Book
When is a Rapist a Sex Offender? Prosecuting Sex Crimes after Megan's Law
Western Political Science Association 2011 Annual Meeting Paper, SSRN
2011
Abstract
This paper provides a comparative case study of the ways that sex offender registration requirements (commonly known as 'Megan's Law' statutes) influence criminal case processing in sexual assault cases. The study draws on interviews from 120 county-based rape crisis centers in six states to compare how registration mandates are implemented both within and across states. The breadth and severity of statutes intersect with local legal culture to produce disparate responses which may either enhance or obstruct prosecution of sexual assault cases. Some prosecutors use registration to vigorously pursue accused sex offenders while others perceive the laws as unjustly punitive and drop or reduce charges in order to avoid triggering registration requirements. Prosecutors in many jurisdictions see the mandates as undermining their ability to get good plea bargain or trial outcomes, even as others play on public fears and outrage about sex offenders as a way to overcome low jury conviction rates in sexual assault cases. In assessing the impact of the registration statutes advocates not only offer important perspectives about the effects of these laws on rape victims, but also provide trenchant critiques of the ways that local responses to registration statutes illustrate, mask, and justify persistent failures in the criminal justice response to sexual violence
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Details
- Title
- When is a Rapist a Sex Offender? Prosecuting Sex Crimes after Megan's Law
- Creators
- Rose Corrigan
- Series
- Western Political Science Association 2011 Annual Meeting Paper
- Publisher
- SSRN
- Number of pages
- 1 Online-Ressource (46 p)
- Resource Type
- Book
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Politics
- Identifiers
- 991020537634904721