FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers
Maia Christopher, Executive Director; (503) 643-1023, atsa@atsa.com
Ms. Foundation for Women
Irene Schneeweis, Sr. Communications Manager, (212) 709-4418, ischneeweis@ms.foundation.org

As Policy Deadline Nears, States Consider

How to Best Keep Communities Safe

New York, NY – July 26, 2011 – With the deadline for states to comply with a federal sex offender policy approaching tomorrow, a new report produced by the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers (ATSA) and commissioned by the Ms. Foundation for Women, offers timely suggestions for re-shaping current sex offender policies to prevent child sexual abuse.

Lawmakers across the U.S. must decide by July 27 whether to meet the terms of the federal Adam Walsh Act (AWA), which establishes a national sex offender registry and compels states to create uniform standards for registering and publicly notifying communities about individuals who have sexually offended. But because AWA is costly to implement, and some lawmakers have already raised questions about its efficacy, many states are searching for alternatives.

The report, A Reasoned Approach: Reshaping Sex Offender Policy to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse, was designed to assist policymakers, professionals and communities in examining current sex offender policy such as residency restrictions, community notification and mandatory minimum sentencing and is a vital resource for jurisdictions struggling to develop workable solutions in service of preventing child sexual abuse. “While the intent of current sex offender laws has been to protect children,” notes Alisa Klein, a co-author and ATSA public policy consultant, “the broad application of these laws has unintended consequences that may make children and communities less safe. This report aims to change that.” To that end, A Reasoned Approach highlights resources and strategies that can supplement current mainstream sex-offender policies, such as community accountability and transformative justice approaches that encourage collective responsibility for prevention.

Conservative estimates tell us that child sexual abuse affects nearly one in four girls and one in six boys in the United States. Yet public discourse misses the mark on how best to address it, leading to fear-based sex offender strategies rather than solution-oriented policies for preventing abuse. A Reasoned Approach was issued to broaden the discussion of what works to keep children safe. Made possible by a grant from the Ms. Foundation for Women, the report offers promising examples of how communities are already advancing alternative solutions. Patricia Eng, Ms. Foundation Vice President of Programs comments, “Ending child sexual abuse requires a reasoned approach to sex offender management. This report offers a basis for centering children and communities as a way forward. ”

The report assists policymakers and practitioners in their efforts to challenge assumptions about offenders of sexual abuse and place offender-oriented policy within a broader context. Co-author Joan Tabachnick explains, “By assuming all sex offenders are monsters, rather than members of our (continued) communities, we send ourselves deeper into a state of denial that makes us unable to see the danger around us. Nor are we able to see the opportunities for prevention.”

A Reasoned Approach has already been presented in statehouses from Massachusetts to California. In the first week of publication, the manuscript was downloaded from the ATSA website more than 1000 times a day; more than 300 hard copies have been delivered to sex offender treatment providers, victim advocates and lawmakers. Maia Christopher, ATSA Executive Director, notes, “The sheer volume of people reaching out to access this document demonstrates that people are eager to examine new solutions to prevent child sexual abuse but they need access to practical information to help meet that goal.”

Download the full report, A Reasoned Approach: http://www.atsa.com/pdfs/ppReasonedApproach.pdf


About the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers (ATSA)
ATSA is an association of individuals from around the world committed to achieving a high level of professional excellence. ATSA promotes the philosophy that empirically based assessment, practice, management, and policy strategies will: enhance community safety, reduce sexual recidivism, protect victims and vulnerable populations, transform the lives of those caught in the web of sexual violence, and illuminate paths to prevent sexual abuse. atsa.com

About the Ms. Foundation for Women
The Ms. Foundation for Women is the leading national social justice foundation committed to building women’s power to ignite change. Every day, it helps 150 grassroots organizations across the US fight for changes like good paying jobs, reproductive health, ending violence against women and girls, and the inclusion of women at decision-making tables. By investing in social justice trailblazers—especially women from low-income communities and communities of color most affected by injustice—it works for a nation in which power and possibility are not limited by gender, race, class, or any other factor. The Ms. Foundation delivers funding, builds skills, develops leaders, connects activists with allies, and amplifies the voices of its grantees to create change that benefits women, families and communities. Since 1973, the Ms. Foundation has invested nearly $60 million and influenced other funders to support solutions from the ground up. ms.foundation.org