States Struggle With What to Do With Sex Offenders After Prison

Tim Gruber for The New York Times

“But now Minnesota’s civil commitment program — which detains more people per capita than any other state — is facing an overhaul. Earlier this year, a federal judge found it unconstitutional, calling it …

Two articles critical of the sex offender registry

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer

Sex offender registries draw criticism from some unlikely sources

Sex offender says registry amounts to punishment for life…

The mysterious nature of the “juvenile sex offender”

“If you ask John Q. Public about the public safety risk posed by a juvenile who has been arrested for a sex offense, chances are he will estimate too high. The public is woefully uninformed when it comes to risk …

Guilty until proven innocent.

(Photo by John Anderson)

“Michael never confessed to the crime – because no sexual abuse of his cousin ever happened. The real story would be revealed years later when Stephanie admitted to lying (she believed) in order to help her …

What Has Owen Labrie’s Trial Accomplished?

“What is sexual victimization? The definitions change with history. It did not occur to me for years that Adam might have assaulted me. Sophie came to that conclusion in a matter of days. What most shaped my perceptions were feminist …

What we talk about when we talk about rape

(Jason Malmont / Associated Press)

On one level, numbers shouldn’t matter: Rape is ugly, it’s serious and can have devastating consequences for its victims. But if numbers are being used to generate a national panic or to institute university policies …

Dishonest Prosecutors, Lots of Them

(Photo by John Anderson)

“Prosecutors who bend or even break the rules to win a conviction almost never face any punishment. But even given lax controls, the blatant and systemic misconduct in the Orange County district attorney’s office in Southern …

As courts censure civil detention practices, is it time for professionals to speak up?

Photo by J. Lloyd.

“At what point do professionals in these settings openly acknowledge to them/ourselves that we are participating in systems that are openly unconstitutional and therefore unlawful according to the standards of much of the Western world? Even …