Professional Views on the Management of Sex Offenders in the Community

Abstract

Sex offender registration and community notification schemes form an increasingly important part of public policy relevant to the management of known sex offenders in the community. Critics of these policies not only point to the lack of empirical evidence that is currently available to support their impact on reoffending, but also the disproportionate and potentially iatrogenic effects that they have on offenders. However, there have been few attempts to understand these issues from the perspective of those practitioners who work on a daily basis with sex offenders in the community. These professionals are uniquely placed to contribute to an understanding of effective risk management and, as such, this article presents an analysis of the perspectives of a group of experienced practitioners and how this practice-based wisdom might inform the development of sex offender public policy.

KEYWORDS:

• community services
• offender supervision
• practice wisdom
• public policy
• risk management
• sex offender

Notes

The views of police officers in this jurisdiction have been described elsewhere (see Powell, Day, Benson, Vess, & Graffam, 2013).