Home      Login

Abstract: 

According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, in June 2016 there were more than 851,000 individuals registered as sex offenders in the United States. The purpose of SORN laws is to increase public awareness about sex offenders living in the community, so that concerned citizens and parents can take protective actions to prevent victimization. Sex offender registration were also intended to provides a system by which law enforcement agencies can track, supervise, and monitor these offenders. About two dozen studies have evaluated the effect of SORN, and most have not detected significant reductions in sex crimes that can be credited to SORN policies. Many scholars have argued that the fiscal and social costs of these laws outweigh their benefits. In this article, Jill S. Levenson examines specific ways in which registries and registry statutes can be improved, to make them more fair and just, less costly and inefficient, and more likely to serve the goals they were intended to achieve.

Keywords: Sex Offender Registry and Notification (SORN) Reform

Affiliations:  1: Barry University.