Congressional Research Service (CRS Reports)

Congressional Research:

CRS Reports: (Do search for sex offenders)

Misc Topics:

---

10-19-2015: Further Pre-Enactment Sex Offender Registration Uncertainty Resolved

3-25-2015: Federal Involvement in Sex Offender Registration and Notification: Overview and Issues for Congress, In Brief

7-25-2013: Failure to Register as a Sex Offender: A Legal Analysis of 18 U.S.C. 2250

2-21-2008: The Social Security Number: Legal Developments Affecting Its Collection, Disclosure, and Confidentiality

See also other CRS Reports in this blog.

---

Counting Regulations: An Overview of Rulemaking, Types of Federal Regulations, and Pages in the Federal Register

May 2013:

Summary:
Federal rulemaking is an important mechanism through which the federal government implements policy. Federal agencies issue regulations pursuant to statutory authority granted by Congress. Therefore, Congress may have an interest in performing oversight of those regulations. Measuring federal regulatory activity can be a useful way for Congress to conduct that oversight. The number of federal rules issued annually and the total number of pages in the Federal Register are often referred to as measures of the total federal regulatory burden.

Certain methods of quantifying regulatory activity, however, may provide an imperfect portrayal of the total federal rulemaking burden. For example, the number of final rules published each year is generally in the range of 2,500-4,500, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Some of those rules have a large effect on the economy, and others have a significant legal and/or policy effect, even if the costs and benefits are minimal. On the other hand, many federal rules are routine in nature and impose minimal regulatory burden, if any. In addition, rules that are deregulatory in nature and those that repeal existing rules are still defined as “rules” under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA, 5 U.S.C. §§ 551 et seq.) and are therefore included in that total.

The Federal Register provides documentation of the government’s regulatory and other actions, and some scholars, commentators, and public officials have used the total number of Federal Register pages each year as a measure for the total amount of regulatory activity. Because the Federal Register has been in print since the 1930s, the number of pages can be useful for crosstime comparisons. However, the total number of Federal Register pages may not be an accurate way to measure regulatory activity for several reasons. In addition to publishing proposed and final rules in the Federal Register, agencies publish other items that may be related to regulations, such as notices of public meetings and extensions of comment periods. The Federal Register also contains many other items related to non-regulatory activities, including presidential documents, notices, and corrections. In 2011, approximately 32% of the total pages in the Federal Register were in the “Rules and Regulations” section, the section in which final rules are published.

This report serves to inform the congressional debate over rulemaking by analyzing different ways to measure federal rulemaking activity. The report provides data on and analysis of the total number of rules issued each year, as well as information on other types of rules, such as “major” rules, “significant” rules, and “economically significant” rules. These categories have been created by various statutes and executive orders containing requirements that may be triggered if a regulation falls into one of the categories. When available, data are provided on each type of rule. Finally, the report provides data on the number of pages and documents in the Federal Register each year and analyzes the content of the Federal Register. ..Source.. by Maeve P. Carey, Analyst in Government Organization and Management (Cogressional Research Service)

Internet: An Overview of Key Technology Policy Issues Affecting Its Use and Growth

August 2006:

Introduction
The continued growth of the Internet for personal, government, and business purposes may be affected by a number of technology policy issues being debated by Congress. Among them are access to and regulation of broadband (high-speed) Internet services, computer and Internet security, Internet privacy, the impact of “spam,” concerns about what children may encounter (such as pornography) when using the Internet, management of the Internet Domain Name System, and government information technology management.

This report provides overviews of those issues, plus appendices providing a list of pending legislation, a list of acronyms, a discussion of legislation passed in earlier Congresses, and a list of other CRS reports that provide more detail on these and related topics. Other issues that are not directly related to technology could also affect the use and growth of the Internet, such as intellectual property rights and Internet taxation. Those are not addressed in this report, but the list of CRS products in Appendix D includes reports on related topics.

Because this report is updated only periodically, it does not attempt to track legislation. For more timely information, see the other CRS reports identified in the following sections and in Appendix D. ..Source.. by CRS Service

Civil Commitment of Sexually Dangerous Persons

July 2007:

Summary:
The 109th Congress passed legislation (P.L. 109-248) that allows the federal government to civilly commit “sexually dangerous persons.” Civil commitment, as it relates to sex offenders, is when a state retains custody of an individual, found by a judge or jury to be a “sexually dangerous person,” by involuntarily committing the person to a secure mental health facility after the offender’s prison sentence is done. In 1990, the state of Washington passed the first civil commitment law for sexually dangerous persons. Currently, 18 other states and the federal government have similar laws. Moreover, the Supreme Court, in Kansas v. Hendricks and Kansas v. Crane, ruled that current civil commitment laws are constitutional.

The civil commitment of sex offenders centers on the belief that sex offenders are more likely than other offenders to re-offend. However, data on sex offender recidivism is varied. Data show that the recidivism risk for sex offenders may be lower than it is typically thought to be; in fact, some studies show that sex offenders recidivate at a lower rate than many other criminals. Other studies show that, given time, almost all sex offenders will commit a new sex crime. Most discussions about recidivism examine ways to decrease recidivism; for example, by providing sex offenders with treatment. Research on the efficacy of sex offender treatment is promising, but it cannot prove that treatment reduces recidivism. Cognitivebehavioral techniques appear to be the most promising type of treatment for sex offenders, although some research indicates that offenders who receive a diagnosis of psychopathy may be less amenable to treatment.

For civil commitment to be effective, practitioners must be able to identify sex offenders who pose a high risk of re-offending. Although the ability of practitioners to identify offenders has improved, there is still the possibility that an offender who would not re-offend might be committed. Moreover, determining when it is safe to release a sex offender from custody is still difficult for practitioners. Such concerns have raised questions about alternatives to civil commitment. One potential alternative is the use of less restrictive measures, such as intensive community supervision. Another alternative is the use of indeterminate sentences for sex offenders. The cost of civil commitment programs has fueled debate about other viable means for managing dangerous sex offenders. Data show that civil commitment programs are expensive when compared with traditional incarceration or community supervision. The cost of civil commitment programs is expected to grow as more offenders are committed.

An issue for Congress is whether civil commitment is a sustainable policy for dealing with sexually dangerous persons, or whether there is a different way to manage this population effectively. The issue of civil commitment raises a series of concomitant questions: How much do civil commitment programs cost? How dangerous are sex offenders? Is sex offender treatment effective? Can sexually dangerous persons be defined and identified? Are there less restrictive alternatives for managing sex offenders? ..Source..

by: Nathan James, Analyst in Social Policy, Domestic Social Policy Division -AND- Kenneth R. Thomas, Legislative Attorney, American Law Division -AND- Cassandra Foley, Law Librarian, Knowledge Services Group

This report has an excellent section on recidivism and explains problems with such studies. eAdvocate

Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act: A Legal Analysis

April 2007:

Summary:
The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, (P.L. 109-248, H.R. 4472), emerged from Congress following the passage of separate bills in the House and Senate (H.R. 3132 and S. 1086 respectively). The act’s provisions fall into four categories: a revised sex offender registration system, child and sex related amendments to federal criminal and procedure, child protective grant programs, and other initiatives designed to prevent and punish sex offenders and those who victimize children.

The sex offender registration provisions replace the Jacob Wetterling Act provisions with a statutory scheme under which states are required to modify their registration systems in accordance with federal requirements at the risk of losing 10% of their Byrne program law enforcement assistance funds. The act seeks to close gaps in the prior system, provide more information on a wider range of offenders, and make the information more readily available to the public and law enforcement officials.

In the area of federal criminal law and procedure, the act enlarges the kidnaping statute, increases the number of federal capital offenses, enhances the mandatory minimum terms of imprisonment and other penalties that attend various federal sex offenses, establishes a civil commitment procedure for federal sex offenders, authorizes random searches as a condition for sex offender probation and supervised release, outlaws Internet date drug trafficking, permits the victims of state crimes to participate in related federal habeas corpus proceedings, and eliminates the statute of limitations for certain sex offenses and crimes committed against children.

The act revives the authorization of appropriations under the Police Athletic Youth Enrichment Act among its other grant provisions and requires the establishment of a national child abuse registry among its other child safety initiatives. ..Source.. by Charles Doyle, American Law Division

Residence Restrictions for Released Sex Offenders

February 2008:

CRS Report for Congress

Summary
Monitoring the movement of sex offenders in communities continues to be of interest to Congress, state legislatures, and local governments. In response to some citizens’ concerns, Congress passed the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 (P.L. 109-248), which, among other provisions, provides for mandatory registration of sex offenders who are released from prison, closer scrutiny of them, and community notification of their whereabouts. Through the community notification process, the public has more knowledge of where sex offenders reside. At least 23 states and hundreds of local governments have passed laws to prohibit sex offenders, who must register as such, from living within a specified distance of a particular area. Often, restricted areas include parks, playgrounds, recreation centers, swimming pools, schools, bus stops, libraries, convenience stores, and other facilities that serve large numbers of persons under 18 years of age.

With passage of the Adam Walsh Act, Congress sought to ensure through the registration process that released sex offenders are monitored properly so that they are no longer a threat to the public. Opponents of state and local residence restriction laws argue that they greatly affect the ability of sex offenders to obtain housing, employment, education, and health services. The inability of many released sex offenders to obtain work and other services contributes to their becoming homeless. Consequently, without an address for offenders, it becomes very difficult for law enforcement to track them. On the other hand, proponents of the laws state that their primary concern is protection of children from predators, not the inconvenience of some sex offenders. Possible oversight issues related to residence restrictions include their impact on public safety and how registration provisions of the Walsh Act are actually implemented to determine if they conform to congressional intent.

Findings of studies commissioned by Colorado and Minnesota influenced their approach to residence restriction laws. Colorado chose not to enact a residence restriction law. The Colorado study addressed safety issues raised by living arrangements of sex offenders in the community. It found that for sex offenders under the supervision of criminal justice, residence restriction laws may not deter the offender from sexual reoffending and should not be considered as a method to control sexual offending recidivism. It also found that sex offenders with good support systems had lower recidivism rates than those with poor or no support system. In addressing residence restriction for sex offenders, Minnesota enacted a law, but does not impose specific distance restrictions on where a sex offender can live. It requires the agency responsible for supervising a high risk offender to consider the proximity of the offender’s residence to other high risk offenders, as well as to schools. The Minnesota study examined the effect of using housing restrictions to reduce sexual recidivism. This study found that when offenders seek a victim through direct contact, the offenders were more likely to leave their neighborhood to commit an offense; and that residential proximity is not a major factor in reducing sexual recidivism, but that social or relationship proximity is.

This report analyzes the issue of residence restriction laws for released sex offenders. It will be updated to reflect any congressional legislative activity. ..Source.. by Garrine P. Laney, Analyst in Social Policy, Domestic Social Policy Division