The Emerging Criminal War on Sex Offenders

I have just uploaded a draft of my new article, The Emerging Criminal War on Sex Offenders, to SSRN. You can find the article here. This is the abstract:

This article addresses four central questions. First, what is the difference between normal law enforcement policy and a “war” on crime? Second, assuming such a line can be discerned, has the enactment of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act (“AWA”) in combination with other sex offender laws triggered a transition to a criminal war on sex criminals? Third, if such a criminal war is emerging, what will be the likely effects of such a transition? Fourth, if such a criminal war is emerging with substantial negative consequences, how can it be stopped?
By reviewing America’s history of criminal wars, primarily the War on Drugs, the article identifies three essential characteristics of a criminal war: marshalling of resources, myth creation, and exception making. It concludes that the federalization of sex offender policy brought about by the AWA elevated law enforcement to a nascent criminal war on sex crimes. This change could have repercussions as substantial as the drug war has had on American criminal justice and society.

Now that I have the article draft completed (along with another article about judicial activism), blogging will finally resume on a regular schedule.

Comments

[David Hess]

Excellent! A powerful and disturbing article! Particularly disturbing is the section on "exception making."

[Joe]

The approach America is taking towards sex offenders in general is misguided. I realized that people want to feel safe and know that heinous crimes are being punished, but by the time a sex crime is committed, it's already too late for the victim.