The trend of violent sexual offenses in the state of California 1990-1998
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Authors
Newman, Laurie L.
Issue Date
2001
Type
Thesis
Language
en
Keywords
Forensic sciences
Alternative Title
Abstract
Violent sexual offenses in California were assessed to determine whether there had been an increase or decrease in the rates of incidence following the implementation of specific pieces of legislation. The Determinate Sentence Law of 1977, the California Three-Strikes Law of 1994, the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act of 1994 and Megan's Law of 1996 were all examined. Violent sexual offenses including forcible rape, attempted rape and sexual assault were considered. To ensure the statistical analysis was all-inclusive, both violent crime and forcible rape rates were presented. A combined total was considered to determine whether there had been either a rise or fall in violent sexual offenses between 1990 and 1998. With the exception of the Determinate Sentence Law, the research supported the hypothesis that following implementation of particular legislation there had been a steady decrease in California's rate of violent sexual offenses.