Why are sex offenders and the crimes they commit important to study and talk about? Why is the public so interested in sex crimes and the people who commit them? Sex offenders and the crimes that they commit affect thousands of people all over the country and world; the statistics are shocking, 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys are sexually abused before the age of 18, an estimated 39 million survivors of childhood sexual abuse exist in America today (Darkness to Light). According to the Department of justice, there were overall 191,670 victims of rape or sexual assault reported in 20005 and only 16% of rapes and sexual assaults are reported to the police. But 1 of 6 women has experienced an attempted or completed rape. Many of the crimes these sex offenders commit are detrimental to victims, the community and society. Other crimes committed by sex offenders aren't as heinous or detrimental but still need to be examined. The crimes of sex offenders vary in seriousness, from petty or nuisance misdemeanors to rape and child molestation. In the recent past, since about 1994, laws have been passed to track sex offenders and prevent them from reoffending. Laws such as Megan’s Law and Jessica’s Law are two of the most widely discussed. Many feel these laws are working, while others believe they create civil rights issues for offenders and their family members. Sex crimes are becoming less visible and less likely to occur, but still need to be studied to further reduce sex from happening

Sex crimes and sex offenders are important to talk about because of the amount of people they affect every year. According to Holmes and Holmes (2009), there are currently more than 234,000 sex offenders in prison in the United States. Most of these offenders are people who have committed a crime like rape or other violent sex crimes. There are approximately 400,000 registered sex offenders in the U.S. The Bureau of Justice Statistics (2006) report that 14.8 % of women were victims of rape sometime during their lifetimes; 2.8% of women were victims of attempted rape at some point during their lifetimes. It is assumed these numbers are low since rape is widely believed to be an underreported crime. We know that sex crimes are being committed everyday but what can be done to reduce the frequency and repair the damage to victims as well as treat offenders?

Some people believe that sex offender treatment programs are a waste of time and money, while others believe treatment is better than just locking offenders up. These people believe that sex offenders are not treated they will continue to commit sex crimes when released. Treatment programs can contribute to community safety because those who attend and cooperate with program conditions are less likely to re-offend than those who reject intervention (Center for sex offender management, 2009). The only meta-analysis of treatment outcome studies to date has found a small, yet significant treatment effect—an 8% reduction in the recidivism rate for offenders who participated in treatment (Hall, 1995). Research also demonstrates that sex offenders who fail to complete treatment programs are at increased risk for both sexual and general recidivism (Hanson and Bussiere, 1998). Sex offender treatment can work but treatment doesn’t work for everyone. Treatment is important because something has to be done to prevent reoffending. At the same time incarceration is important because there needs to be punishment when people commit sex crimes. I don’t believe there can be one without the other. Meaning there can’t be punishment without treatment and vice versa. The topic of sex crimes and sex offenders is important because of the harm these crimes cause and the amount of people affected by these crimes every day. We need to study and evaluate why people commit these crimes and what can be done to stop them, treat offenders and repair victims.

References

Bureau of Justice Statistics. (2005). Criminal victimizations 2004. Washington, DC: U.S.
Department of Justice.
Hall, G.C.N., "Sex Offender Recidivism Revisited: A Meta-Analysis of Recent Treatment
Studies," Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 63 (1995): 802-809.
Hanson, R. and Bussiere, M. "Predicting Relapse: A Meta-Analysis of Sexual Offender
Recidivism Studies," Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 66 (1998): 348-364.
Holmes, S. T. (2009). Sex Crimes: Patterns and Behaviors. California: Thousand Oaks.
CSOM. (2009). Center for Sex Offender Management. Retrieved from http://www.csom.org/