Federal and State law in a northeastern US state requires all adjudicated sex offenders to register on the state's sex offender registry (SOR) for the purpose of protecting the citizens of the state from predatory sex offenders and reducing sexual recidivism. This study tests the assumption, based on deterrence theory, that registration on the SOR is necessary as a deterrent to future sexual offending by sex offenders. Data from the Maryland Sex Offender Registry in two counties in a northeastern US state pertaining to a total of 1,985 registered sex offenders were analyzed to see geographic differences of offender, and state sexual crime data over a 24 year period from 1991-2016 was analyzed using multiple regression. Independent variables included completeness of information on the MSOR registry profile; recidivism, re-arrest rates, and violence against women were the dependent variables. The analysis revealed that offenders in Baltimore County the more rural part were more likely to provide not valid addresses or addresses that are out of compliance with state and federal regulations for the SOR. Analysis also revealed that there was statistical significance in the recidivism rates of sex offenders in Maryland after the implementation of the Sex Offender Registry. This supports previous published research findings that SOR registration has no deterrent effect on recidivism. Implications for positive social changes include reducing the number of false positives, improving the quality of life for sex offenders, better allocation of public resources, and increased safety for citizens through better assessment of risk factors.

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Le 29 juillet 1994, Megan Kanka, une jeune fille de sept ans de la municipalité de Hamilton au New Jersey, est enlevée, agressée sexuellement et tuée par ce qui se révélera être son voisin d’en face, Jesse Timmendequas. À l’époque, l’assaillant de Megan avait déjà fait l’objet de deux condamnations pour agression sexuelle. Suite à cette tragédie, les parents de Megan luttèrent pour la création d’une loi qui révélerait automatiquement au public l’identité et le lieu de résidence des délinquants sexuels. Moins de trois mois plus tard, la « Loi de Megan » était ratifiée. Ainsi un répertoire étatique centralisé de délinquants sexuels en partie disponible au public fut créé. Notre étude se centre sur ce cas et tente de comprendre comment une construction particulière de la délinquance sexuelle comme problème social mena à la réponse pénale spécifique qu’était la Loi de Megan. Pour ce faire, nous analysons les discours et argumentaires politiques en lien avec l’affaire. Huit entretiens avec différents acteurs impliqués dans le débat politique menant à la création de la loi de Megan furent effectués. Une analyse de plus de 150 articles de journaux et de quelques projets et textes de lois fut également effectuée. Nos résultats soulignent d’abord le rôle primordial qu’avait le contexte sociopolitique autant sur la construction du problème social de la délinquance sexuelle que sur la solution qui lui était liée. L’analyse du cas nous indique également que la dyade problème-solution s’élabora en conjonction, dans un cadre temporel uniforme, dont les seules étapes détectables sont celles du narratif de la mort de Megan et de l’élaboration concrète de la loi. En d’autres mots, la mort de Megan ne constituait qu’un point focal qui permit à des acteurs de mettre en pratique des concepts déjà largement partagés. L’étude conclue en liant le contexte sociopolitique du Canada à celui retrouvé dans notre étude de cas et suggère qu’une construction similaire de la délinquance sexuelle comme problème peut facilement être envisageable chez nous. Si personne ne souhaite l’occurrence d’une situation comparable à celle vécue par Megan Kanka et sa famille, cet élément nous apparaît comme étant celui qui propulserait réellement cette construction sur la place publique, à condition bien évidemment qu’une personne ou un groupe de personnes en fassent une question à débattre. / On July 29th 1994, Megan Kanka, a 7 year old girl from Hamilton Township in New Jersey, is kidnapped, sexually molested and killed by what will prove to be the Kanka’ front door neighbor, Jesse Timmendequas. At the time, Megan’s assailant had already been twice convicted of sex crimes. Following this tragedy, Megan’s parents fought to obtain a law that would notify the public on the identity as well as the residency of sex offenders. Less than three months later, "Megan’s Law" was ratified. A state-wide sex offender registry was thus created, for which public notification was partly available. Our study focuses on this case, as we try to understand how the construction of sexual offending as a social problem led to the specific penal response that was Megan’s Law. To accomplish this, we analyzed the political discourse and arguments inherent to the case. Eight interviews with different political actors involved in the political debate leading to the implementation of Megan’s Law were conducted. Over 150 newspaper articles and some pieces of legislation were also analyzed. Our results highlight the essential role that the sociopolitical context had on the construction of sex offending as a social problem as well as the solution to which it was linked. Analysis of this case also indicates that the problem-solution dyad was constructed in conjunction, in a uniform time frame, for which the only detectable stages were those of the narrative concerning the death of Megan and the actual development of the law. In other words, Megan’s death was only a focal point that allowed certain political actors to turn into action already widely shared concepts. The study concludes by linking Canada’s sociopolitical context to the one found in our case study, and suggests that a similar construction of the sex offender problem can easily be considered. Though nobody wishes for the occurence of an event comparable to that experienced by Megan Kanka and her family, this element appears to us as one that would propel this construction to a public arena, provided of course that a person or a group of people make the issue the topic of a public debate.

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