NCJ Number
87188
Date Published
1982
Length
13 pages
Annotation
In the future, sex laws are likely to be restricted to providing protection for children, protection against forced violent sex, and protection against serious public nuisances.
Abstract
Sexual mores of the future will differ more in substance than form from current sexual mores. The future should see the elimination of a great deal of criminal justice intervention in the sexual conduct of citizens through reform and the reassignment of problematic sexual conduct to those social agencies assigned to treat the serious sex offender. Criminal justice practitioners may assume a primary role in ensuring that citizens are not obstructed in their sexual conduct not prohibited by law. Future sex laws should only deal with those sex acts that intrude on the privacy of another unwilling partner or those acts that use force or coercion. There will also be a need for sex laws that will resolve some of the conflict between old and newly emerging sexual standards. The criminal justice process must also become involved in the resolution of problems relating to such situations as abortion, artificial insemination, sterilizations, and other sexual acts considered to be deviations from the norm. Decriminalization actions will be required regarding prostitution, homosexual acts, adultery, and fornication. Laws that encourage a less repressive approach to sexuality should foster a climate of healthy sexuality that will reduce expressions of deviant and harmful sexuality. Nineteen references are provided.