Sex Offender Registration and Community Notification Laws

Despite being in existence for over a quarter century, costing multiple millions of dollars and affecting the lives of hundreds of thousands of individuals, sex offender registration and notification (SORN) laws have yet to be subject to a book-length treatment of their empirical dimensions - their premises, coverage, and impact on public safety. This volume, edited by Wayne Logan and J.J. Prescott, assembles the leading researchers in the field to provide an in-depth look at what have come to be known as 'Megan's Laws', offering a social science-based analysis of one of the most important, and controversial, criminal justice system initiatives undertaken in modern times.

Wayne A. Logan is Gary and Sallyn Pajcic Professor of Law, Florida State University. He is the author of Knowledge as Power: Criminal Registration and Community Notification Laws in America (2009), cited by the U.S. Supreme Court in United States v. Kebodeaux (2013), and has published several dozen book chapters and articles, with work appearing in publications such as the Georgetown Law Journal, the Michigan Law Review, and the Pennsylvania Law Review. Logan is an elected member of the American Law Institute and a past chair of the Criminal Justice Section of the Association of American Law Schools.

J.J. Prescott is Henry King Ransom Professor of Law, University of Michigan. He is the author of peer-reviewed economics and legal articles on the effects of SORN laws, and his work has been cited in critical legal opinions, including the 6th Circuit's recent decision in Does v. Snyder (2016). Prescott is Editor-in-Chief of the American Law and Economics Review, and he codirects the Empirical Legal Studies Center and Program in Law and Economics at the University of Michigan.