Sex Offender Registration Laws (Essay Sample)

Title: Sex Offender Registration Laws
Learner’s name
Affiliated Institute
Date
Introduction
The cases of children abduction have been on a rampant increase all over the world, with most of the being accompanied by rape. Sexual offenders are people who commit crimes that involve the sexual act ('Sexual Offenders', 1949). Children have fallen victims of sexual offenses, owing to their inability to defend themselves. Researchers from varied parts of the world have indicated that children form the highest percentage of those abducted, with girl's rape cases, recorded high above those of female adults.
In United States, just like with the other parts of the world, the increase in the number of sexual violence has raised concern. The law legislators responded to the scenario by drafting new legislation that would protect the potential victims from sex predators. Among the laws passed, are the sexual offender’s registration law, community notification and monitoring of the activities of the sexual offender, including the use of global positioning system.
The sexual offender registration laws emerged way back in 1994, in response to the abduction of an 11-year-old boy in Minnesota. The United States federal law was passed, which required a mandatory registration of the sex offenders. The law has since undergone revolution, with President Clinton signing another law that demanded notification of the community on the convicted sex offenders.
How effectively have registration laws been preventing abduction by sexual predators?
The sex offender registration laws demands that any person who has ever been convicted of committing a crime involving sexual activity registers with county sheriff, whenever he shift to a new residence, or obtains a new job or joins a new institute of higher learning. Through the demands of the law, it prevents abduction of children by sex predators in a number of ways as discussed below.
The law requires that the community be notified on the registered sex offender in the State at a given time (Freeman, 2009). By giving the community the information on the convicted sex offenders, it creates awareness. This information helps the potential victims of sex offenders to keep off from the registered sex offenders or at least avoid putting themselves into risky environments with the sex predators. For instance, if a sex predator joins a given university, the University community should be made aware of the sex offender to avoid falling victims.
Registration laws make it easy to monitor the sex offenders carefully (Orlando, 1998). Once the sex offenders are registered, the peacekeepers are provided with crucial information about the location of the sex predator, and hence they can monitor his progress. For instance, if a crime occurred in a given region, it becomes easy for the government officers to finger out the possible offender.
The registration of the sex offenders also helps in carrying out rehabilitation programs (Orlando, 1998). In the effort to make the sex offenders change for the better, having information about their locati...