YES OR NO TO SEX OFFENDER REGISTRIES? LESSONS FOR BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

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Ena Kazić

Abstract

The establishment of sex offender registries is the standardized approach in modern criminal legislation to prevent recidivism of sex offenders. Even though they still have not been introduced in some countries, as a whole, they are not a new approach in criminal law. However, for the states that have introduced sex registries, there are reasonable questions: have sex offender registries accomplished their aim in these states and is their establishment the correct approach – having in mind that they can bring about an interesting dichotomy. After being punished, sex offenders should be reintegrated into society, whereas, the registries themselves can pull an individual into the criminal zone again, as they are not able to be socially integrated. The aim of this article is to question these issues, to analyze them, and to present lessons that can be learned for Bosnia and Herzegovina, a state that in recent years began a discussion of whether to introduce sex offender registries. Unfortunately due to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s specific internal state organization, division of legal jurisdictions, and a general lack of understanding for this tool, it is dealing with an unbalanced establishment and a lack of legal regulations for sex offender registries.

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