ABSTRACT
The register, ‘community notification’ policies and residency restrictions for sex offenders all started in the USA and have spread to other parts of the world in various guises. As concern about sex offenders has moved higher up the political agenda, the search for ever more stringent public protection policies and safer communities has continued. This book has attempted to document how the modern state tries to monitor those people who have been convicted for sexual offences who are living in the community. In general terms the United States has favoured an expansive set of
universal policies for large populations of sex offenders, whereas the UK, for example, has taken a more selective approach to policy making. Disclosure of information in the UK has been discretionary and to individuals rather than communities. Similarly the UK and other countries have eschewed the blanket residency restrictions applied in the USA in favour of a more controlled and customised approach to the individual sex offender.
