ABSTRACT
This book has outlined a contemporary history of the UK sex offender register and its evolution as a ‘public protection’ policy over the last 25 years. It has looked at the support structure of the Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) and the new role undertaken by the police as offender managers, and at the ways in which this policy has been directed by public opinion, press reporting and adjustments made to it by politicians. One result of this has been the oft-repeated rhetoric that the UK has one of the toughest registration systems in the world. It is not easy to measure how effective the register has been. Levels of reporting of sexual offending have remained constant and even risen in some years. Even if the figures were falling the question would remain open as to whether this is due to the impact of the register.
