A time-series analysis of the effectiveness of sex offender notification laws in the USA

Maurelli, Kimberly; Ronan, George F

doi:10.1080/14789949.2012.746383

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 16 publications

(21 reference statements)

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“…For instance, in Maurelli and Ronan’s (2013) analysis of sex offender notification laws and sex crime data between 1960 and 2008, they found that 17 of 50 states had a significant reduction in forcible rapes following the passing of sex offender notification laws. On the other hand, 32 other states had no significant changes following laws.…”

Section: Background and Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

When love meets hate: The relationship between state policies on gay and lesbian rights and hate crime incidence

Levy

2017

Social Science Research

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Do public policies on gay and lesbian rights affect the incidence of hate crimes based on sexual orientation? We propose that legal inequalities increase hate crimes because they provide discursive opportunities for bias, discrimination, and violence. Legal equality, however, will reduce violence. Using annual panel data from 2000 to 2012, a period of substantial policy change, we analyze how three state policies affect reported hate crimes: same-sex partnerships, employment non-discrimination, and hate crime laws. Hate crime and employment non-discrimination laws that include sexual orientation reduce hate crime incidence. Partnership recognition increases reported hate crimes, though it may not increase actual crime incidence. Because incidence is spatially correlated, policy changes in one state yield spillover benefits in other states. These results provide some of the first quantitative evidence that public policies affect hate crimes based on sexual orientation. Findings confirm the roles of institutional heterosexism and discursive opportunities in producing hate crimes.

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Section: Background and Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

When love meets hate: The relationship between state policies on gay and lesbian rights and hate crime incidence

Levy

2017

Social Science Research

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“…We limit our results to saying that the models did not detect evidence that the legal intervention had an effect, rather than saying that there was no effect. Although our study has strengths (we analyzed an entire population rather than a sample, and our power analysis indicated that our models could detect small differences in the residuals before and after the legal intervention), and although other researchers using similar methods have found effects from legal interventions (Cunningham et al, 2015; Delcher et al, 2015; Friedman et al, 2007; Males, 2007; Maurelli & Ronan, 2013; Ren et al, 2015), there is a possibility that our models might not have been able to detect an effect when there was one.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…To address underlying long-term trends, time-series analysis of an abrupt intervention is widely used to isolate the impact of policy interventions (Bouffard & Askew, 2019; Maurelli & Ronan, 2013; Ren et al, 2015). Time-series analysis is an analytical technique that is used to examine whether there was a statistically significant trend before and after an intervention (Tabachnick & Fidel, 2019).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of changing the military’s sexual assault laws on law enforcement investigative findings in the U.S. Army.

Carpenter¹,

Gonzalez²,

Garcia³

et al. 2022

Law and Human Behavior

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“…Most existing analyses examine general deterrent effects on adult populations. For instance, Maurelli and Ronan’s (2013) time-series analysis revealed that forcible rape rates decreased in 17 states following the passage of sex offender registration and notification legislation, but were unaffected in 32 other states. Of the 10 states studied by Vásquez, Maddan, and Walker (2008), three had significantly fewer rapes occur following the implementation of registration and notification laws, six had no change, and one state had significantly more rapes.…”

Section: Preliminary Evidence That Registration Is Ineffective At Det...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most existing analyses examine general deterrent effects on adult populations. For instance, Maurelli and Ronan's (2013) time-series analysis revealed that forcible rape rates decreased in 17 states following the passage of sex offender registration and This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.…”

Section: Preliminary Evidence That Registration Is Ineffective At Det...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Adolescent sex offender registration policy: Perspectives on general deterrence potential from criminology and developmental psychology.

Najdowski¹,

Cleary²,

Stevenson³

2016

Psychology, Public Policy, and Law

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Sex offender registration policies have expanded rapidly, now extending to adolescent offenders across the nation. Policies mandating registration are based, in part, on arguments that registration is needed to prevent dangerous sex offenders from committing additional offenses and that risk of registration deters would-be offenders from offending in the first place. Research suggests that registration does not serve the former specific deterrent function for adolescents, but less is known regarding the latter goal of general deterrence. The disciplines of criminology and developmental psychology both offer important theoretical perspectives, but these frameworks have yet to be applied to this unique context. Criminological theory on perceptions of sanction risk offers clear predictions about the potential for registration to serve as a deterrent for would-be adolescent sex offenders. Yet, the literature has not meaningfully acknowledged that (a) most adolescents are probably unaware of the parameters of registration (e.g., age restrictions, range of registerable offenses), and (b) even if adolescents are aware of registration risk, they are unlikely to be effectively deterred by it because of a variety of developmental vulnerabilities (e.g., psychosocial immaturity, perceived normativeness of certain nonviolent sexual offenses that can result in registration). We argue that key elements of criminological and developmental psychological theory must be integrated to gain a better understanding of whether sex offender registration policy can have a general deterrent effect for adolescents. We conclude with a call for interdisciplinary research that addresses the general deterrence gap and its role in guiding empirically driven policy reform.

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A time-series analysis of the effectiveness of sex offender notification laws in the USA

Cited by 8 publications

References 16 publications

When love meets hate: The relationship between state policies on gay and lesbian rights and hate crime incidence

When love meets hate: The relationship between state policies on gay and lesbian rights and hate crime incidence

The effect of changing the military’s sexual assault laws on law enforcement investigative findings in the U.S. Army.

Adolescent sex offender registration policy: Perspectives on general deterrence potential from criminology and developmental psychology.

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