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Sex offenders are viewed a unique type of criminal offender, particularly as more "objectionable,' less treatable, more dangerous, and more likely to recidivate. In recent years, these offenders have once again become the focus of intense legal scrutiny, primarily through laws specifically targeting them for indefinite confinement, registration and community notification, polygraph testing, and chemical castration. This article examines the underlying assumptions and justifications for these sex offender laws. We ask whether treatment, punishment, and public safety can be reconciled as justifications for the laws. We conclude that, even though treatment is an implicit rationale in the laws' provisions, punishment, incapacitation, and public safety are the ostensive purposes of these special laws and policies directed toward sex offenders. Moreover, this article questions the constitutionality and rationality of sex offender laws and policies and their consequences for sex offenders, treatment professionals, the mental health and criminal justice systems, and society in general.

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Much has been written about officer role orientations in probation and parole and about principles of effective correctional intervention, but little research adequately reflects the importance of linking these two discussions. The present study on officer attitudes provides a first step toward making this link. An officer attitude survey was conducted with both regular and intensive supervision officers at two different program sites. Each site recently implemented a prototypical model of intensive supervision that encourages a balanced approach to supervision and is based on principles of effective correctional intervention. Prior to implementation, the intensive supervision officers at each site participated in comprehensive training and development activities. The primary purpose of this research was to learn the extent to which attitudes of the intensive supervision officers differ from those of regular supervision officers—who did not participate in the training and development activities—in terms of their focus and style of supervision. The results suggest that a comprehensive approach to training and development can effectively instill in officers the supervision attitudes that are most conducive to promoting offender change.

No abstract