talk about these and related issues to sex offenders, I am happy to have a panel of experts to share their information.

First up will be Dr. Elizabeth Letourneau, who is an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina.

She's worked on Family Services Research Center since 2000 and studied various aspects of sex offending and sexual victimization for more than 20 years. Her research examines interventions for youth who engage in risky behaviors, including juveniles who have sex offended, youth with HIV who engage in unprotected sex and delinquent youths who engage in risky sexual behaviors.

Next, Dr. Kristen Zgoba is the supervisor of Research and Evaluation at the Office of Policy and Planning for the New Jersey Department of Corrections. Her research involves studies of homicide offenders, sex offenders and geographic analysis. She serves on the board of directors at the American Correctional Association and is on the editorial board for Victims and Offenders, Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency and Criminal Justice Abstracts.

Last but not least, we have Alisa Klein, who is a public policy consultant to the Association of Treatment for Sex Abusers, an international, multidisciplinary organization dedicated to preventing the sexual abuse through assessment, treatment and management of individuals who have sexually ...continued... by National Institute of Justice

Megan's Laws as a Case Study in Political Stasis

2011 National:

Abstract:
Sex offender registration and community notification laws, today commonly known as Megan's Laws, are typically seen as consummate products of legislative panic. Unlike many other panic-driven laws, however, the political forces motivating Megan's Laws have not dissipated, and the laws have grown exponentially over time, despite research casting considerable doubt on their public safety efficacy. This symposium contribution examines how and why Megan's Laws have endured--even thrived--notwithstanding concerns over their utility, and reflects upon their likely continued political impregnability in the years to come.

For the remainder of this paper: by Wayne A. Logan, Florida State University - College of Law

The Evolution of Unconstitutionality in Sex Offender Registration Laws

August 2011:

Abstract:
More is not always better. Consider sex offender registration laws. Initially anchored by rational basis, registration schemes have spiraled out of control because legislators, eager to please a fearful public, have been given unfettered freedom by a deferential judiciary.

This particular article does not challenge the state’s legislative power to enact sex offender registration laws. Instead, this piece posits that, even if sex offender registration schemes were initially constitutional, serially amended sex offender registration schemes – what this piece dubs super-registration schemes – are not. Their emergence over the last several years demands reexamination of traditionally held assumptions that shaped the original legislation.

Two intertwined causes are responsible for the schemes’ constitutional downfall. The first is a legislative body eager to draft increasingly harsh registration and notification schemes to please an electorate that subsists on a steady diet of fear. When combined with the second cause, a Supreme Court that has yet to signal much needed boundaries, the ensuing consequence is runaway legislation that is no longer rationally connected to its regulatory purpose. Ultimately, this article is a cautionary tale of legislation that has unmoored from its constitutional grounding because of its punitive effect and excessive reach.

For the remainder of this paper: by Catherine L. Carpenter, Southwestern Law School

The Emerging Criminal War on Sex Offenders

August 2009:

Abstract:
This article addresses four central questions.

First, what is the difference between normal law enforcement policy and a “war” on crime?

Second, assuming such a line can be discerned, has the enactment of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act (“AWA”) in combination with other sex offender laws triggered a transition to a criminal war on sex offenders?

Third, if such a criminal war is emerging, what will be the likely effects of such a transition?

Fourth, if such a criminal war is emerging with substantial negative consequences, can it be stopped?

By reviewing America’s history of criminal wars, primarily in the War on Drugs, the article identifies three essential characteristics of a criminal war: marshaling of resources, myth creation, and exception making. It concludes that the federalization of sex offender policy brought about by the AWA elevated law enforcement to a nascent criminal war on sex crimes. This change could have repercussions as substantial as the drug war has had on American criminal justice and society.

For the remainder of this paper: by Corey Rayburn Yung, The John Marshall Law School

Contextualizing Sex Offender Management Legislation and Policy: Evaluating the Problem of Latent Consequences in Community Notification Laws

2001:

Abstract:

Sexual victimization has become one of the most publicized and researched social problems in society. However, potential linkages between the intended and unintended effects of sex offender management legislation have gone largely unaddressed in social science literature. This article addresses these linkages by applying a social-systems model to help better understand the problems of managing sex offenders. Additionally, latent consequences of current and proposed sex offender legislation, including community notification laws, are examined. It is argued that sex offenders (and the community at large) may face a considerable variety of problems not intended by such legislation. In addition, we examine the "one-dimensional monster" stereotype of a sex offender and how this ostracism may discourage offenders from reporting their behavior and seeking counseling. Finally, we provide proposals for addressing these issues with the use of the therapeutic jurisprudence model.

For the remainder of this paper: by William Edwards, Morehead State University, #108920, Kentucky State Reformatory, 3001 West Highway 146, La Grange, KY 40031, USA -AND- Christopher Hensley, Institute for Correctional Research and Training, Morehead State University, 114 Rader Hall, Morehead, KY 40351, USA

International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, Vol. 45, No. 1, 83-101 (2001) DOI: 10.1177/0306624X01451006

One of These Laws is Not Like the Others: Why the Federal Sex Offender and Registration and Notification Act Raises New Constitutional Questions

July 2009:

Abstract:
In 2003, the United States Supreme Court issued its only two opinions regarding the constitutionality of sex offender registration and notification statutes. The two opinions, Smith v. Doe ("Smith") and Connecticut Department of Public Safety v. Doe ("DPS"), upheld the Alaska and Connecticut registry and notification laws against Ex Post Facto Clause and due process challenges. Three years later, the federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act ("SORNA") was passed as part of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act.

The federal statute was very different from the state statutes that the Court reviewed. Most notable among the differences was the creation of the federal crime of "failure to register" which was punishable by up to ten years imprisonment. Despite the significance of the disparities between the state and federal laws, district courts across the country have virtually rubber stamped the criminal provisions of SORNA as constitutional. The district courts' reasoning has been almost entirely based upon superficial, mechanical applications of the Court's decisions in Smith and DPS.

This article contends that most district courts have been severely misguided in reading the two Court opinions and the statutory provisions of SORNA. Consequently, this article concludes that either Congress should amend SORNA or courts should strike down portions of SORNA on Ex Post Facto Clause, due process, and Commerce Clause grounds.

For the remainder of this paper: by Corey Rayburn Yung, The John Marshall Law School