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Norma Morales CRJ 494 April 25, 2008 Essay 3 Legislation The media has done a great job in making society live in paranoia and fear. It also has done a good job in covering high profile cases involving sexual predators. Because of the excessive media coverage, the public has taken more of an interest in knowing what law enforcement and criminal justice agencies are doing to not only increase public awareness but to prevent future victimizations from happening. “State legislatures passed more than 100 sex offender laws in 2005” (U.S. Department of Justice). These new laws require state and local law enforcement agencies to maintain “sex offender registries and implement community notification practices. New measures require: lifetime registration for certain offenders, electronic monitoring, and a broader scope of offenses subject to registration.” (U.S. Department of Justice). The question at hand is when a sex offender has been released from prison and placed back into society, what do we do' Is there anything that we can do' Because of the manner of their crime do they even deserve to have protection and privacy' Most convicted offenders reside, or at some point following a criminal justice sentence will reside, in the community. Communities will be strengthened if local citizens participate in responding to crime, as well as responding to the preferences and needs of victims, other communities, and offenders. One of these responses is passing certain legislation that control sex offenders. This essay will outline some of the legislations that have been passed as well as the future timeline of these laws and how they all relate to monitoring sex offenders. Sex offender registration is being called Megan’s Law. This law was petitioned and passed into law in 1996, by the U.S. Congress along with the parents. The basis for the petition was that a young girl by the name of Megan Kanka was raped and murdered by a convicted sex offender who lived across the street. The original intent of Megan’s Law was for “the most violent and predatory sex offenders” to be listed. Similar legislation has since been passed, coined Jessica’s Law, which puts tougher restrictions on where sex offenders are allowed to live and the punishments given for such offenses (Boing). Because of the nature of a “sex offense”, most of the crimes committed by sex offenders are considered to be quite heinous in nature. On January 1 two new laws went into effect in Springfield, Illinois regarding the public’s access to the Statewide Sex Offender Database. Under one law,” sex offenders are now required to register their age, county of conviction, all license plate numbers registered to their name and any distinguishing marks on their bodies” (Stelte). State Sen. Kirk W. Dillard who is the chief sponsor of this legislation, said that “until now, each year sex offenders were required only to register their address, date of birth and their type of sex offense. This law will enable Internet users to enter their ZIP code into the state’s sex offender registry and find the location sex offenders living within a five-mile radius. Information given includes date of birth, height, weight, race, crimes and county of conviction” (Stelte). However it doesn’t end there. He also said a “sex offender’s tattoos or piercings should be made known because they can be used for identification” (Stelte). The John Howard Association which is a prison reform group thinks otherwise. They believe that it is “just creating a lot of paperwork that state workers are not going to keep up with. [Instead], lawmakers should pass a bill that would provide therapy within prison, which would be more effective and save money” (Stelte). The issue with treatment is that is works for some and not others. For some clients, treatment is a successful, while for others it only adds on to their failures. Programs should be matched to risk level, with higher risk offenders subject to more intensive interventions. Another issue with treatment and programs is that if they are introduced before their release then their learning cannot be applied to daily community life. Instead whatever they had hoped to gain would be lost and instead replaced with negative ways of thinking of behavior that are appropriate within a prison setting but counter to mainstream reintegration. The second part of the law that was passed in Illinois requires “all sex offenders to submit a blood, saliva or tissue sample to the State Police to be included in the statewide database” (Stelte). However, according to state senator Kirk Dillard, “DNA is the fingerprint of today. [It proves to be] an incredibly effective tool to find sex offenders and remove them from society if appropriate” (Stelte). People would be more surprised to know how closely they are actually living near a convicted sex offender. The great think about these new laws is that not only it is convenient but it “gives people more information on who’s in their neighborhood and that is going to give more of a sense of safety” (Stelte). During the last two decades, many laws have been passed in order to strengthen law enforcements ability to monitor and track sex offenders in the community. The internet has been a great up and coming resource in allowing the public access to now be able to track sexual offender in their community. Some examples of National Legislation that have passed are: In 1994, the Jacob Wetterling Crimes against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act was passed. “When 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling was abducted in Minnesota in 1989, law enforcement did not have any comprehensive listing of sex offenders from which to begin an investigation. Passed as part of the 1994 Federal Omnibus Crime Bill, the Wetterling Act requires all states to create and maintain a sex offender registry” (U.S. Department of Justice). Then in 1996, Megan’s Law was passed. Megan Kanka was “kidnapped, raped and murdered by a convicted sex offender living across the street, [which] the family was unaware, was a convicted sex offender. [Because of that, Megan’s law was passed] which requires public notification of a sex offender’s release into the community. This amendment also mandated all states to develop notification procedures to allow public access to certain information about the location of violent sex offenders in their communities” (U.S. Department of Justice). In 2000, another law was passed called the Campus Sex Crimes Prevention Act. This legislations “mandates that any person who is required to register in a state must also notify the institution of higher education in that state in which the person is employed, carries on a vocation, or is a student” (U.S. Department of Justice). Following this was the State legislations involvement which resulted in over 100 laws passed. The point of passing all these legislations is not to instill more fear and paranoia but instead to make us a society more education and aware of the resources that we have available to us. When a sexual offender prisoner is released they do have every right to live back in a community. What they do have a right in is committing another vicious act. As a community, as individuals and as a society we have every right to stop that from happening. The public deserve to be aware of those convicted of sex crimes. Increased public awareness sounds all good but at the same time there is the argument of how much information is necessary to be released on these criminals' Should there be a line drawn' Shouldn’t registering as a sex offender already be enough' “Basic demographic data on the registered offender, others provide greater detail — a photo, age of victim, specific address, and employment information. There is much debate over how much information is necessary to share to enhance public safety” (U.S. Department of Justice). Because in the end, “all sex offenders are considered the same regardless of their crime” (Boing). In other countries men who are convicted sex offenders suffer worse consequences. For example, many men can be castrated. So, registering doesn’t sound so bad anymore' According to the Department of Justice, the recidivism rate among sex offenders is lower than all other types of offenses. It is said that sex offenders as a group are unlikely to reoffend. Even if that is true, why take the chance on that 10%' Crimes of sex offenders leave lifelong, devastating effects on the victim. We know it only serves to reduce the potential of this happening, but this law will ultimately serve to protect citizens better. We have to stop sex offenders before they commit their next crime' And if this is a first step in the right direction, then we should go with it. These legislations a providing a more comprehensive system for tracking sex offenders. In the end it will serve to the protection of our children. Refernces New Jersey to block sex offenders from internet, computer use. 2007. Boing Boing, A Directory of Wonderful Things. http://dynamic.boingboing.net/profile/Zerospace Stelte, Mitzie. 2007. New Laws Passed Governing Sex Offenders. The Times Springfield Bureau. http://sadlynormal.wordpress.com/2007/01/08/il-new-laws-passed-governing-sex-offenders/ Managing Sex Offenders: Citizens Supporting Law Enforcement. 2004. United States Department of Justice. http://www.policevolunteers.org/resources/pdf/cisomResourceGuide.pdf