Logo image
Back
Attitudes towards sexual offenders and their rehabilitation: a special case?
Book chapter   Peer reviewed

Attitudes towards sexual offenders and their rehabilitation: a special case?

Sarah J Brown
Public Opinion and Criminal Justice: Context, Practice and Values, pp.187-213
Routledge
2013
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781843926610-18
url
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781843926610-18View
Published Version

Abstract

The link, although by no means straightforward, between such cases and social policy responses can be most clearly observed in the relatively recent naming (both official and unofficial) of legislation after the victims of such murders. In the USA, the federal legislation requiring state registries of sex offenders was named the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexual Violent Offender Registration Act 1994 in honour of Jacob Wetterling who was abducted from his home town in Minnesota in 1989, aged 11 (neither he nor his abductor have been located). Much more commonly and widely known is 'Megan's Law', which is the unofficial name for US legislation requiring public notification of information (the type of information and the means of notification vary from state to state) contained in state registries. Lieb (2000: 428) observes that 'Megan's Law' is so widely known that it was defined as 'any of various laws aimed at people convicted of sex-related crimes, requiring community notification of the release of offenders, establishment of a registry of offenders, etcetera' when it was included in the new words section of Webster's College Dictionary in 1996. 'Megan', seven-year-old Megan Kanka, was raped and killed by her neighbour who had two previous convictions for child sexual abuse and who lived with two other sex offenders. Those campaigning for 'Megan's Law' argued that Megan's murder would have been prevented had Megan's parents been given information about the sex offenders living in their community.

Details

Metrics

73 Record Views
Logo image