Rene Chang, 10th Grade

The use of publicity of sex offenders in the United States is intended to help spread awareness to others of the possible dangers of sexual assault or other cases in nearby districts, generally to help public safety. A sex offender is a person who has committed a sex crime. The majority of convicted sex offenders have convictions for crimes of a sexual nature; however, some sex offenders have simply violated a law contained in a sexual category. Some of the serious crimes which result in a mandatory sex offender classification are sexual assault, statutory rape, bestiality, child sexual abuse, incest, and rape.

OK Criminal Defense (2014) states that these registries, while making public notification of sex offenders in the area, do little to protect anyone. Some would argue that they do more harm than good. Furthermore, it states that in the United States, the greatest risk of sexual exploitation comes not from the neighbor next door, but from behind their doors. Only 10% of perpetrators of sex crimes against children are strangers; 30% are family members and 60% are someone the child knows–a babysitter or a family friend, for example. The statistics for adult survivors of rape are similar: 75% of rape survivors know their attacker. Jamie Fellner, Human Rights Watch U.S. program director, says, “The public believes everyone on a sex offender registry is dangerous, but what’s the point of requiring registration by a teenager who exposed himself as a high-school prank or even by someone who molested a child 30 years ago?”

According to Digital Commons, the media’s attention to high-profile, violent sexual offenses has been shown to elicit panic and fear of rampant sexual violence within our communities. Consequently, this puts tremendous public pressure on lawmakers to pass more oppressive laws and judges to interpret them in ways that guarantee offenders longer jail terms. Fear is increased by media representations of a “mostly ineffective” criminal justice system; dramatized depictions of crime in television dramas might make viewers think that “all offenders are ‘monsters’ to be dreaded.”

References:

Does sex offender registration protect the public? (n.d.). https://www.ok-criminal-defense.com/articles/does-sex-offender-registration-protect-the-public#:~:text=Sex%20offender%20registries%20are%20intended,do%20more%20harm%20than%20good.

Cucolo, H. E., & Perlin, M. L. (n.d.). They’re planting stories in the press: The impact of media distortions on sex Offender law and policy. DigitalCommons@NYLS. https://digitalcommons.nyls.edu/fac_articles_chapters/715/