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This chapter examines sex offender registration, notification, and restriction laws. It begins by looking at the historical roots of these laws—now long-defunct efforts by a number of states to monitor the whereabouts of convicted sex offenders. It also traces the legislative and judicial history of these laws from 1990 to the present, and examines this body of law in light of empirical data regarding sex offender recidivism and the deterrent efficacy of sex offender registration, public notification, and restrictions on where convicted sex offenders may live, work, or travel. Finally, the chapter details and then weighs the economic and other costs and benefits of these laws.

This chapter returns to the question of activists' engagement with the state, examining the different forms that movement organizations' relationships with state authorities took during the 1990s and 2000s, when the therapeutic state around child sexual abuse was well‐developed, and shows the kinds of access and compromise these relationships brought. It discusses entry of activists into state agencies, movement organizations' professionalization, and increasing funding to provide services to the state, arguing that some groups became part of a para‐state. It traces organizations' use of crime victims compensation funds and activists' attempts to increase criminal and civil penalties for child sexual abuse Finally, the chapter analyzes newer organizations' involvement with public health initiatives to prevent child sexual abuse. Overall, the chapter argues that activists' involvement with the state was shaped by the priorities and pressures of the state, showing the continued power of medical and criminal approaches over others. Yet activists, particularly in the public health wing, continued to bring larger political goals into their work, illustrating the paradoxical nature of social movement outcomes.

Chapter 8 outlines the legislative reforms that took place in Kentucky during the decade of the 1990s. It begins by describing the events that held the attention of the Commonwealth’s citizens during the decade and provides a history of the political landscape of the time. The chapter highlights the major reforms of the 1990s, including passage of the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA), postsecondary education reform, workers’ compensation, and a constitutional amendment to allow gubernatorial succession. The chapter provides an overview of reforms in the area of domestic violence and rape, including substantial increases in funding for rape crisis centers and domestic violence shelters and passage of legislation related to marital rape, rape with a foreign object, sexual assault nurse examiners, creation of a domestic violence file in the Law Information Network of Kentucky (LINK), civil protective orders, self-defense for domestic violence victims, stalking, sex offender registry, victim advocates, victim notification, and child witnesses to domestic violence.