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Making Sense Of Crime Essay

509 Words3 Pages

Making Sense of Crime, Policy and Values- Sex Offender Laws
The effectiveness of sex offender registrations and what do individuals do with that information, are questions that are being raised. We know that parents often seek information on individuals who they feel may pose a risk to their children. Whether it is a babysitter or the teenage boy next door, these parents find information by frequenting the sex offender registry. Sarah Tofte, one of the authors of the Human Rights Watch suggests, that the laws are written so broadly that even individuals who have not necessarily committed a sex crime have to register as a sex offender. If an individual urinate or expose oneself in public, that individual has to register as a sex offender and will be portrayed as such to parents and other individuals who view the registry. Some individuals who are placed on sex registrations are registered from 10 years to even lifetime registration. 87% of sex crimes committed over the year are committed by offenders who have never committed a sexual offense before.
Sex laws may be doing more harm than good because they are based on myths. Laws need to be tailored to depict if these individuals pose as a risk to individuals. Sarah Tofte also …show more content…

Registered sex offenders who did not commit an actual sexual assault, are still subjected to being ridiculed and sometime victims of violence. An individual who urinates in public is classified as the same as an individual who committed rape. Even if an individual pleads no contest, they still have to register on the sex offender list. Sex offender policies unfairly targets juveniles because their victims are young. However, because they are young, their victims will tend to be younger. However, when an individual has sex with a younger child regardless of the offender’s age at the time of the offense, they are still viewed as

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The United States Supreme Court in the Packingham v. North Carolina first amendment case has ruled in favor of Lester Gerard Packingham. The state from now on may not bar social media access to registered sex offenders. The case’s build up dates back to 2002 when 21 year old college student Lester G. Packingham had a sexual relationship with a 13-year-old girl. For involvement with a minor he received a 10-12 month sentence, but having never met problems with the law, the judge required him to go on a 24 month probation and register as a sex offender. Five years had passed and in 2008 North Carolina forbid any person on the sex offender list to use any type of social media.

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This is because the law is overly vast when it describes what the sex offender can and cannot due over the internet. This is unfair because in today’s world almost every website use reviews and opinion based comments. Many of these websites don’t require a user to have any sort of account or username. This means that any person, including minors, are able to use this website regardless of whether or not it is allowed, and the very possibility of a minor being on a website restricts it from the use of a sex offender. An example of this is Cooks.com, this website allows users to leave comments without requiring any type of account, email, or identification.

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On July 29, 1994, New Jersey resident Megan Kanka was lured into the home of Jesse Timmendequas, a convicted sex offender, with promises of seeing a puppy (Corrigan, 2006). Once she entered his house, she was raped twice, strangled with a belt, and suffocated with a bag (Corrigan, 2006). Timmendequas was arrested soon after and confessed to this crime (Corrigan, 2006). This event outraged Kanka's parents and the surrounding community (Corrigan, 2006). They used this tragic death to create Megan's Law as an addition to the Jacob Wetterling Crimes against Children Violent Offender Registration Act, which required sex offenders to register within their counties (Welchans, 2005).

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The Utah Sex Offender Registry has many purposes and has been around for quite some time. Unfortunately, every state is different and often times the entertainment industry portrays the registry in a false light. The Utah Department of Corrections wants to deflate some of the major myths surrounding the sex offender registry. The most common myth the sex offender registry office receives daily is, “An offender was on the registry yesterday, why are they not on there now?”

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It is known that some individuals listed do have repeat offenses, but some offenders are reformed and live successful lives. One minor incident could haunt someone for years and impact his or her career, relationships, and community involvement. A person who wants to live a better life and be a better person may have trouble escaping the label of a sex offender (The Law Office of George Gedulin, 2017). Another major criticism is that it affects the family members of those on Megan’s Law. It might degrade the whole family's reputation, because one member is listed.

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Chapter Eight of the book Flawed Criminal Justice Policies, authors take the closer look at the laws and faulty policy regarding the sex offenders. According to the book policy makers started the myriad laws to protect the public from the sex offenders with increased prison sentences, and restricting the residences to the violators. Today we have very similar situation when it comes to treatment of sexual offenders. The process starts with the sex offender being committed to the prison sentence, and lastly to being registered as a sex offender on many public websites, so that the people could distinguish who the sex offender is and where he/she lives. In this chapter we can learn about a lot of different statues that were made to protect people from the sex offenders.

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In the state of Arizona, their statutes list’s twenty-one different types of offenses that an offender must be required to register for. Below are ten of the twenty-one crimes. According to the Arizona State Senate Issue Brief, they state that: “Arizona Revised Statutes require persons convicted of any of the following 21 different offenses to register as sex offenders: 1) unlawful imprisonment if the victim is under 18 years of age; 2) kidnapping if the victim is under 18 years of age; 3) sexual abuse if the victim is under 18 years of age; 4) sexual conduct with a minor; 5) sexual assault; 6) sexual assault of a spouse; 7) molestation of a child; 8) continuous sexual abuse of a child; 9) taking a child for the purpose of prostitution; 10)

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Additionally, California has a law that allows citizens access to a CD-ROM with detailed information on sex offenders living in the state. The Pam Lyncher Sexual Offender Tracking and Identification Act, signed into law by President Clinton in 1996, called for a national registry of sex offenders, which allows state officials to submit queries and determine whether a job applicant at a day-care center is a registered sex offender in any of the participating states. Overall, communities have the right to be informed about the presence of sex offenders and take measures to protect themselves, such as avoiding contact with the offender or limiting their access to certain areas. However, it's worth noting that some states have more stringent laws than others when it comes to community notification and that the effectiveness of such laws in reducing the risk of recidivism among sex offenders remains a topic of

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The punishments vary widely, between states, from fines and counseling to life in prison. Sex Offenders can be categorized into three tiers according to federal law. A Tier is a level in which a Sex Offender is categorized based on his/her sex offense.

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All grown-up male sex offenders in prisons might volunteer for the system. In view of the long holding up rundown, most offenders enter treatment just when they are inside of year and a half of discharge. Offenders are relied upon to keep accepting treatment subsequent to surrendering prison for over to three years through aftercare programs accessible all through the state. A number of the sex offenders don 't volunteer to take an interest in treatment, despite the fact that DOC has contracted more sex guilty party specialists and is giving more information about theprogram to offenders in an effort to increase participation.

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There has been result that are quietly understood and limited. Generally, many sexual crimes committed by juveniles have gone unreported and in some cases those that are reported are not prosecuted or prosecuted as sex offences as results of plea bargain. There has been several studies on adult sex offenders that are relevant to todays studies. There has been a large portion of adult offenders who report sex offending behaviors that began in adolescence. When adult offenders undergo polygraph, that is typically administered as part of their treatment programs, offenders will admit to offending against victims who they have not yet been identified.

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Should Sex Offenders Name be Public? It is debatable if sex offenders names should be public, some people believe is a invasion of there private life, “There is a real danger of vigilantism and publicizing their names (and the info required goes far beyond just their names) is an invasion of privacy of the wives, children and families of these offenders, which is an invasion of privacy no other class of criminal faces”(debate.org) . Others believe this is not even debatable, that Sex offenders name should be public, period, “Once somebody commits a sexual crime, they have given up their right to anonymity.

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1317 Words | 6 Pages

The laws associated with this registry are borderline unconstitutional. Sadly, these same laws apply to all registered sex offenders and not just Tier II and Tier

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582 Words | 3 Pages

In addressing the issue of registries there are two issues that stand out on the “positive/pro” side. First the most obvious, I can know where all the sex offender are around me, which we give me the ability to tell my children where and whom to stay away from. Second, the government/officials get to look good while giving the community a sense that they are somehow safer. I believe these two factors are hollow and in actuality accomplish little if anything at all. One of things that I find most disturbing regarding sex offender registration is that all sex offenders are basically treated the same, regardless of their circumstances, crimes, and levels of dangerousness.

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One of the reason is because many of the registered sex offender are convicted of statutory rape. Fletcher Duddy, a director at the state’s Office of the Public Defender, says that the law’s intent is good, but it doesn’t do what it is supposed to do. For example, he says if an adult is dating a minor and even the family knows about it, the adult is still violating the law and would be seen as a sex

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