This research paper outlines and discusses recent trends in the reporting, arrest, conviction, incarceration and treatment of sex offenders in the United States.
In the 1980s and 1990s the numbers of reported sex offenses, arrests and convictions has increased sharply; however, most of that increase appears not to have been due to an actual increase in the incidence of such offenses, but rather to changing societal attitudes and laws which have led to the increased reporting and prosecution of such offenses, especially those in which children have been the victims. Societal attitudes toward sex offenders have significantly hardened in recent decades and are reflected in the criminalization of many sex offenses which were traditionally handled by other means or ignored. Those attitudes are reflected in enhanced and more determinate sentences for various sex offenses, state violent predator laws which can result in the indefinite detention in mental institutions of sex offenders regarded as dangerous, and Megan's laws under which convicted sex offenders are required to register with law enforcement officials and communities are notified of their whereabouts after their release from prison. The increased numbers of convicted sex offenders has placed a serious burden on the federal and state criminal justice and correction systems. Treatment of sex offenders has become a much larger business than it was 20 years ago, but disagreements about the efficacy of various types of treatment and funding shortfalls have limited their availability, especially for adult incarcerated sex offenders.
Traditional Approaches to Sex Offenders
A sex offense may be defined as sexual behavior which society deems sufficiently deviant from societal norms to treat as criminal conduct. Societal norms have changed over time. For example, very rarely is sexual conduct between consenting adults even of the same sex prosecuted criminally. Traditionally, S...