Community notification laws allow or mandate that law enforcement, criminal justice, or corrections agencies give citizens access to relevant information about certain convicted sex offenders living in their communities. As of October 1997, 47 States had passed community notification laws that require criminal justice agencies to inform local communities that convicted sex offenders are residing in their neighborhoods or allow the public access to this information. Proponents of community notification tout the following benefits: the right to know, public safety, increased surveillance and supervision, a treatment tool, and communication among community groups. In discussing how community notification works, the paper considers how and when communities are notified, the types of offenders about whom communities are notified, who is notified, the types of information communities receive, who notifies communities, and who monitors the offenders in the community. The jurisdictions that build community involvement into their notification practices apparently offer the greatest promise. Only one study has examined the impact of community notification on offender recidivism. In Washington State, researchers found that in a matched sample of 90 offenders subject to community notification and 90 offenders not subject to such notification, recidivists in the community notification group were rearrested sooner than recidivists in the non-notification group; the level of reoffending for members of each group after 4.5 years was the same. Most new arrests were for non-sexually motivated crimes. Implementation challenges for community notification are discussed. 20 references