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Processes and Procedures for Implementing Sex Offender Registration and Notification: Successes, Challenges, and Innovations  


Author:  Qurat Ann.; Jamie Yoder.; Christopher Lobanov-Rostovsky.


Source: Volume 23, Number 06, October/November 2022 , pp.81-88(8)




Sex Offender Law Report

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Abstract: 

Sex offender registration and notification (SORN) policies were enacted and implemented with the goal of enhancing public safety and ultimately deterring and reducing sexual violence. SORN policies require individuals convicted of sexual offenses to be subject to registration, monitoring, tracking, and public notification. Starting as early as the 1930s, these policies have evolved and proliferated at both the state and federal levels. SORN policy evolution, particularly at the federal level, has sought to minimize the variation across states in order to create a degree of consistency and eliminate potential loopholes. This consistency, however, remains difficult, if not impossible, to achieve given size variation, workforce capacity, resources, training, and state laws. Knowing that the enacted SORN policies determine operational structures and implementation procedures, this article reports on the results of a study undertaken to identify supportive SORN practices and procedures, consistent with respective state policies, and gain insight into ways in which states uphold their registry systems, what procedures are implemented, and delineate possible models from which to glean practice innovations or advancements.

Keywords: Passive Versus Active Community Notification; Registry Strengths and Competencies; Online Versus In-Person Modalities; SORN Disconnect with Policymakers and State Legislatures

Affiliations:  1: University of Massachusetts, Lowell; 2: Colorado State University; 3: Domestic Violence and Sex Offender Management, Denver, CO.

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