Summary
Sex offender registration and notification laws require, respectively, that convicted sex offenders provide valid contact information to law enforcement authorities, and that information on sex offenders be made public. This report examines how registration and notification affect the frequency of sex offenses as well as how police respond to these crimes. Research findings show that registration reduces the frequency of sex offenses by providing law enforcement with information on local sex offenders. This decrease is concentrated among local victims (e.g., friends, acquaintances, neighbours), while there is little evidence of a decrease in crimes against strangers. There is also evidence that community notification deters first-time sex offenses, but increases recidivism by registered offenders due to a change in the relative utility of legal and illegal behaviour. This finding is consistent with work by criminologists suggesting that notification may increase recidivism by imposing social and financial costs on registered sex offenders and making non-criminal activity relatively less attractive. Given that the purpose of community notification is to reduce recidivism, this finding is potentially significant.