Potential linkages between intended and unintended effects of sex offender management legislation have gone largely unaddressed in social science literature. This article addresses those linkages by applying a social-systems model to help better understand the problems of managing sex offenders. Additionally, it examines latent consequences of current and proposed sex offender legislation, including community notification laws. The article argues that sex offenders (and the community at large) may face a considerable variety of unexpected problems resulting from such legislation. The article also examines the one-dimensional stereotype of the sex offender and how this image may discourage offenders from reporting their behavior and seeking counseling. Finally, the article offers proposals for addressing these issues using the therapeutic jurisprudence model. The article concludes that current sex offender laws have a strong appeal to "populist punitiveness", appear to have little penological justification, have disjoined the sex offender from virtually every other type of criminal, and have "ceremoniously and symbolically bestowed upon him a permanent, indelible, and unforgivable stain that precludes any hope of redemption and transformation." References