Western Australia recently passed legislation that allows information about convicted sex offenders to be disclosed to the general public. After critically appraising the rationale behind community notification, this paper considers its impact on offenders’ reintegration into the community and their subsequent risk of reoffending, its potential deterrent effect and usefulness as a management tool, and implementation issues. This discussion identifies several factors that potentially moderate the effectiveness of community notification schemes and some directions for future research and the development of policy and practices in this area.

Community notification statutes, popularly known as ‘Megan’s Law’, were passed in rapid succession throughout the United States following the enactment of landmark legislation in the state of Washington in 1990. Calls for the adoption of similar legislation in Australia gained momentum following the introduction of ‘limited disclosure’ schemes in the United Kingdom and, in 2012, one Australian state introduced a limited form of community notification. This study presents an analysis of in-depth interviews with specialist police officers ( N=21) who are responsible for coordinating the ongoing management, registration and monitoring of sex offenders who live in the community in this jurisdiction to understand their perspectives on the scheme’s implementation. Systematic thematic analysis revealed that the officers were particularly interested in understanding the impact that notification has on offenders, victims and the broader community, and the police agency. The practice-based wisdom distilled from these interviews is used to inform a discussion about the more widespread implementation of this type of public policy both in Australia and in other countries that may be giving this consideration.

In 2012, one Australian state became the first jurisdiction in Australasia to introduce a scheme that allows information about registered sex offenders to be released to the public. This study seeks to better understand the impact of the scheme from the perspective of the police. An analysis of interviews with police officers responsible for the administration of the scheme is supplemented with an analysis of official data relevant to its implementation. The results provide little evidence that the concerns voiced by the police about the introduction of community notification have been realised. There is no consistent view that it has significantly increased the workload of the police responsible for its management, impacted adversely on offenders' psychological well-being, led to vigilantism or resulted in offenders' non-compliance with reporting obligations. The findings of this study may usefully inform the development of policy and practice in places that are considering introducing similar policies.