Police officer attitudes to the practicalities of the sex offenders’ register, ViSOR and Child Sexual Abuse Disclosure Scheme in England and Wales

A Systematic Review of Professionals’ Views About Community Management Policies for Individuals Convicted of Sexual Offenses

“…Overall, professionals mostly agreed with the community management policies for individuals convicted of sexual offenses within their countries that included registration and residency restrictions. Professionals generally believed that having a registry of some form (requiring offenders to report to police regularly and disclose changes in personal or living conditions) was better than not having one at all (Day et al, 2014; Masters & Kebbell, 2019; McCartan et al, 2018; Powell et al, 2014). In six quantitative studies, police officers (Harris et al, 2018; McCartan et al, 2018), prison/probation officers, psychologists (Datz, 2009; Mustaine et al, 2015; Tewksbury et al, 2012), and parole board members (Tewksbury & Mustaine, 2012) reported a high level of agreement with community management policies.…”

“…Despite the general support for community management policies for individuals convicted of sexual offenses, there were mixed views among professionals for the public registry and community notification. Participants (mainly police) commonly expressed reservations and concerns about an open registry for the general public, with the public misinterpreting or misunderstanding released data (McCartan et al, 2018). Some professionals saw it as a political strategy to address public fear (Powell et al, 2014) and a counterproductive, reactionary, and a dated response to their management (McCartan, 2012).…”

Understanding what works in the police management of child sex offenders in the community

“…The literature revealed a key consideration for implementation is the need for professionals to have intensive and regular training to establish and maintain the specialised skill set required to effectively implement many of these strategies. Also, to better inform risk assessment, planning, management, offender engagement (i.e., rapport building and strong interview skills) and detection of new crime, a chorus of research recommends that sex offender registration police should have in-depth knowledge of the sex offender population; and should receive specialised, intensive, regular and ongoing training, grounded in academic knowledge and applied in nature, to carry out their responsibilities effectively (e.g., CSOM, 2008; Cubellis et al, 2016; McCartan et al, 2018; Veri, 2016; Vess et al, 2014). Overall, there is strong and broad support for ongoing training among law enforcement specific to sex offenders and the use of risk assessment tools that robustly identify risk and plan management (e.g., Day, 2014; Kewley, 2017b; Oxburgh et al, 2015).…”

Incorporating Quaternary Prevention: Understanding the Full Scope of Public Health Practices in Sexual Abuse Prevention

“…The principles of the “Good Lives Model” ( Purvis et al, 2013 ), have been incorporated into the NZ register, and embedded into staff training and operational policy ( Barnes & Law, 2019 ). This has resulted in: “strengths-based case management practice which balances the need to manage risk, with the needs of the person on the register” ( Barnes & Law, 2019 : 27), supported by a commitment that the register should effectively support case management ( Masters & Kebbell, 2019 ; McCartan, Hoggett et al, 2018 ). This helpfully reframes lifetime supervision as proactive and supportive risk management and not, as it is in other countries, as an exclusionary labeling system that allocates persons to a lifetime of risk stigmatization (for UK possibilities for change see: O’Sullivan et al, 2016 ).…”