We Should Not Have Sex Offender Registry - Essay Example

In previous years, the federal and state legislatures have enacted laws to avert sexual violence. Among the numerous legal strategies that target sex criminals is sex offender registration. Registration is the act of necessitating convicted sex delinquents to register with law prosecution and occasionally update data regarding their details, employment, and residence. However, even after sex registration, several of these sex offenders will recur their criminalities, although the recidivism rate is lower than normally anticipated

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Importance of the Topic

Sex offender registries not only make it challenging for registrants to incorporate with the society, but it is also an assault to an individual's right to privacy, as stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of article 12. The article states that 'No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honor and reputation' (Reed, 2017). With the privacy of the offender published to the public, they experience subjection to hatred offenses and getting false blame for sexual violence that may occur in society. Thus, the presence of sex offender registries does not alter the fact that police handle rape survivors more incredulously than victims of other offenses. Unconstrained public access to virtual sex offender records with no constraints discloses former criminals to the risk that people will act on this data in irresponsible and illegal methods.

Effect of Sex Offenders Registry

Numerous people convicted of sex crimes get singled out for aims of restriction and surveillance. According to Harris et al. (2016), there exist approximately 800,000 Americans registered as sex criminals. These new methods of reducing the behaviors of a sexual offense are, however, deliberated to offer a long-term penance for registrants linked to individuals that commit other sorts of criminalities. For example, sex offenders get published in the record for more than 25 years for a fault they performed during their teenage years (Harris et al., 2016). Although the procedure aids in minimizing recurring offenses to particular vital levels, it discloses individuals to public mockery.

Conclusion

Informing the public of sex criminals is ineffectual and should be restricted if not disregarded. The existing registries do great harm to some individuals who, although guilty of several crimes, do not pose a substantial danger to children or people in society. Sex registration laws of the offender hamper with a person's right to privacy, which global human rights law identifies it as more robust.

Recommendations

Sex offender registries are expensive, and it is projected that once executed, each year, they cost countries more than 10 million dollars to conserve. Given that there exist suggestions to display that they minimize reoffending, the cash can be better spent on deterrence determinations. The state can utilize this money to support summer and after-school plans for kids whose parents could not cater for these programs. Research shows that most people get abused during the summer months or in the after-school hours when there is partial parental supervision (Rose, 2020).

References

Harris, A. J., & Cudmore, R. (2018). Community experience with public sex offender registries in the United States: A national survey. Criminal Justice Policy Review, 29(3), 258-279. https://doi.org/10.1177/0887403415627195

Harris, A. J., Walfield, S. M., Shields, R. T., & Letourneau, E. J. (2016). Collateral consequences of juvenile sex offender registration and notification: Results from a survey of treatment providers. Sexual Abuse, 28(8), 770-790. https://doi.org/10.1177/1079063215574004

Logan, W. A. (2020). CommunityBased Approaches to Sex Offender Management. The Wiley Handbook of What Works with Sexual Offenders: Contemporary Perspectives, in Theory, Assessment, Treatment, and Prevention, 411-426. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119439325.ch23

Reed, P. (2017). Punishment beyond incarceration: the negative effects of sex offender registration and restrictions. Journal of Law and Criminal Justice, 5(2), 16-30. https://doi.org/10.15640/jlcj.v5n2a2

Rose, S. (2020). The Impact of Sex Offender Registration Laws on Offenders' Reintegration into Society. [Doctoral dissertation, Walden University]. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global.