Seattle University Collaborative Projects - International Academy of ...

Breaking the Impasse: Toward a New Generation of Sex Offender PolicyResearchAndrew Harris, University of Massachusetts Lowell (andrew_harris@uml.edu)Recent years have produced a growing body of research evaluating the impacts of public policiesdesigned to control known sex offenders within the community. In the United States, findingsfrom these studies have frequently challenged the public safety efficacy of prevailing policies,pitting the research establishment against those advocating stronger and more extensive socialcontrols over sex offenders. For those in the research community, the problem has often beenframed as a battle between empiricism and ideology — the triumph of "moral panic" overreasoned policy development. From the vantage of those advocating tougher policies, researchdata are often viewed with skepticism, particularly when such data are contravened by individualcases with tragic outcomes. This presentation will explore the dynamics of this impasse, arguingthat much of the problem resides in a failure of researchers to frame their analyses in a way thatresonates within the policy domain. Presenting the results of a comprehensive study analyzingthe methods, measures, and outcomes from recent sex offender policy studies, we will present aframework for a new generation of sex offender policy research – one that relies on buildingeffective researcher-practitioner collaboration and that places greater emphasis on mixed-methodapproaches.Understanding Sex Offender Disclosure, Restorative Justice and Reintegrationin the UK: Practitioner, Policymaker and Academic PerspectivesKieran McCartan, University of the West of England (kieran.mccartan@uwe.ac.uk)Hazel Kemshall, DeMontfort UniversityKirsty Hudson, Cardiff UniversitThis paper will discuss the realities of sex offender reintegration in the UK, focusing on how thesharing of sex offender information with the public and how community members’ awareness ofthe identity of sex offenders in their communities helps sex offender reintegration as well asrehabilitation. The paper will focus on the current public disclosure of sex offender informationin the UK and on the role of restorative justice organisations (Stop it Now! & Circles of Supportand Accountability). The paper will discuss the starting point and policy evolution of sexoffender public disclosure in the UK; the research that has helped shape it; its impact upon sexoffender management in the community and how it ties in with restorative justice schemes; andsome of the barriers to the current schemes (i.e., assessing impact and access to the scheme bycommunities). In doing this, the paper will discuss regional variations in the public disclosure ofsex offenders in the UK and how they impact the national UK strategy. The presentation willalso draw on practitioner, policymaker and academic perspectives derived from across the UKbased upon a knowledge exchange network.364