The Sex Offender Registry: An Evaluation of the Post-Adam Walsh Act Classification and Public Safety in Ohio

• In Event: Critical Issues in the Evaluation of Reentry Programs

Abstract

Beginning in the 1990s, those convicted of sexually-based offenses became subject to a proliferation of laws aimed at tracking and managing sex offenders. Ohio’s first SORN law was enacted in 1996 and, in September 2009, became the first state to be certified by the U.S. Department of Justice as having substantially implemented the Adam Walsh Act classification requirements. Each offender is now classified in a three Tier system based on the severity of their convicted offense. This new policy replaced the existing practice of using actuarial risk assessments as a preferred method to categorize offenders. In order to determine the impact to public safety and recidivism, the tier classification and risk assessment scores are compared.

Authors

• Bobbie Ticknor, Valdosta State University

• Beau Shine, University of Cincinnati