DOI:	http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/000486580103400304
Electronic Resources:	http://anj.sagepub.com/content/34/3/256.abstract
Type:	Journal Article
Title:	The War on Sex Offenders: Community Notification in Perspective
Other Titles:	Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology
Authors:	Hinds, Lyn Daly, Kathleen
Year:	2001
Citation:	No 3 Vol.: 34
Notes:	This article explores the contemporary phenomenon of “naming and shaming” sex offenders. Community notification laws, popularly known as Megan's Law, which authorise the public disclosure of the identity of convicted sex offenders to the community in which they live, were enacted throughout the United States in the 1990s. A public campaign to introduce “Sarah's Law” has recently been launched in Britain, following the death of eight-year old Sarah Payne. Why are sex offenders, and certain categories of sex offenders, singled out as targets of community notification laws? What explains historical variability in the form that sex offender laws take? We address these questions by reviewing the sexual psychopath laws enacted in the United States in the 1930s and 40s and the sexual predator and community notification laws of the 1990s, comparing recent developments in the United States with those in Britain, Canada, and Australia. We consider arguments by Garland, O'Malley, Pratt, and others on how community notification, and the control of sex offenders more generally, can be explained; and we speculate on the likelihood that Australia will adopt community notification laws. Electronic Resource Number: 10.1177/000486580103400304
URI:	https://anrows.intersearch.com.au/anrowsjspui/handle/1/17251
Physical description:	Pages 256-276
Appears in Collections:	Journal Articles

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