Allegations of sexual misconduct may prompt districts to enter into non-disclosure or settlement agreements with alleged perpetrators in exchange for a recommendation. Non-disclosure settlements typically limit how much information districts can share with other districts. This process, often referred to as "passing the trash," can be…

Many municipalities have recently extended residence restrictions for sex offenders beyond the provisions of state law, although the efficacy of these measures in reducing recidivism has not been empirically established. This study used arrest histories in Jacksonville, Florida, to assess the effects of a recently expanded municipal 2,500-foot…

Current legislation at the state and federal level is largely based on the premise that we can best protect children by prohibiting sexual offenders' access to children through the use of residency restrictions, employment sanctions, and community notification. While well intentioned, these policies are short sighted and based more on public…

People in the United States live in an era of heightened fear of sexual offenders. The general public, especially women, fear sexual assault and for the safety of their children. Federal and state legislation has established stringent sexual offender notification and registration, and residency restriction laws to protect citizens in communities.…

Prior GAO (US Government Accountability Office) testimonies have described cases of physical abuse of children at youth residential treatment programs and public and private schools. However, children are also vulnerable to sexual abuse. A 2004 Department of Education report estimated that millions of students are subjected to sexual misconduct by…

In this article, the authors seek to contribute to the growing engagement with the school-prison nexus by considering two, perhaps less obvious, factors that implicate schools in the business of the prison industrial complex (PIC)--the examples of gentrification and sex offender registries. By unpacking some of the rhetoric that surrounds…

Previous research involving adult survivors of CSA (childhood sexual abuse) indicates that approximately 77% of CSA victims did not report the abuse while in childhood. The purpose of this study was to examine CSA disclosure in childhood. Participants for this study were 137 children/adolescents ranging in ages from 2-16 interviewed at a child…

Confronted with widely publicized accounts of assaults by juvenile sex offenders against fellow students or school staff members, several states are grappling with the issue of how to balance a student's right to an education with the threat that such a student may pose. Legislatures and agencies in several states, such as Arkansas, New Mexico,…

This document contains a report on four Senate bills from the Wisconsin Legislature concerned with sexual assault. Part I of the report describes key provisions of the four bills: (1) 1991 Senate Bill 178, which codifies a 1987 Wisconsin Supreme Court decision on excluding certain persons from preliminary examinations in criminal sexual assault…

This statement of the Safer Society Foundation is designed to assist states considering public notification when convicted sex offenders are released to the community. It considers the impact of public notification on the greater community, including citizens, families, victims, and offenders. (DB)

This handbook was written to heighten public awareness and understanding about child abuse and to serve as a practical aid for persons who work with children, who are in the field of child abuse prevention, and who are mandated to report suspected cases of child abuse under the California Child Abuse Reporting Law. It provides an overview of the…

States and individual school districts are taking action to avoid hiring people with criminal records by requiring background checks for school employees. Advocates of more stringent measures propose more consistency and cooperation among states and a database of any indictments and convictions for child-abuse crimes. (MLF)

In response to a 1993 Minnesota crime bill, four task forces reviewed violence education in professional higher education programs and made recommendations for legislation and law enforcement. The four task forces--in Law, Health Services, Human Services, and Education--made several critical recommendations that applied across professions:…