Sex Offender Registration Laws

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Sex offenders have always existed and just recently there have been laws to regulate their behavior. Registration laws for sex offenders were barely created in the mid-20th century. However the public were not allowed to view the individuals who registered until the 90’s. Before that there were no laws that were geared toward sex offenders. Over time the United States became more open about allowing the public know whether there were sex offenders in their neighborhoods, by accessing the websites where they had registered. These sex offender registration laws are effective and just in that the offenders have reduced rates of recidivism when they are registered, they notify the community around them that there is a sex offender in their area, …show more content…

There could be different levels of sexual offenses, some possibly not severe enough to where the individual has to register on the sex offender registries. That could reduce the amount of sex offenders registered on databases, and would also help those ones with less severe crimes obtain jobs and still live within the community without harassment. As for the individuals who have committed severe crimes and are registered as sex offenders, the fact that they are registered online as sexual predators can reduce the amount of sex offender recidivism …show more content…

Because their information is public, these sex offenders are often ridiculed and harassed by the public. Not just the adult sex offenders, but juvenile offenders as well. Letourneau & Caldwell, (2013) discuss the drawbacks of having juveniles registered as sex offenders, “…concluded that not only does registration fail to reduce recidivism, it also appears to be associated with increased risk of new charges that do not result in new convictions – possibly indication a surveillance or “scarlet letter” effect for youth to be subjected to these policies.” The juveniles registered as sex offenders are harassed because their registration is made public and they recidivate because nothing is being done to rehabilitate them. One would argue that this is a negative effect to sex offender restrictions but it is justified because like a sex offender, they committed a sex crime regardless of the seriousness, and must receive the punishment determined. Something that can be done about that is possibly lower the requirements of what type of crime needs the offender to register as a sex offender, or possibly even refuse to publicly disclose their information until the juvenile has turned

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