Answer the following questions regarding the case studies found in Mears, chapter 4. You may answer the questions using the mass incarceration case study OR the sex offender laws case study.
What was the assumed problem?
Many new laws regarding sex crimes were developed following the sexual assaults of minors sensationalized in the news from 1993-2005. However, from the late 1970s through 2008, rape and sexual assault rates, as measured by the National Crime Victimization Survey, steadily declined (Mears, 2010, p. 82). This survey, however, does not consider all crimes that are considered sexual crimes. There is no existing data on all the various crimes that could be considered sexual crimes.
Over the past 30 years, according to a new
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This becomes a complicated question. While established this is a horrific crime that is definitely a social justice issue, but the statistics do not show reliable data that the crimes have increased and warrant the need for more or some existing sex crime laws. Some of the policies that were put in place were done without researched data or theory to back up the need.
Was the problem found in the needs evaluation the same as the assumed problem?
The needs evaluation found that the data does not support that sexual crimes are the cause of an increase in incarceration populations. However, another interesting finding did come out which is factual and statistically based. When former sex offenders were released from prison, they rarely recidivate due to sex crimes, while those not in prison for sex crimes initially make up 87% of the population who subsequently committed a sexual
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The policies seem to have emerged from incorrect assumptions not only about sex crime trends but also other facets of sex crimes (Mears, 2010, p. 85).
What are the policy-related activities or services that are expected to cause an intended outcome?
Assuming the need is established for new policies, the following activities and services could help to decrease sex crimes:
Increase harsh sentencing
Stricter treatment against sexual offenders
Stricter restrictions on where offenders of sex crimes can live
Monitor and prohibit sexual offenders who live with family members of friends inside a restricted area
More detailed registry including some crimes that may have not been considered before (ie. internet based crimes)
Increase funds necessary to implement the new policies
Increase valid and reliable data collection of sexual crimes committed
What are the assumptions or beliefs that shaped the policy?
The assumption was made that the increase in incarceration population was partially due to sexual crimes. The policies seem to have emerged from incorrect assumptions not only about sex crime trends but also other facets of sex crimes (Mears, 2010, p.
Chapter four refers to specificity "as the scope of criminal law" (Bohm & Haley, 2014, p.97). These acts can be ruled not criminal if certain information is not proven to have been present when the crime was committed. The state rules for sex offenders that have been convicted of this crime be persecuted and their information made public. This reminds
The United States Supreme Court in the Packingham v. North Carolina first amendment case has ruled in favor of Lester Gerard Packingham. The state from now on may not bar social media access to registered sex offenders. The case’s build up dates back to 2002 when 21 year old college student Lester G. Packingham had a sexual relationship with a 13-year-old girl. For involvement with a minor he received a 10-12 month sentence, but having never met problems with the law, the judge required him to go on a 24 month probation and register as a sex offender. Five years had passed and in 2008 North Carolina forbid any person on the sex offender list to use any type of social media.
Policy Analysis: Megan’s Law Sexual violence, particularly against children, is a significant issue all around the world. In the early 1990’s in the United States, there were multiple well-publicized cases of sexual violence against children. From kidnappings, to rapes, and everything in between, violence was being committed against children and something needed to be done about it. In 1996, Megan’s Law was passed in response to the sexual assault and death of Megan Kanka, a seven-year-old from New Jersey (Corrigan, 2006).
Mr. James Kimball, at 23 years old, was a school bus driver who pursued a 15 year old student he’d known for two years. Eventually their “flirtatious” relationship escalated to a “single-sexual encounter” on or about October 3, 1991. The relationship was brought to light by the parents of the child henceforth urging Mr. Kimball to plead guilty to one count of statutory rape in 1992, where the judge then imposed a withheld judgment with a three year probation. After that, Mr. Kimball was accordingly put on the Sex Offender Registry. Due to the essence of the given facts and case report, the disparity in time from the crime to the present, and the technicality of the psychosexual evaluator’s report, I would not have aired the story on Mr.James Kimball.
On July 29, 1994, New Jersey resident Megan Kanka was lured into the home of Jesse Timmendequas, a convicted sex offender, with promises of seeing a puppy (Corrigan, 2006). Once she entered his house, she was raped twice, strangled with a belt, and suffocated with a bag (Corrigan, 2006). Timmendequas was arrested soon after and confessed to this crime (Corrigan, 2006). This event outraged Kanka's parents and the surrounding community (Corrigan, 2006). They used this tragic death to create Megan's Law as an addition to the Jacob Wetterling Crimes against Children Violent Offender Registration Act, which required sex offenders to register within their counties (Welchans, 2005).
Chapter Eight of the book Flawed Criminal Justice Policies, authors take the closer look at the laws and faulty policy regarding the sex offenders. According to the book policy makers started the myriad laws to protect the public from the sex offenders with increased prison sentences, and restricting the residences to the violators. Today we have very similar situation when it comes to treatment of sexual offenders. The process starts with the sex offender being committed to the prison sentence, and lastly to being registered as a sex offender on many public websites, so that the people could distinguish who the sex offender is and where he/she lives. In this chapter we can learn about a lot of different statues that were made to protect people from the sex offenders.
No research to date has indicated that applying harsher penalties or mandating national registries has reduced the recidivism rates among sex offenders, reduced sex trafficking against minors, nor child pornography. Despite the ongoing efforts of The Adam Walsh Act alongside other child safety acts as well, children in the United States are still perishing from sexual and physical abuse each day. According to data from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS), “49 States reported a total of 1,585 fatalities. Based on these data, a nationally estimated 1,670 children died from abuse or neglect in FFY 2015, which is 5.7 percent more than in 2011. This translates to a rate of 2.25 children per 100,000 children in the general population and an average of nearly five children dying every day from abuse or neglect”.(www.childwarefare.gov) Human Rights Watch shares that “the real risks that children face are quite different: government statistics indicate that most sexual abuse of children are committed by family members or trusted authority figures, and by someone who has not previously been convicted of a sex offense.
The Utah Sex Offender Registry has many purposes and has been around for quite some time. Unfortunately, every state is different and often times the entertainment industry portrays the registry in a false light. The Utah Department of Corrections wants to deflate some of the major myths surrounding the sex offender registry. The most common myth the sex offender registry office receives daily is, “An offender was on the registry yesterday, why are they not on there now?”
Megan’s Law is a federal law that has changed the course of the criminal justice system in the United States of America. Prior to Megan’s law, convicted sex offenders were able to easily re-offend due to lack of public notification. In the year 2000, it is estimated that there were more than 248,000 sexual victimizations and over an 8-year period in the United States there were 366,460 attempted or completed rapes and sexual assaults (Welchans, 2005). The prevalence of sexual assault, rape, and pedophilia in the United States has sparked a large conversation over the last decade, which has led to the creation of several laws, including Megan’s Law. This analysis of Megan’s Law will focus on the positive aspects that implementing this law has
Sex offenders, typically male, but can be female, about 25% of child victimizers were 40 years old or older. 71% of male offenders are under the age of 35. Most studies we found only dealt with statistics about whites, African Americans, and Latinos. White sex offenders are found to have a closer relationship with their victim, and are more likely to use force. African American offenders are more likely to engage in vaginal rape and become more violent with their victims.
Annotated bibliography Childress, S. (2016, June 2). More States Consider Raising the Age for Juvenile Crime. Retrieved from PBS: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/more-states-consider-raising-the-age-for-juvenile-crime/ More states are considering to raising the age for juvenile crimes before being tried as adult because young offender's mental capacity. The idea is to cut the cost of incarcerate young offender in adult prison and ensure offenders to receive proper education and specialized care to change their behavior. Putting children in adult prison does not deter crime.
All grown-up male sex offenders in prisons might volunteer for the system. In view of the long holding up rundown, most offenders enter treatment just when they are inside of year and a half of discharge. Offenders are relied upon to keep accepting treatment subsequent to surrendering prison for over to three years through aftercare programs accessible all through the state. A number of the sex offenders don 't volunteer to take an interest in treatment, despite the fact that DOC has contracted more sex guilty party specialists and is giving more information about theprogram to offenders in an effort to increase participation.
The notification system is based on the sex offenders risk to reoffend and the danger they may pose to the community. Many states adopted a three-tier notification system for the sex offender registry; tier one is for offenders evaluated to be low risk for reoffending, tier two is for those offenders assessed at a medium risk and tier three are for those offender that meet criteria for the highest risk of reoffending (National Institute of Justice, 2009a). Megan’s Law is a federal law with subsequent state laws, states have discretion in developing criteria for reporting Megan’s Law however; private and personal information related to the registered sex offender must be available to the public (National Institute of Justice, 2009b). Under Megan’s Law, the tracking database is monitored by states and involves community notification when a sex offender moves into a
There are different types of sex offenders which make recidivism complex to handle. Unfortunately, recidivism remains a difficult concept to measure, especially in the context of sex offenders. The surreptitious nature of sex crimes, the fact that few sexual offenses are reported to authorities, and variation in the ways researchers calculate recidivism rates all contribute to the problem. The containment model approach should be used which was developed by Kim English.
“Although concerning sexual practices between adults and children have existed throughout history and across cultures, whether such behavior was conceived of and defined as ‘abuse’ has been dependent on the societal values of the particular period” (Denov, 2004). In today’s society, sex offending has become an increasingly, concerning phenomenon that individuals must become more aware of. Although generally regarded as a male phenomenon, over time, female perpetrators have become equally important as male perpetrators. Due to the lack of public awareness, female sexual predators go unreported. As a result, society must become more aware of female sexual perpetrators, as many incidents of females assaulting both young men and women have gone unreported for some time.