Committee Chair

Eigenberg, Helen

Department

Dept. of Criminal Justice and Legal Assistant Studies

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

Sexual offenders have been identified as a group of criminals who must be monitored even after their release from prison or after completion of parole. This is accomplished by requiring sexual offenders to comply with registration requirements such as checking in with law enforcement agents on a regular basis, providing information on where they are living, working, and going to school, and being placed on a public registry for a period of at least ten years. Some offenders do comply with all of the registration requirements; unfortunately, many do not. The purpose of this research was to try and find ifthere were any statistically significant variab Jes relating to the criminal records of sexual offenders that might help to predict what sexual offenders would violate the state's registration requirements and what offenders would comply with registration requirements. Data were collected from the County Sessions and Criminal Court databases in relation to each offender's criminal history. No statistically significant relationships were found. This does not necessarily mean that there are no differences between compliant and non-complaint sexual offenders, only that violation ofregistration requirements cannot be predicted based solely on an offender's criminal history.

Acknowledgments

Without the assistance and support of numerous people, this thesis would not have been possible. First, I would like to thank Mark Lunsford, whose strength in the face of unimaginable tragedy inspired me to choose this particular topic. I would also like to extend my appreciation to my thesis committee. To Dr. Helen Eigenberg, thank you for always letting me know when I was on the right track and for being available to answer my endless questions. Dr. Tammy Garland, there are no words to describe how indebted I am to you for your help and generosity and for pushing and pulling me, kicking and screaming, through this process. Finally, to Dr. Karen McGuffee, thank you for you friendship and understanding. Also, I wish to thank the other department professors, Dr.Vic Bumphus and Dr. Roger Thompson, for their constant encouragement. Finally, I would like to thank my family and friends for never letting me quit, no matter how far away I felt from the end of this process. Special recognition goes to my mother, the wind beneath my wings. I will never be able to begin to give you as much as you've given to me. Also, to my best friend Mary, thank you for reminding me that there is life outside of working on my thesis. Last but not least, I have to thank Mattie, Mona, and Darla for asking so little, but giving so much.

Degree

M. S.; A thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Science.

Date

8-2006

Subject

Sex offenders--Tennessee; Sex crimes--Law and legislation

Discipline

Criminology and Criminal Justice

Document Type

Masters theses

DCMI Type

Text

Extent

vi, 52 leaves

Language

English

Call Number

LB2369.2 .D442 2006

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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