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3 Criminology & Pub. Pol'y 97 (2003-2004)
Sex Offender Registration and Notification: Public Attention, Political Emphasis, and Fear

handle is hein.journals/crpp3 and id is 105 raw text is: REACTION ESSAY SEX OFFENDER REGISTRATION AND NOTIFICATION: PUBLIC ATTENTION, POLITICAL EMPHASIS, AND FEAR RICHARD G. WRIGHT University of Massachusetts-Boston Education Development Center In 1994, as a component of the Crime Bill, Congress passed and President Clinton signed the Jacob Wetterling Crimes against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act. The Act was later amended with several criteria, most notably the inclusion of the Federal version of Megan's Law. The Wetterling Act and Megan's Law mandated that states create and maintain a state sex offender registration and notification program or lose 10% of their Federal crime funds (U.S. Department of Justice, 1999). Since 1994, states have spent significant expenditures and resources to comply with the federal mandate. Sample and Bray's article Are Sex Offenders Dangerous? examines the current policy trends in addressing sex offender registration and notification. Specifically, their research examines the recidivism patterns of sex offenders, regarding both sex offenses and other so-called gateway crimes. Their conclusion that the recidivism rates of sex offenders and the impact of gateway crimes does not justify laws such as the Wetterling Act and Megan's Law, is adequately substantiated; however, their approach misses several key macro issues. First in examining the issue of sex offenders and their dangerousness we must 1) develop and use a reasonable definition of a sex offender; 2) examine who is covered in this definition; 3) examine who the registration and notification laws cover; 4) discuss the political context of the laws and the public perception of sex offenders; 5) consider the issue of fear and sex offenders; and 6) assess the current policy approach along with other alternatives. WHAT/WHO IS A SEX OFFENDER? For the purposes of this essay, the operational definition of a sex offender will be as follows: 1) A person or persons who uses or attempts to use physical force on another person, against their will, in an attempt to commit an act intended to provide sexual gratification to the aggressor(s) NUMBER 1 2003 PP 97-104 VOLUME 3

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