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10 Eur. J.L. Reform 383 (2008)
Cooperative Endeavors: A Comparative Analysis of Agency Efforts Regarding Sex Offender Laws in the United States and the United Kingdom

handle is hein.journals/ejlr10 and id is 389 raw text is: Cooperative Endeavors: A Comparative Analysis of Agency Efforts Regarding Sex Offender Laws in the United States and the United Kingdom Rachel L. Rinehart* A. Introduction Halloween is typically a holiday commemorated by young children in costumes who trick-or-treat for candy at neighboring homes. However, as dusk fell on Halloween night in 2007, sheriff deputies in Maryland were busy visiting the homes of convicted and registered sex offenders to ensure that they had posted the required No Candy signs on their front doors. In fact, the St. Mary County Sheriff's Department, along with task forces consisting of case workers, sheriff's deputies, and state troopers, began going to the homes of registered sex offenders in that county several days prior to the holiday to ensure that each offender would be in strict compliance with the rules on Halloween night.' Intrastate agency cooperation makes it possible to carry out such policing and monitoring of sex offenders. However, not every state has a system of laws and regulations that enable agencies to work together to track sex offenders by the most efficient means possible. In reality, as this Note will discuss later, the fact that each state has implemented its own sex offender registry in the United States has created a lack of uniformity. Thus, many problems in ensuring smooth agency cooperation in tracking sex offenders result, especially where interstate travel of sex offenders is involved. In contrast, the United Kingdom's sex offender registry, although just recently implemented, has proved to be highly successful in facilitating agency cooperation and in implementing the requirements of sex offender registry laws.2 Although the United States is moving towards a national * J.D. candidate, May 2009, Indiana University School of Law- Indianapolis. B.S. 2006, Indiana Wesleyan University. The author would like to express her gratitude to Professor Karlson, Professor Emmert, and Professor McEldowney for their assistance with this note. The author would also like to thank Jenny Prinz and Tom Donohoe from the Indiana International and Comparative Law Review for their helpful comments on this Note. I Nbc4.com, S. Md. Sex Offenders to Put Up 'No Candy'Signsfor Halloween, http://www.nbc4. com/news/14465965/detail.html (last visited 23 February 2008). 2 Other countries have found the United Kingdom's laws and policy on sex offenders to be a positive model. See e.g., A. Thom, Managing Sex Offenders In the Community: A Safer Way, at 2, available at http://www.safenetwork.co.nz/Downloads/Managing%20Sex%200ffenders.pdf (The model of managing sex offenders adopted by the United Kingdom provides a blue print for improving the way in which sex offenders are managed in New Zealand.) European Journal ofLaw Reform, Vol. 10, no. 3, pp 383-415. © Eleven International Publishing 2008.

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