I have posted before on sex-offender laws, and the issue was reopened for me by an article from the Economist. Below are the high points, though I highly recommend the whole article. Again, our American-style of harsh penalties and zero-tolerance clauses is resulting in not only an unforgiving national culture, but perhaps, and more importantly, an unstable environment for ex-offenders and an unworkable solution for tracking and identifying the truly dangerous offenders.
If we want to keep our neighbors and children safe, we are going to have to learn to have a discerning eye and forgiving heart to those who have committed sexual crimes but pose little to no future threat not only so they can get on with their lives, but so society can devote its resources to watching those who are truly dangerous. The chest-thumping over “being tough on crime” has to calm down so we can look at policies and punishments that really work rather than sound tough and produce discouraging and dangerous results.
I would love to hear your comments, and again, check out the full article.
- Every American state keeps a register of sex offenders. California has had one since 1947, but most states started theirs in the 1990s. Many people assume that anyone listed on a sex-offender registry must be a rapist or a child molester. But most states spread the net much more widely. A report by Sarah Tofte of Human Rights Watch, a pressure group, found that at least five states required men to register if they were caught visiting prostitutes. At least 13 required it for urinating in public (in two of which, only if a child was present). No fewer than 29 states required registration for teenagers who had consensual sex with another teenager. And 32 states registered flashers and streakers.
- America’s registers keep swelling, not least because in 17 states, registration is for life.
- The Georgia Sex Offender Registration Review Board, an official body, assessed a sample of offenders on the registry last year and concluded that 65% of them posed little threat. Another 30% were potentially threatening, and 5% were clearly dangerous.
- So laws get harsher and harsher. But that does not necessarily mean they get better. If there are thousands of offenders on a registry, it is harder to keep track of the most dangerous ones.
- A study of nearly 10,000 male sex offenders in 15 American states found that 5% were rearrested for a sex crime within three years. A meta-analysis of 29,000 sex offenders in Canada, Britain and America found that 24% had reoffended after 15 years.
- A meta-analysis of 23 studies by Karl Hanson of Canada’s department of public safety found that psychological therapy was associated with a 43% drop in recidivism.
- Publicising sex offenders’ addresses makes them vulnerable to vigilantism. In April 2006, for example, a vigilante shot and killed two sex offenders in Maine after finding their addresses on the registry. One of the victims had been convicted of having consensual sex with his 15-year-old girlfriend when he was 19.
- In Washington state in 2005 a man posed as an FBI agent to enter the home of two sex offenders, warning them that they were on a “hit list” on the internet. Then he killed them.
- Jill Levenson, of Lynn University in Florida, says half of registered sex offenders have trouble finding jobs. From 20% to 40% say they have had to move house because a landlord or neighbour realised they were sex offenders.