Date of Conferral
2023
Degree
Ph.D.
School
Criminal Justice
Advisor
Michael Salter
Abstract
AbstractThe Adam Walsh Act created sex offender notification and registration requirements to encourage state compliance toward federal guidelines and assigned threat levels to registered sex offenders using mandated assessment processes. Researchers have pointed out that the transition by states using tiered assessment processes to the federally mandated guidelines has led to operational changes to state registration procedures. The purpose of this quantitative study was to understand the effects and impacts on jurisdictions transitioning the designation of registered sex offenders’ threat assessment levels from a formal risk-based assessment process to the mandated Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act conviction-based assessment tool on all currently registered offenders. The innovation and diffusion model was used to relate state policy, practice, and process transition to similar federal guidelines. Data obtained from sex offender registration data sets were analyzed using pairwise comparisons to establish the preferred entity, which pair possessed more quantitative property, or whether the two entities were identical. The results indicated varying degrees of changes in registration requirements between high-, moderate-, and low-level offenders, including major increases in areas of moderate to high offender categories. The positive social change implications of the study include limiting the overassessment and related mandated periods of registration for registered offenders and ensuring equal and fair treatment across states and jurisdictional boundaries for assessed offenders.
Recommended Citation
Grabowska, Lonnie Keith, "Sex Offenders’ Risk Assessment Process and Effects on Jurisdiction Transitioning" (2023). Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies. 14147.
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/14147
