Who is making the Rules?

Sexual violence is one of the major problems facing the public health department in the United States. In a bid to lower incidences of sexual assault, legislators have embarked on passing regulatory laws that seek to minimize recidivism among sexual offenders that have already been convicted. Sexual offender legislation and policies are broad in that they encompass community notification, registration, electronic monitoring, residence restrictions, and civil commitment. Several resources that provide information on the sex offender policies are available, including the Center for Sex Offender Management 2008, Alto and Jung 2006, and Socia and Stamatel 2010 among others. Several factors play a crucial role in the formation and implementation of the sexual offender policies and legislation including the media and social contributions as well as fear. This paper examines the development of the sexual offender legislation the manner in which fear, the society, and media drive the legislation.

Sexual violence is a significant public health problem in the United States. To decrease the incidence of sexual assault, legislators have passed regulatory laws aimed at reducing recidivism among convicted sex offenders. As a result, sex offenders living in the United States are bound by multiple policies, including registration, community notification, monitoring via a global positioning system, civil commitment, and residency, loitering, and Internet restrictions.

These policies have led to multiple collateral consequences, creating an ominous environment that inhibits successful reintegration and may contribute to an increased risk of recidivism. In fact, evidence on the effectiveness of these laws suggests that they may not prevent recidivism or sexual violence and result in more harm than good.

History of Sexual Offender Legislation

According to Bonnar-Kidd (2010), the United States records an alarming incidence of sexual assault, with approximately 300,000 women being raped, while approximately 3.7 million encounters unplanned sexual activity. Additionally, Bonnar-Kidd notes that an estimated 900,000 children are treated inappropriately, while approximately 9% are sexually abused annually. The mental and physical health problems that sexual abuse survivors experience make sexual violence not only a concern of the criminal justice system but also a concern of the public health department. Hence, there is a continued focus on the implementation of prevention-based policies to combat the effects of a sexual offense. Sexual offender legislation has evolved over the past years, thus increasing efficiency in the management and prevention of sexual crimes.

State, federal, and local government legislation relating to sexual offenders have increased beginning the early 1990s in a bid to lower sexual crimes prevalence, which is a significant problem facing the public health department. However, before 1994, federal laws governing sexual offender notification and registration did not exist. The Wetterling Act of 1994 was the first law that focused on addressing the issue of registering and notifying communities about sex offenders ( Office of Justice Programs, 2017) . The Wetterling Act played some functions, including establishing a foundation and guiding standards to help states in registering sex offenders; providing for the discretionary notification procedures whenever it is essential to protect the public and establishing a heightened category of sex offenders described as the Sexually Violent Predators (SVPs).

In 1996, Congress amended the 1994 Wetterling Act by passing the Megan’s Law, which required the disclosure of information about the registered sexual offenders whenever it is essential to protect the public ( Office of Justice Programs, 2017). The law also mandated that any data gathered through state registration platforms should be revealed for purposes acceptable under state law. In the same year, the Pam Lychner Sexual Offender Tracking and Identification Act was established to enforce the National Sex Offender Registry (NSOR), which houses information regarding the sex offenders that are already registered in the appropriate databases. Further, the law requires the state registry officers to pass on information regarding the registration of sex offenders immediately they receive it, in addition to allowing for the distribution of data gathered by the FBI, which is crucial in the protection of the public to the state, federal, and local executives that are in charge of implementing background checks or law enforcement in line with the National Child Protection Act. 

In 1998, the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act was implemented adding all state offenses that can be compared to those stated under the Wetterling Act to the federal standards. ( Office of Justice Programs, 2017) Further, the Act requires all the registered sex offenders who shift their home states to ensure registration under the laws of the new home state. Moreover, the Act required states to contribute to the NSOR and establish procedures to facilitate the registration of the offenders who are sentenced by the court-martial and the federal offenders. Additionally, the Act requires the prisons department to inform state departments of all the sex offenders that are paroled or released and requires the defense secretary to monitor and make sure that sex offenders comply with the registration requirements, including the Uniform Code of Military Justice convictions ( Breiding, 2015) . 

Moreover, to improve the punishment and prosecution of child sex offenders, in 1998, the Protection of Children from Sexual Predators Act was established. In 2000, the Campus Sex Crimes Prevention Act was established to combat violence perpetrated against women. The Act mandated all the sex offenders that are registered to inform the state of all the institutions of higher learning where the sex offender studied or worked as well as informing the state of any changes about the offender's enrolment or employment status ( Office of Justice Programs, 2017). The Act was also an amendment to the Higher Education Act of 196, which mandates campuses to disclose their crime statistics and security policies. The PROTECT Act was established in 2003 as a comprehensive bill meant to enhance the ability of the law enforcement in investigating and prosecuting violent crimes perpetrated against children. The bill focused on the notification and registration of sex offenders by requiring the justice department and the states to manage a website that bonds to the websites of every state and a website that contains registry information respectively. 

In 2006, the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act was established, entirely rewriting sex offender notification and registration federal standards. The Act established a new foundation for sex offender notification and registration standards, expanding the number of sex offenses that should be included by the registration authorities by including all the territory, state, federal, UCMJ, and tribal sex offense verdicts, including particular foreign sentences ( Office of Justice Programs, 2017). Further, the Act created the (SMART) office, which involves the apprehension, tracking, monitoring, sentencing, and the registration of sexual offenders to manage the standards of the sex offender notifications and registration, as well as overseeing the grant plans that are sanctioned by the Adam Walsh Act and coordinating relevant technical assistance and training. Additionally, the Act directed the establishment of, www.NSOPW.gov , the public website that contains information regarding national sex offenders, which provides an access point for searching all the territory, state, and tribal sex offender registries and created a program for providing sex offender supervision aid with the justice department. 

In 2008, the KIDS Act was established with the aim of addressing the issues of online safety among internet users. The Act made several alterations to SORNA, including powers requiring the collection of the internet identifiers of the sex offenders during the registration process ( Office of Justice Programs, 2017). The Military Sex Offender Reporting Act was established in 2015 is an Amendment to SORNA in a bid to pursue justice for trafficking victims. Finally, in 2016, the International Megan’s Law was established to amend SORNA, as well as to address the sex offenders’ international travel and to mandate the advance travel notice by sex offenders ( Breiding, 2015) . The law requires sex offenders to provide a 21-day notice before indulging in any international travel, as well as the travel data to allow the U.S. Marshal Service to transmit the information to the country of destination. 

Society, Media, and Fear, in Driving the Policy on Sex Offender Legislation

The media, society, and fear are the essential elements that drive policy implementation on sex offenders. The society plays a crucial role by establishing the moral standards of conduct that should be upheld by members of the community and which also act as standards for evaluating people's behavior. Most of the laws and policies that focus on sexual offenders, including the Megan’s Law and the Wetterling Act are founded on the principle that the society should be protected against groups of criminals, which include sex offenders, who present a high risk of recidivism. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) maintain that perpetrators of sexual violence demonstrate a high likelihood of committing the crimes again; thus illustrating the need to protect the society against the offenders ( Breiding, 2015) . 

For instance, Megan's law, which was established in response to a nationwide outcry that pertained the need for the society to be informed whenever sex offenders moved into neighborhoods so that parents and the members of the society could take the essential measures to protect themselves against sexual assault from such individuals. The need to register and notify members of the community of sex offenders emanated from Megan Kanka’s argument that had they been aware that their neighbor, Jesse Timmendequas, who kidnapped, raped, and killed their 7-year-old girl was a sexual offender who had been previously jailed for sexual offenses, they would have prevented the girl from playing outside in a bid to protect her from harm by Jesse ( Levenson, Brannon, Fortney & Baker, 2007) . Moreover, the perception of the society about the rates of sexual crimes is a critical factor that drives sexual offenses legislation. Further, Levenson, Brannon, Fortney, and Baker (2007) maintain that the majority of society members believe that incidences of sexual assault are on the rise; therefore, the need to implement more stringent policies and laws to protect the public from sexual offenders. Thus, the manner in which the society perceives a sex offense, and their ideas of the best way to resolve the offense and prevent it from reoccurring pays a vital role in the creation and implementation of sexual offense policies and laws.

Fear, on the other hand, is a crucial driver of the sexual offense legislation, in that fear is considered as the critical factor that motivates the implementation of policies that seek to discourage further sexual offenses. In most cases, although sex offenders demonstrate a high likelihood of serving a jail term similar to other violent lawbreakers, the majority of the sex criminals are mainly free to join the community after the jail term ( Levenson, Brannon, Fortney & Baker, 2007) . In most societies, sexual offenses are considered to be the most feared and severe forms of crime, thus eliciting the most potent negative responses from the members of the society. Corabian and Hogan (2012) argue that comparing the sex offenders with other offenders in prisons, sex offenders hold low status, they encounter the most significant hatred, and they are primarily regarded as outcasts by their fellow inmates. The low social rankings of sex offenders and the negative associations that pertain to the offenders have contributed to the implementation of increasingly punitive punishments for the offenders in a bid to discourage new sex offenses and recidivism among the already convicted sexual offenders. 

On the other hand, the media drives sex offender legislation through covering topics about sexual offenses as well as the public outcry that emanates from such offenses. The attitudes that societies demonstrate, which mainly influence legislation, are extensively influenced by the manner in which the media portrays the sexual offenders. Further, the media, which comprises of such outlets as newspapers, the radio, television, and the internet among others influences to a great extent the attitudes of the public regarding the sexual offenders, thereby impacting on the restoration of the freed offenders into the society. Corabian and Hogan (2012) postulate that the media mainly presents inaccurate, cynical, and harsh claims regarding the sexual offenders, thus influence the opinions of the members of the society and the professionals who are responsible for managing the conduct of the sexual offenders. Although the influences of the media play a critical role in facilitating the implementation of stricter laws to combat sex offenses, the influence of the media presents a significant adverse impact when reintegrating the freed offenders into the society. 

Corabian and Hogan (2012) note that based on the desistance theory, offenders, including sex offenders, have the right to live their healthy lives in the society once they complete their jail term or when they are under community supervision. However, following the negative portrayal of the offenders by the media, sex offenders experience challenges in acquiring employment, stable housing, as well as establishing positive relationships with other members of the society. As a result, the sex offenders develop antisocial lifestyles, challenges in cooperating with community supervision, inadequate social supports, and poor self-management strategies, which encourage the individuals to embark on sexual offenses since they lack full integration into the society. The lack of adequate reintegration is primarily associated with the media portrayal of sex offenders, which contributes to the public outcry about the offenders and the subsequent implementation of protective legislation, which includes community notification, sex offender registries, and house restrictions. Such policies are primarily associated with increasing recidivism since they mainly involve alienating stigmatizing, and isolating the offenders from the rest f the members of the society. 

Conclusion

The policy on sex offender legislation has been evolving since the early 1990s to incorporate the emerging issues about sexual offenses, which include the increasing incidences of rape and sexual violations against women among others. The main elements that drive the policy include fear, whereby most of the policies are established due to the fear of encountering sexual offenses in the future and thus a need to discourage sex offenders from perpetrating the acts. On the other hand, the media brings to light the cases of sexual offenses, thus facilitating a public outcry that leads to the need to implement policies to combat such offenses effectively. However, the negative portrayal of the media regarding the sex offenders often hinders the effective reintegration of the offenders into the society once they complete their jail term since the ideas that the media portrays about the offenders often leads to the stigmatization, isolation, and alienation of the offenders. Thus, it is essential to establish strategies to ensure effective reintegration of the offenders into the societies to reduce instances of recidivism, which emanates from the poor rehabilitation and alienation of the offenders.

References 

Bonnar-Kidd, K. K. (2010). Sexual offender laws and prevention of sexual violence or recidivism.  American Journal of Public Health ,  100 (3), 412-419.

Breiding, M. J. (2015). Prevalence and characteristics of sexual violence, stalking, and intimate partner violence victimization-national intimate partner and sexual violence survey, United States, 2011.  American journal of public health ,  105 (4), E11.

Corabian, G., & Hogan, N. (2012). Collateral effects of the media on sex offender reintegration: Perceptions of sex offenders, professionals, and the lay public.  Sexual Offender Treatment ,  7 (2), 10.

Levenson, J. S., Brannon, Y. N., Fortney, T., & Baker, J. (2007). Public perceptions of sex offenders and community protection policies. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy ,  7 (1), 137-161.

Office of Justice Programs. (2017). Legislative History | Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART). Smart.gov. Retrieved 8 January 2018, from https://www.smart.gov/legislation.htm