The Sex Offense Litigation and Policy Resource Center at Mitchell Hamline School of Law collects and disseminates information about cases on issues of sexual violence policy, and facilitates communication, sharing, and the development of strategies among the lawyers, advocates and academics who seek a more sensible and effective public policy on sexual violence prevention.
The past two decades have seen an explosive growth in new and aggressive forms of social control laws aimed at people convicted of sexual offenses. While the goal of these laws—prevention of recidivist sexual violence—is salutary, strong critiques question their efficacy, fairness, and wisdom have been growing. Despite this, these laws continue in force, expanding in key areas, with little evidence that legislatures or other policymakers will have the political courage for important course corrections.
As a result, litigation provides a significant potential source for redirection of public policy in this area. In the past couple of years, a handful of courts have issued significant decisions finding aspects of these laws unconstitutional or otherwise illegal. The Sex Offense Litigation and Policy Resource Center operates to collect information about these lawsuits, and to develop a set of best practices, litigation strategies, and litigation support to advance a more sensible, effective, and humane approach to preventing sexual violence.
In addition to the resources and information that you will find on this website, the Sex Offense Litigation and Policy Resource Center also offers a monthly newsletter, distributed electronically and free of charge, that details notable developments in the area of sex offense litigation and policy.
