Angela Morris Sex Offenders in the UK, U.S. & Canada

Legislators and criminal justice institutions in the UK, the U.S. And Germany have taken steps in recent years to come to terms -- using harsher and more public methods of punishment -- with those individuals that commit crimes of a sexual nature against children. Because of the outrage and terror that families and citizens express to public officials when a child is kidnapped or abused in a sexual context, and the sensationalized publicity that the media gives to crimes against children, elected officials have had no choice but to crack down on pedophiles and other violent criminals who commit offenses against children. Indeed, expanded policies of criminalization against child sexual abuse (including child pornography, the exploitation of children on the Internet, child sexual tourism among other crimes) have been put in place in the three above-mentioned nations. There are differences -- and some similarities -- vis-a-vis the severity and specific strategies that are used in the UK, the U.S., and Canada, and this paper details those dissimilarities and similarities.

Sex Offender Punishment in the U.S.

In the United States several high-profile abductions, rapes and gruesome murders of children have led to new and innovative criminal punishments for sex offenders. The extraordinary exposure generated...

The advent of the digital era -- and the Internet -- has opened the door for criminals to lure children into hurtful and unconscionably cruel situations. The result has been at least a dozen tough laws (too lengthy to report in this paper); but moreover, in the U.S. sex offenders must register and their names and addresses are made available to the communities into which they have moved.
The two laws in particular that have made it mandatory for sex offenders to register so communities can be made aware of their presence are the Jacob Wetterling Act (1994) and the follow-up Megan's Law (1996). Within three days after a sex offender's release from prison, that offender must provide the state with his home address and other pertinent information. Failure to register may result in a prison term of up to ten years and a fine of up to $100,000. There have been several amendments to these statutes that have extended the time frame in which a convicted sex offender must continue to be registered. And moreover, these harsh laws have passed muster with the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled (9-0) in 2003 that publicizing the addresses, names, and kinds of convictions for sex…