Effects Of Sex Offenders

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In the last century, lawmakers have passed several social policies designed to protect the public from sexual victimization. The sexual victimization of innocent children is an unforgivable offense in the public perception thus, the vast majority of people would like to see these kinds of offenders incarcerated for life. Unfortunately, this is not the case in most situations, therefore this research discusses the successes and challenges surrounding the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORN) of future offending of Tier 3 sex offenders.
Keywords: SORN, child sexual offender, deterrent, collateral effects

Introduction

Sex offenders provoke a great deal of anxiety among the general public. And, due to the frequent use of digital …show more content…

These offenders face many barriers as a result of not being accepted by the general public. Due to the social stigmatization of sex offenders they are turned down for employment, refused housing and their family suffers (Frenzel, Bowen & Spraitz, 2014).
Employment is essential to survive in today’s economy. Not many Americans can live off of one income and the difficulties of gaining employment was a major concern among offenders listed on the sex registry. Due to the inability to attain a job these financial stressors are placed on their significant other to work multiple jobs. Harassment and stigmatization are prevalent among sex offender, especially child sexual abusers. Many are fearful that their family will be harassment because of their registration.
In conducting research regarding recidivism among child abusers since the implementation of SORN, I found that the practice of having sex offenders register in an online database for law enforcement purpose is effective, but the notification function for the public is ineffective. Thus, causing a substantial amount of negative collateral consequences for the offender. Evidence on the effectiveness of SORN suggests the notifying the public do not reduce recidivism, but do more harm than good in the community (Bonnar-Kidd, 2010; Lehrer, …show more content…

(2007), they surveyed 239 sex offenders in Connecticut and Indiana. The negative consequence among the offenders was distress, hopeless, depression and property damage. The authors recommended legislation rely on risk assessment classification to better notify the public while lessening the obstacles that interfere with successful community integration. A significant variable in determining recidivism among sex offenders is risk assessments (Patrick & Marsh, 2009). Other variables such as ethnicity, gender, age, and relationship were not associated with recidivism. If we want to see a reduction in re-offending among child abusers, more time and money should be allocated for conducting effective risk assessment among sex

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