The impact of community notification laws on sex offender treatment attitudes

Abstract

Laws for sexual offenders in the United States have changed dramatically in the past few years. In all 50 states, sex offenders are now required to register with local law enforcement in their communities (Schopp, Pearce, & Scalora, 1998). The United States Supreme Court has held its constitutional to civilly commit sexual offenders, even after completing a full prison sentence (Kansas v. Hendricks, 1997). Most recently, a number of states have passed, or are considering, community notification laws that would permit public disclosure of information about a sex offender (LaFond, 1998). The information disclosed varies by state, but usually includes name, age, social security number, race, height, weight, sex, hair and eye color, permanent address, and working address. In the state of Louisiana, for instance, sex offenders are required to place an advertisement in the local newspaper providing information about their criminal background and to affix a bumper sticker to their cars identifying them as sex offenders (see Winick, 1998). Community notification of sex offenders is commonly referred to as Megan’s Law, resulting from the 1994 case in the state of New Jersey involving a twice-convicted sexual offender who raped and murdered 7-year-old Megan Kanka after luring her into his home under the pretext of seeing his new puppy (Montana, 1995). Local law enforcement and community members had no knowledge of the offender’s legal history. In response to the resulting community uproar, New Jersey created a series of laws requiring convicted sex offenders to register with police prior to moving into a neighborhood (Sullivan, 1995). The statutes for New Jersey, and for about half of the other states that require sex offender registration, allow authorities to notify the community of the convicted sex offender’s