How likely is it that someone who committed a violent sex offense and murder at 18 will commit another one? It may be impossible to say. What we do know is that there is no evidence the likelihood is 80%, as was claimed by the prosecution in one 2006 Texas case. In...
Sex Crimes
Apple announces plan to scan your iPhone for child pornography
It’s tempting to set aside the privacy rights of people who may be involved in child pornography. Most people have no sympathy for that type of criminal offense, and many people feel that policing child pornography should be aggressive. The problem with doing so is...
Can a state order a new resident onto the sex offender registry?
It’s a relatively common requirement. If you are a registered sex offender in one state and you move to another, the new state will often require you to comply with its registry. However, the state of Indiana went a step further. It required new residents to register...
Can Wisconsin force sex offenders into lifetime GPS monitoring without a court determination of the need?
Too often society has imposed a different standard on persons convicted of child sex offenses than it does other offenders. Even though studies show recidivism rates to be low, many people don’t object to more severe treatment of child sex offenders because of a...
Sex offenders’ addresses should not be outed before Halloween
Every year before Halloween, newspapers publish maps showing the location of registered sex offenders in various neighborhoods. The idea is to keep children safe from sexual abuse when they trick-or-treat. However, there is no evidence that children are at risk...
Beware: Certain sexual fantasizing could land you in jail
In Wisconsin and throughout the United States, adults are relatively free to engage in consensual sexual activity. As long as the activity is only between adults and everyone consents, it isn’t illegal to engage in fantasy. Yet here and all across the U.S., law...
Does registering and banning people actually prevent crime?
Although we're not from New York City, we can agree that there is probably too much public lewdness and unwanted touching going on in the city's subways. Earlier this month, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a plan to clean up public transit: banning "repeat...
Follow the evidence when evaluating sex offender registries
To many, sex offender registries seem like a good way to prevent people from committing repeat sex offenses, thereby keeping the public safer.Many believe that people who have committed sex offenses in the past are much more likely to commit them in the future....
In New Jersey, sex offenders fight for chance to get off registry
In New Jersey as in most states, there is a sex offender registry that was created by a "Megan's Law." These laws were enacted after a 7-year-old girl, Megan Kanka, was raped and murdered by a man who had been convicted twice of sexual assault. The law requires all...
When people with intellectual disabilities commit sex crimes
When Adam N. was arrested for exposing himself to a neighbor, it was hard to understand it as a sex crime. Adam is 32 but functions at the level of a 10-year-old. His mother says that the neighbor was actually abusing Adam and coerced him to expose himself. Adam pled...