Deakin University
Browse

File(s) under permanent embargo

A comparative analysis of Australian sex offender legislation for sex offender registries

journal contribution
posted on 2011-01-01, 00:00 authored by Jim Vess, Brooke Langskaill, Andrew Day, Martine Powell, Joe Graffam
Australia has followed the course taken by other English-speaking countries in recent years of enacting legislation that requires convicted sexual offenders to register personal details with law enforcement agencies. These laws have been enacted to protect the public from the perceived threat posed by sex offenders, but have been written with little apparent reference to the available research literature about the nature and extent of this threat. In addition, there is no empirical evidence supporting the effectiveness of legislatively based sex offender registries to either reduce sexual offending or to enable the police to investigate sex crimes and apprehend offenders. This article compares and contrasts the current laws governing sex offender registration enacted by the various states and territories in Australia, and offers a critical analysis of their provisions in light of the research literature on sexual offending.

History

Journal

Australian and New Zealand journal of criminology

Volume

44

Issue

3

Pagination

404 - 424

Publisher

Sage Publications

Location

London, U. K.

ISSN

0004-8658

eISSN

1837-9273

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2011, The Author(s)