Policy-makers’ perceptions on their sex offender laws: the good, the bad, and the ugly

Abstract

The views and attitudes that lawmakers have about sexual offenders and sexual victimization can be influential in criminal lawmaking. And given the popularity of sex offender laws, policy-makers are central players in how state justice systems respond to sex crimes. Therefore, state-level policy-makers from across the country, who sponsored and passed at least one sex offender law in their state, (n = 61) were interviewed about sex offenders and sex crimes. Policy-makers believe sex offender laws are too broad. The laws extend to nonviolent offenses, low-risk offenders, and thus dilute the law enforcement potency of sex offender registries. Policy-makers view existing sex offender laws as necessary to enhance public safety and as proof that lawmakers are responding to the needs and concerns of the public. Sex offender laws were also discussed as a source of political capital; a way to help ensure reelection. The sexual victimization of children and the media’s coverage of sex crimes were instrumental in these state-level policy-makers’ decisions to sponsor sex offender laws. Policy and research recommendations are offered.

Keywords:

• policy-makers’ perceptions
• sex offender legislation
• victims
• media

Acknowledgement

The authors sincerely thank the policy-makers and their staff for their time and attention to this research. Without them this investigation would have been impossible. We also appreciate the comments and suggestions made by the anonymous reviewers. This article is better because of their efforts.

Notes

1. The Wetterling Act is federal law that mandates states have, and maintain, a registration of convicted sex offenders. The federal law allowed (but did not require) states to make the information publically available. The Act was amended in 1996 and 1998.

2. Almost a decade later, the federal government again addressed sex offender registration and notification. In 2006, the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act also contained a Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA). This new SORNA was designed to tighten and extend existing federal registration and notification mandates.

3. Grounded theory is one of the best methodological approaches when investigating studying new or understudied areas (Stern, 1995).

4. The term ‘sexting’ refers to the practice of digitally sending sexually explicit material/photos, usually between cell phones.