The Ineffectiveness of Sex Offender Registration Laws Using Labeling and Social Disorganisation Theories.

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The Ineffectiveness of Sex Offender Registration Laws Using Labeling and Social Disorganisation Theories. Name: Jasmine Jovcic Course: Bachelor of Criminology Unit: CRM 206: Criminology Unit Coordinator: Guy Hall Submitted: 3rd of October, 2012 Word Count: 1 900 The Ineffectiveness of Sex Offender Registration Laws Using Labeling and Social Disorganisation Theories. Laws such as Megan’s laws arise in the presence of a growingly concerned community in the face of sex crimes. This increases demand for a more intense measure to punish and monitor the offender, as well as provide the community with the ability to protect itself and the children in it from becoming victims. With legislative changes around the world including that of Megan’s law in the United States of America (USA) and Sarah’s Law in England, it is no surprise that states around Australia, including Western Australia (WA) are following in the lead. Vess, Langskaill, Day, Powell and Graffaim (2011) noted that the laws do not actually reflect what is known about sex offenders and thus have not been successful in reducing the behaviour. The following will be a demonstration that supports this hypothesis. It will do this through the examination of the various laws available internationally regarding sex offender registration as well as the wealth of studies examining the effects of the law. Furthermore, the law will be discussed in regards to two major criminological theories; labeling theory and social disorganisation theory. The overall principles for such laws are to increase the public’s ability to protect itself from sexual offenders, especially sexual offences against children. Furthermore, the laws aim to provide the community with information about convicted sex offenders in order to protect the children from sexual abuse, but also to assist with monitoring those who are

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