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Registration and Community Notification Laws: Do the Consequences Outweigh the Benefits?  


Author:  Alissa R.  Ackerman, Ph.D..


Source: Volume 10, Number 06, October/November 2009 , pp.81-87(7)




Sex Offender Law Report

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Abstract: 

Beginning in the late 1980s, awareness regarding sexual offending heightened as increasingly punitive legislation was passed. This type of legislation was often enacted in reaction to cases involving young children who were victimized by strangers and, in some cases, murdered. With these types of cases coming to the attention of the media, people were outraged, and the passage of such legislation may have been intended to help the public feel safer. However, prior to the enactment of registration and community notification laws, little preliminary research was conducted to determine if these laws would be effective. (T. Thomas, “Sex Offender Community Notification: Experiences From America,” 42 The Howard J. 217–28 (2003).)

Keywords: 

Affiliations:  1: University of California.

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