NCJ Number
181906
Journal
Psychology, Public Policy, and Law Volume: 4 Issue: 1/2 Dated: March/June 1998 Pages: 3-24
Date Published
March 1998
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This paper describes recent developments in the law pertaining to sex offenders, including sexual predator laws and registration and community notification laws, and summarizes the journal’s articles on the historical context of sex offender law, the science of sex offenders, evidentiary and remedial issues, and policy issues.
Abstract
The discussion notes that the United States Supreme Court’s 1997 decision in Kansas v. Hendricks was ambiguous with respect to implications for State authority to deal with other types of deviance, whether sexual predator laws are therapeutic or antitherapeutic, and how registration and notification laws should be applied, and other issues. It also summarizes the individual articles on the rise and fall of homophobia and sexual psychopath legislation in postwar society, sex offender risk assessment, sex offender treatment, involuntary medication of sex offenders, children with sexual behavior problems, and civil commitment. Further articles examine the use of rape trauma experts in the courtroom, legal compensation for sexual violence, the costs of enacting a sexual predator law, and legal theory related to sex offender legislation. Figures, tables, footnotes, and reference lists