The Law Here and The Law There – Sex Offender Laws around the World

Comparatively speaking, the United States is responsible for the creation of some of the harshest laws aimed at reducing recidivism among sex offenders. Other countries such as Argentina, Australia, France and Germany do not impose a public registry website or public notification system. However, there is in fact a registry created for each of these countries. The difference between the U.S and these other countries is that when these registries are created with the purpose of monitoring violent criminals, they in fact do so instead of simply infringing upon people’s rights.

In France, violent sexual offenses, crimes of a sexual nature involving children under the age of fifteen and certain other offenses are registered at the discretion of a judge or prosecutor. Many of these countries also place limitations on how long a person can be registered on the list. Some range from 10 to 20 years depending on time served in jail and the severity of the crime. But all these nations differ in big aspect from America. There is no national, and rarely any local, public disclosure of any registry information. This is seen as a violation of privacy and an unnecessary humiliation to sex offenders on the registry. It is also seen as invitation to create mass paranoia that will only lead to more crimes being committed by not only the SOs but the general public.

In all occasions, these counties collect the usual amount of information as does the U.S registry list. Names, addresses, DNA samples, aliases, finger prints and conviction information are all utilized by the police to keep tabs on SOs without the inclusion of the public. In any case, if information is published for some reason, the minimum amount is released. In other words, policing is left up to the police.

While American advocates push for public notification, arguing that making facts about SOs known will contribute to the safety of the community, the opposite is true. It has been proven that publishing information about sex offenders has not led to a decrease in crime nor does it benefit the reintroduction of SOs into the community.

The fact of the matter is, sex crimes happen around the world. But not every country treats SOs the same way. The difference in treatment differs in the ability of the SO to later find stable employment, a home and to become rehabilitated and successfully become reintroduced into society after paying their dues. America is on the forefront of many things, but in this aspect of the law we are lagging behind. More changes in society need to be introduced through legislation.