Client Evaluations of Sex-Offender Therapy

Most research dealing with the effectiveness of sex-offender therapy has been quantitative, mainly looking at the sexual recidivism rates “as the primary measure of successful outcomes in criminal rehabilitation, while other indicators of client improvement and well-being have been ignored” (Levenson et al., 2020; National Academies of Sciences & Medicine, 2022).  Much of the qualitative research on sex-offender treatment appears

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Research Debunks Stranger-Danger Myth

In Bacon’s Rebellion blog, June 18, 2023, Dick Hall-Sizemore expressed surprise that the Crime in Virginia 2022 report, page 21, found that “the relationship of the offender to the victim in forcible sex offenses in 2022” was known by the victim 91% of the time. Approximately 93% of minors know their perpetrator, thereby debunking the stranger-danger myth.  The offenders are

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CALL TO ACTION: Stop Volusia County Council from expanding residency restrictions

Major Concerns: According to the Daytona Times, the Volusia County Council could be proposing at its June 20 meeting at 4 pm an ordinance to be drafted that would expand the residency distance requirements in the unincorporated parts of the county beyond the state’s 1,000 feet from any school, child care facility, park or playground. The Council could also consider

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NY Court of Appeals: Release Condition Excluding Certain Sex Offenders from School Zones is Not Punishment

New York’s highest state court has upheld the retroactive imposition of school exclusion zones as a condition of parole, release, or post release supervision of certain sex offenders. New York state law has mandated a release condition that certain supervised sex offenders— those with child victims— refrain from knowingly enter school grounds or child care grounds while serving their sentence.

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MT Supreme Court: The Registry is Punitive

Montana has joined a small but growing list of state supreme courts that have ruled that their states’ registries are punitive and cannot be imposed retroactively.   Selected excerpts: “A growing body of research into the effectiveness of sex offender registries has cast significant doubt on their capacity to prevent recidivism.”  And “the burdens and intrusiveness of SVORA have increased substantially

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