Discrimination Against High Risk Sex Research Paper

If police, along with others in society, perceive high risk sex offenders as humans who possess the potential to be rehabilitated, then incidences of possible discrimination against these individuals might decrease. This in turn, the researcher contends, could contribute to incidences of sexual offences being prevented and/or reduced. Even though the researcher never generally cared about how high risk sex offenders felt, the conviction that discrimination is wrong over-rode the researcher's non-committal, and in turn, spurred the determination to expose the problem of discrimination in this area. Not only does the researcher hope to expose the problem of discrimination shrouding a population the majority in society would prefer not to deal with, the researcher also hopes to perhaps offer a possible solution; a tinge of hope for a brighter future of fewer incidents of sexual offences against young ones in society.

Research Design and Methodology

The following five chapters constitute the body of the proposed Capstone study:

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Review of the Literature

Chapter 3: Methodology

Chapter 4: Analysis

Chapter 5: Summary and Conclusions

Chapter I: Introduction

Chapter one introduces the proposed Capstone's focus, relates the context of the problem for the study's, the problem statement, the hypothesis with four research questions to be addressed, the significance of the study, along with the research methodology the researcher will utilized to complete the Capstone.

Chapter II: Review of the Literature Chapter two presents a sampling of current literature the researcher will retrieve from researched articles; books; etc. relevant to resolving the research problem, totaling at least 20 sources. The researcher will later methodically examine the information accessed for the proposed literature review chapter to address the research questions crafted for the proposed Capstone.

Themes examined during the proposed literature review will include:

High risk sex offenders;

Possible discrimination against high risk sex offenders;

Need/s of high risk sex offenders that police may fail to respond to and/or ignore; and Ways police and societal interactions with high risk sex offenders affect society as a whole.

Chapter III: Methodology Chapter three denotes that the researcher plans to use qualitative research for the proposed Capstone, implementing the case study research design.

The researcher plans to methodically examine information accessed for the proposed literature review chapter, along with data retrieved from the proposed survey to answer the research questions.

Chapter IV: Analysis Chapter four critically analyzes information/data retrieved from the literature review and completed surveys to present findings relevant to the Capstone's focus.

Chapter V: Summary and Conclusions Chapter five proffers a synopsis of relevant findings from the retrieved, analyzed researched information, along with data retrieved and analyzed from completed surveys. This chapter will also relate the researcher's concluding thoughts and recommendations for future study in the researcher area. In addition, during the final chapter of the proposed study, the researcher relates a sure, succinct, statement of the proposed Capstone's significance, as well as recounts the answers for the study's research questions, which will ultimately determine the validity of the study's hypothesis.

As the researcher enters the next phase of the proposal for the forthcoming Capstone, the Literature Review chapter, a number of "truths" evolve regarding advertising connections to Boomers. This next chapter continues this researcher's quest to enhance the understanding of effectively marketing to Boomers in advertisements, particularly TV, to help ensure they experience more certain fiscal futures.

CHAPTER II

Literature Review

Chapter two, as noted in the introduction for the proposed Capstone, will present an array of current literature, relating to this study's focus, which the researcher will retrieve from researched articles; books; etc. relevant to resolving the research problem, totaling at least 20 sources. This segment of the proposal for the forthcoming study denotes a sampling of the future research efforts.

Themes examined during the proposed literature review will include:

High risk sex offenders;

Possible discrimination against high risk sex offenders;

Need/s of high risk sex offenders that police may fail to respond to and/or ignore; and Ways police and societal interactions with high risk sex offenders affect society as a whole.

High Risk Sex Offenders

HRSOs

In California on August 15, 2006, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger created the High Risk Sex Offender Task Force, through Executive Order S-08-06, to minimize risks a sexually violent predator (SVP) may pose to public safety as they are treated, placed and supervised in the community. The ensuring report related ten recommendations associated with the placement of high risk sex offenders (HRSOs) in local communities. Ultimately, the Task Force and recognized the need for ongoing discussions for improvements regarding considerations for HRSOs and SVPs, and recommended continuing exploration of ways to the improvement of the processes of notification, placement, and monitoring of SVPs ("California High Risk Sex," 2006, Executive Summary, p. v). The "California High Risk Sex Offender and Sexually Violent Predator Task Force" (2006) report, presented to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger during 1996, purports that the Sexually Violent Predator Act set up a new category of civil commitment for sex offenders, predicated to propose extreme danger to society when released from prison. This minute group of sex offender inmates has been diagnosed with identifiable mental disorders, identified while the inmate was incarcerated. After a Superior Court identifies the inmate as a SVP in a civil proceeding by, when the sex offender's prison term expires, he/she is confined for treatment in a state mental hospital that the Department of Mental Health (DMH) operates ("California High Risk Sex," Executive Summary, p. v). In California, despite the fact a SVP remains confined after his/her prison term ends, the confinement's purpose is reportedly not punitive, but for treatment of his/her disorder until the threat he/she poses to the health and safety of others diminishes. The SVP's treatment consists of five phases; "four are in-patient while the SVP is confined to the state mental hospital. The fifth phase is an out-patient phase of conditional release, where the SVP is placed back in the community and supervised by the designated Conditional Release Program under strict terms and conditions" ("California High Risk Sex," 2006, Executive Summary, p. v). To date, the four in-patient phases required a minimum of four years for existing SVPs to complete. The time required for SVPS to complete the conditional release phase is one year. After this time span, the Superior Court determines whether the SVP receives an annual renewal of his/her conditional release.

During 2006, 80,000 sex offenders, released from California prisons over the term of the Sexually Violent Predator Act, were registered there. Since the Sexually Violent Predator Act took effect, 552 individuals were committed to California's mental hospitals as SVPs. Another 180 had commitment trials pending. In 2006, seven SVPs had been conditionally released from California mental hospitals, with four more ordered to be released pending placement.

Superior Court unconditionally released 135 SVPs after they no longer met statutory SVP criteria. The majority of the 135 unconditionally released SVPs had not participated in any in-patient treatment, nor did they have remaining parole time. Even though the California DMH reportedly works with local law enforcement and officials when the state conditionally or unconditionally releases SVPs, both the DMH and the SVP have to contend with challenges related to ensuring adequate notification, securing appropriate placement, and sustaining high standards of supervision and monitoring ("California High Risk Sex," 2006, Executive Summary, p. v). One recommendation the High Risk Sex Offender Task Force makes proves particularly significant: "The State of California should have a uniform definition for a high risk sex offender ("California High Risk Sex," 2006, a-3). In Sexual Deviance: Theory, Assessment, and Treatment, D. Richard Laws, and William T. O'Donohue (2008) note that according to the American Psychiatric Association, the definition in the DSM-IV-TR, deviant sexual behavior constitutes a "symptom of a dysfunction in the individual" (p. 2).

Laws and O'Donohue purport, however, that how included categories of dysfunction "meet the standard, or why some categories such as rape or homosexuality do not" (Ibid.) are not explicitly stated. Principles utilized for decisions regarding what should and/or should not be included, unfortunately, are not clear, and consequently need to be improved. The DSM-IV conceptualizes each mental disorder as:

clinically significant behavioral or psychological syndrome or pattern that occurs in an individual and that is associated with present distress [e.g., a painful symptom] or disability (i.e., impairment in one of more important areas of functioning) or with a significantly increased risk of suffering death, pain, disability, or an important loss of freedom. In addition, this symptom of pattern must not be merely an expectable sanctioned response to a particular event, for example, the death of a loved one. Whatever its original cause, it must currently be considered a manifestation of a behavioral, psychotically, or biological dysfunction to the individual. Neither deviant behavior [e.g., political, religious, or sexual) nor conflicts that are primarily between the individual and society are mental disorders unless…