R. Cornelli, O. Binik, L. Natali (2020), When 'Message Laws' Create Perpetual Panic: the Case of Sex Offenders Registries
September 30th, 2020
This contribution defines ‘Megan’s Laws’ as ‘message laws’, that is, those penal laws that carry a message not only coherent withthe cultural impetus supporting their adoption but also anticipating something that is not (yet) acceptable to manifest openly inWestern politics. First, we describe how this message is generally considered more important than the actual results producedby these laws in terms of efficiency, and how it also intervenes on issues causing waves of moral and perpetual panic. Second,we observe how, in the specific case of sex offender registration and notification laws, two important messages are at stake: thatsex offenders deserve perpetual punitivity and that the community has the right/duty to control their behaviours. Finally, wesuggest that ‘message laws’ can be considered a wake-up call on maintaining the democratic project.
This contribution is published in English in Rassegna Italiana di Criminologia and is available for download here.