Journal of Law and Criminal Justice

Demographics and Classification of Sexual Offenders and Associations with Non- Compliance of the Tennessee Sexual Offender Registration Laws
Michael Montgomery

Abstract
This research examines demographic variables that may influence the compliance of Tennessee sex offenders with the Tennessee Sexual and Violent Sexual Offender Registration, Verification and Tracking Act of 2004. The independent variables analyzed were tier level of conviction, race, age and gender. Sampling included selecting 400 sex offenders from each of Tennessee’s four grand regions to include offenders from the west, east, middle, and northeast regions for a total of 1600 participants. Data analyzed was secondary data from records acquired from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. Chi- Square Statistics was used to determine the statistical significance across the variables in regards to compliance of the Sex Offender Registry. The results showed that all of the demographic variables achieved statistical significance with the dependent variable. The overall findings revealed that sex offenders who were male, black, and convicted of a Tier I offense were most likely to violate the Tennessee Sex Offender Registry laws.

Full Text: PDF DOI: 10.15640/jlcj.v3n1a1