What does the public think about sex offender registers? Findings from a national Australian study

This article presents data from questions about sex offender registration orders in a large national survey on Australian public opinion about adult sex offenders. It outlines the legislative frameworks that govern these registers in Australia and discusses the use of public registers, the research on the effectiveness of sex offender registers, and Australian attitudes to such registers. Our surveys of three cohorts of members of the Australian public reveal strong public support for sex offender registers, especially for cases involving child victims. However, there was also support for judicial discretion in the imposition of orders and reduced support for automatic registration where a non-custodial sentence is imposed. The Australian Government has recently announced the establishment of a national public sex offender register, but our findings show limited support for this approach. The implications for policy and practice are considered.

Police Officers' Perceptions of a Sex Offender Registration Scheme: Identifying and Responding to Risk

This article reports on interviews with 17 participants responsible for managing sex offenders on a sex offender register scheme. Semi-structured interviews were conducted that covered the topics of the participants' policing experience and their thoughts on the register and risk assessment. Nine themes were identified as being particularly important: the purpose of the register; concerns about community perceptions; a lack of resources; recognition that risk assessment is essential but limited; a desire to tailor interventions to individual offenders; the need for more training despite staff competency; the inadequate sharing of information; concerns about how well the legislation captures the sex offending space; and confusion about how to interpret online offending. This research provides first-hand views on how the register can be improved and how police would like a register to look when executing the essential and challenging job of monitoring convicted sex offenders upon their release back into the community.

Factors Impacting upon Attitudes Toward Sex Offenders: The Role of Conservatism and Knowledge

Sex offender legislation is influenced by public pressure. However, there is evidence suggesting that the public's beliefs about sex offenders may be based upon myths and misperceptions. This study examined the relationship between knowledge of sex offenders in areas concerning their recidivism rates, treatment outcomes, and victim types, as well as current supervision and correctional management directed toward sex offenders and how this knowledge relates to overall attitudes towards sex offenders, sex offender treatment, and community notification laws. Further, we sought to examine how conservative belief systems affect this relationship. Using a sample of 559 undergraduate students we found that knowledge about sex offenders and conservative beliefs were significantly related to attitudes toward sex offenders such that those who had more conservative beliefs and less knowledge were more likely to have negative views toward sex offenders. Additionally, conservative belief systems moderated the relationship between knowledge about sex offenders and general attitudes toward sex offenders. These findings will be discussed as they pertain to the development of evidence-based sex offender policies.

An Evaluation of the Impact of Australia's First Community Notification Scheme

In 2012, one Australian state became the first jurisdiction in Australasia to introduce a scheme that allows information about registered sex offenders to be released to the public. This study seeks to better understand the impact of the scheme from the perspective of the police. An analysis of interviews with police officers responsible for the administration of the scheme is supplemented with an analysis of official data relevant to its implementation. The results provide little evidence that the concerns voiced by the police about the introduction of community notification have been realised. There is no consistent view that it has significantly increased the workload of the police responsible for its management, impacted adversely on offenders' psychological well-being, led to vigilantism or resulted in offenders' non-compliance with reporting obligations. The findings of this study may usefully inform the development of policy and practice in places that are considering introducing similar policies.

Evaluation of Operation RESET: An initiative for addressing child sexual abuse in Aboriginal communities

This paper presents a qualitative evaluation of Operation RESET: a multi-agency child protection strategy for remote Western Australian Aboriginal communities. RESET is a proactive engagement strategy involving a mobile multi-disciplinary specialist child abuse team comprising detectives and social workers. It is underpinned by the principles that preventing and responding to child sexual abuse must be a shared responsibility, address the underlying causes and contextual issues and enhance children's safety and well-being by empowering families and communities. The evaluation procedure consisted of in-depth interviews with 64 stakeholders of various backgrounds and affiliations who lived or worked in regions where RESET had been deployed for the past 18 months. Collectively, the interviews revealed strong support for Operation RESET's implementation and outcomes. Stakeholders highlighted four elements as being valuable components of the reform: the programme's proactive outreach approach, dedication to capacity building, holistic focus and the establishment of relationships that facilitated trust. These findings are discussed within the broader literature and suggestions for further research are offered.