On Sex Offender Registry

Abstract

The paper examines the experience of the United States of America in recording and classifying convicted sexual offenders. The Federal register is a comprehensive criminal and administrative law tool for crime prevention. It has its origins in similar state registers. The author examines the principles of maintaining the register, the grounds for inclusion in the register and exclusion from it, the volume of data to be published, the frequency of data updates, and conducts a criminological characterization of the Institute. The paper analyzes the case law of the Supreme courts of the United States regarding the constitutionality of the rules and principles that form the institution of the registry, their retroactive application, and compliance with procedural and material guarantees of a fair trial. The author concludes that it is possible to introduce a similar Federal register in Russia, but taking into account the shortcomings identified in the study. Currently, the efforts of the legislator in this part are obvious (increasing criminal responsibility for violent sexual crimes with the establishment of restrictions on freedom, the emergence of new tools of "deterrence" in the hands of law enforcement agencies, such as administrative supervision). However, the measures are not comprehensive, often overlap, and do not achieve the stated goal (execution of restrictions under administrative supervision after serving the restriction of freedom). The author believes that it can be an independent institution, implemented from the stage of execution of the sentence, accessible to law enforcement agencies and victims, and in cases provided for by law — for social and educational institutions, guardianship authorities, family and child protection.