There are currently 747,408 registered sex offenders in the United States of America, according to PR Newswire, and the number of registered sex offenders has increased twenty-three percent in the last five years. Most convicted sex offenders have been convicted for crimes of a sexual nature; however, some sex offenders have simply violated a law contained in a sexual category. This is a growing problem in the Unites States that we are having more and more offenders violating sex related crimes. Sex related crimes include sexual assault, statutory rape, bestiality, child sexual abuse, female genital mutilation, incest, rape, and sexual imposition. The two main ones are sexual assault and ...view middle of the document...
(Ellis, Atkeson, Calhoun 263)
Judith Baker says, “Victims experienced the rape trauma syndrome and had similar long-term reactions” (Baker 106). So as you can see the victims of rape and sexual assault not only are hurt when the crime is committed but also in the future and maybe even their whole lives. That is what makes sexual crimes worse than some of the other lower level crimes. That is also why the penalties are so firm when it comes to being a sex offender. The criminals that commit these terrible crimes should be persecuted to the fullest and in this paper I will be going over some of the penalties for being sex offender.
In the United States registered sex offenders usually have to register themselves in the jurisdiction they are currently living in. Also in the United States the sex offenders that have registered can be searched for and had their information read by anyone with internet access that searches the sex offenders name in one of the sex offender search databases. These databases include sexoffender-alert.com, familywatchdog.us, nsopr.gov, fbi.gov, and many others. Sex offenders have levels for example a high level sex offender has to register for their whole lives, but a low level sex offender only has to register for a certain period of time. This affects the offender’s whole life because this could cause them some problems with finding a job or living in particular neighborhoods. This would be problematic for them because anyone can search their name on a data base and find out what crime they have committed. Even if the sex offender has changed their ways as long as they still have the sex offender registration the public will still have some sort of prejudice against them. “It was found that community members believe that sex offenders have very high recidivism rates, view sex offenders as a homogeneous group with regard to risk, and are skeptical about the benefits of sex offender treatment” (Levenson, Brannon, Fortney, Baker 137). Being forced to register as a sex offender and having to go through all the trouble of having to live while being branded as a sex offender is just one of the penalties sex offenders have.
Some penalties for being a sex offender might include specific treatment programs. “Basics of most sex offender treatment programs include continuous assessment, post release treatment, peer group therapy, individual therapy, and family therapy”, (Oman, Cameron). Most registered sex offenders attend some sort of treatment program to try to help themselves get normal. Some say that treatment works. For example the Department of Corrections Washington States says that, “Research shows that fewer than 7 percent of the sex offenders completing the DOC’s Sexual Offender Treatment Program at the Monroe Correctional Complex return to prison.” They also said that ninety five percent of the sex offenders sentenced to prison will eventually return to the community. There are those that say that sex offender...
