THE LAW ENFORCEMENT ROLE IN SEX OFFENDER COMMUNITY NOTIFICATION: A RESEARCH NOTE

Abstract

ABSTRACT Within the last decade, Federal and state legislation has been enacted requiring notification be sent to local and county jurisdictions where high-risk sex offenders will be living upon release from prison. Police and sheriffs departments, in turn, have been given primary responsibility for notifying community residents that convicted sex offenders will be residing in their midst. One method adopted by law enforcement in dealing with this difficult task has been the interagency team approach. Police, corrections, district attorneys, and victim-witness representatives collaborate in ways that benefit the notification decision making process. This case study reports the findings from a statewide survey of 312 Wisconsin police chiefs and sheriffs, who often used interagency “notification teams.” Results indicate that decisions regarding community notification and sex offender surveillance, when arrived at through interagency collaboration, served important law enforcement objectives. These results were validated through systematic observation of law enforcement practitioners who conducted notifications, particularly through the mode of community notification meetings. This research summarizes key findings and examines their policy implications.