JJ Prescott says that publicly available sex offender registries not only may be ineffective at deterring crime, they may, on balance, make former offenders more anti-social and thus likely to commit more crimes. He says: “These laws destroy what’s valuable about someone’s freedom: You’re a pariah virtually everywhere, you can’t live in most neighborhoods, and nobody wants to date, marry or socialize with you. You can’t find a job because no one will hire a sex offender…. For some of these people, prison is a better option than trying to survive on the outside.”

More about Prescott says sex offender registries may increase recidivism by making offender re-assimilation impossible >