SEX OFFENDER REGISTRIES

Sex Offender Registries and Community Safety

Sex Offender Registries and Community Safety

Introduction

The 'Sex Offender Register' is the common expression for the records held by the police arising from the statutory requirement that sex offenders should notify the police of their address details and change of circumstances. The register is intended to provide greater knowledge of the whereabouts of such offenders in the interests of public protection. This paper examines the emersion of “Sex Offender Registries” and determine whether or not they enhance community safety. (Walsh 2008)

The Sex Offenders Act 1997 provides that offenders convicted of - or cautioned, warned or reprimanded for - a 'relevant offence' are subject to 'notification requirements' (commonly known as registration requirements) in respect of specified personal details, recorded and retained by the police. The current statutory scheme falls within Part Two of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, 'relevant offences' being listed in Schedule Three of the Act and not restricted to offending against children. The obligation to notify does not depend on a court order and lasts for the duration of the 'notification period'. This varies on a sliding scale according to the outcome or disposal of the offender's case. Where the offender is sentenced to a custodial term of 30 months or longer, liability is indefinite, while a custodial term exceeding 6 months but less than 30 months attracts a period of 10 years. Failure to notify is a criminal offence punishable by up to five years' imprisonment. (Volokh 2011)

Duration liability is modified for offenders aged under 18 in respect of periods of 10 years or less, running for a half of the period specified for adults. In respect of young offenders the court may make 'parental directions' requiring the adult with parental responsibility to comply with notification requirements, non-compliance being an offence. The Probation Service and youth offending teams are not under any statutory duty to inform the police about sex offenders known to them but may do so in accordance with good practice protocols. (Ahearn 2001)

The offender is required to provide initial notification within 72 hours of sentence/caution or his or her release from custody, supplying his or her date of birth, home address (and other addresses at which he or she regularly stays), name(s) used and National Insurance number. Thereafter, the offender must supply any changes in notification details within three days. Additionally, the offender must re-notify his or her details, even where these have not changed, within 12 months of the last time when he or she was required to notify. On notification the police can require the offender to be photographed and fingerprinted.

Discussion

As Plotnikoff and Woolfson (2000) identified in their research on registration under the Sex Offenders Act 1997, the scheme is not fully comprehensive, given that the legislation has very limited retrospective effect and there can be slippage in the provision of information by relevant agencies to the police. There is also no national 'sex offender register' as such, local force information being relayed to the ...