International sex offender registration laws: research and evaluation issues based on a review of current scientific literature

In many jurisdictions, anyone convicted of a sexual offense is required to register with police, often for life. Nine different countries have now implemented sex offender registries in an attempt to protect the public from the perceived threat posed by sexual offenders. Yet such laws have been criticized as being overly inclusive, tying up limited law enforcement resources to track many offenders who pose little risk of sexual reoffending. This paper considers the available research evidence relevant to the effectiveness of such laws for the deterrence of sexual offending and the investigation of sex crimes. It is concluded that significant gaps persist in our knowledge of whether existing laws effectively reduce sexual offending or reoffending and that large-scale, well-designed studies of the impact of sex offender registration on rates of offending, the collateral consequences to offenders and their families, and the costs of such laws are needed.     

Child sex tourism: extending the borders of sexual offender legislation

Child sex tourism, the act of traveling to engage in sexual acts with minors, plagues developing nations worldwide. Several laws have been passed internationally in recent years designed to curtail this practice. Government entities and human rights organizations have driven these efforts. United States citizens represent a significant proportion of participants in child sex tourism. The PROTECT Act of 2003 prohibits United States citizens from participating in sexual acts with minors while traveling, and establishes extraterritorial jurisdiction. The case of Michael Lewis Clark, the first United States citizen convicted under this legislation, is highlighted. Child sex tourism poses unique issues to courts that will require ongoing clarification as challenges arise. This article discusses potential future challenges, describes strategies to address this problem, and relates this issue to psychiatry. Mental health providers may have the role of evaluating both the victims and perpetrators of child sex tourism. The authors propose a classification system for offenses and an initial list of topics to discuss with victims. The authors also describe the proper mechanism for reporting United States citizens suspected of participating in child sex tourism.     

Attitudes among stakeholders towards compulsory mental health care in Norway

Objectives

The Norwegian Mental Health Care Act allows use of coercion under certain conditions. Even though the current practice has been criticized, little empirical data exist about the attitudes towards compulsory mental health care.

Method

This study used Q-methodology to identify prototypical attitudes and to test possible differences of attitudes between groups of stakeholders towards the use of coercion in mental health care. Sixty-two respondents who represented six groups with different roles in mental health care participated: former patients, relatives of psychiatric patients, members of supervisory commissions, psychiatrists, other physicians, and lawyers.The participants were asked to assess the degree to which they agreed on 30 statements concerning use of coercion for the mentally ill.

Results

Three factors that in a meaningful way express different attitudes towards the question were found. The most widely shared attitude stated that a trusting relationship between patient and therapist is more important than the right to have an attorney. This attitude gives partial support to the present Mental Health Care Act. However, the second most common attitude argues that involuntary hospitalization, if necessary, should be decided in a court and not by the hospital doctor.

Conclusions

Differences in attitude could partly be explained by the respondents' role in mental health care. Both psychiatrists and “somatic” physicians expressed more agreement with the present legislation than the other stakeholders. The findings may have implications for the legal protection of mental health care patients.     

Post-release controls for sex offenders in the U.S. and UK

In recent years, both the United States and United Kingdom have developed numerous innovations in legal efforts to protect society from sex offenders. Each country has adopted special provisions for sex offenders. In particular, governments have focused on forms of social control after release from incarceration and probation. These policy innovations for this category of offenders have been more far reaching than those for any other offender population. The two jurisdictions have adopted policies with similar goals, but the selected strategies have important differences. Generally speaking, the U.S. has favored an ever-expanding set of policies that place sex offenders into broad categories, with few opportunities that distinguish the appropriate responses for individual offenders. The UK government observed the proliferation of Megan's Laws¹ in the U.S., and deliberately chose to establish carefully controlled releases of information, primarily relying on governmental agencies to work in multi-disciplinary groups and make case-specific decisions about individual offenders. Although the UK policy leaders expressed significant concern that the public's response to knowing about identified sex offenders living in the community would result in vigilantism, to date the results have not borne out this fear. Both governments have turned to other crime control measures such as polygraphy testing, electronic monitoring, and civil protection orders as a means to prevent further sexual violence.     

刑事和解制度论纲

平衡理论、叙说理论和恢复正义理论是当今西方刑事和解理论中流行的三种解说,其中恢复正义是刑事和解最重要的理论基础。在我国刑事司法领域中,并不存在严格意义的刑事和解制度。基于刑事和解在被害恢复与加害恢复方面的双重价值,应当对此制度进行合理化的借鉴,构建刑事和解的中国模式。