Recidivism Among Sex Offenders
Recidivism among sex offenders is quite high, according to the United States Department of Justice. Although not all sex offenders reoffend, they are four times more likely than a criminal convicted of robbery, murder, assault or any other charge. Psychologists believe that recidivism is high among sex offenders because their desire to rape, molest or assault is a psychologically engrained predeliction.
In the late 80's, state governments began to take notice of the high recidivism rates among sex offenders, and they began to enact statutes meant to protect the public. These statutes said that if clinical psychologists felt that a sex offender was going to reoffend once he or she was back in society, the sex offender would be civilly committed until they were thought to be no longer at risk.
This statute was challenged in Kansas vs. Hendricks, but in 1997, the Supreme Court ruled that the statute was indeed constitutional, and the states with this statute named it the Sexual Predator Law. In order for a sexual predator to be civilly committed to protect the public, the prosecutor must convince a jury trial that (1) The defendant has committed sex crimes in the past; (2) The defendant suffers from a psychological disorder; and (3) The defendant is reasonably likely to commit a sex crime upon release from prison.
Predicting sex offender recidivism is difficult, and is based on a combination of clinical and actuarial evidence. Clinical evidence of sex offender recidivism applies to a clinician's (psychologist's) evaluation of the inmate. Interviews, psychological tests and conversations will help the psychologist to determine the likelihood for recidivism. Actuarial evidence refers to the statistical analysis of data pertaining to recidivism among sex offenders. Qualified experts will compare the evaluation of the inmate against that of other inmates who have reoffended.
According to statistics over the last forty years, fewer than 40% of sex offenders will reoffend within the next fifteen-to-twenty years. Of course, this figure only reflects sex offenders who have been caught, arrested and convicted of a second sexual offense upon release from prison.
The factors that predict recidivism among sex offenders are diverse, stemming from both past and current behavioral analyses. For example, sex offenders who committed incest are less likely to reofend than sex offenders who committed extrafamilial rape. However, sex offenders with mental disorders (including sociopathy) are more than ten times more likely to reoffend than sex offenders without such disorders. Other factors can include age, childhood abuse and expression of remorse.
Essentially, however, it is nearly impossible to predict recidivism among sex offenders with certainty, and it is likewise impossible to completely protect the public at large. Statistics and tests do not take into account the possibility of a false conviction and no one really knows why sex offenders reoffend. It would be easy to believe that sex offenders are all psychopaths or sociopaths, and are therefore better off behind bars, but this is statistically not the case.
Published by Steve Thompson
Steve is a full-time freelance writer. In addition to the more than 3,000 articles he's written for AC, he has also written articles and other materials for more than 100 happy clients. He enjoys writing abo... View profile
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30 Comments
Post a CommentSeriously? Here we go again with misinformation and hype. Any VALId and LEGITIMATE study will report that sex offenders have the second LOWEST recidivism rate among all crimes. If they raise it is because of ignorance not fact and poeple like you spreading hysteria instead of truth. Get a real job.
Great article. I have to wonder whether half the people that made remarks about the stats on whether sex offenders are more likely to re-offend are convicted sex offenders, such as Paul Smith. (who goes around and claims sex offenders aren't likely to re-offend)
http://offender.fdle.state.fl.us/offender/flyer.do?personId=11893#
Counter-point at "Sex Offenders Always Reoffend, Don't They?" another Associated Content article.
I am just wondering where you got your information from. To post this type of misleading trash on line is why we are spending billions of dollars a year to enforce and pass laws that do nothing to protect society...2 DOJ reports and 2 FBI reports put the re-offending rate of sex offenders who ever re-offended sexually at around 4 to 5%....how can you or politicians justify that kind of spending and curtailment of people constitution rights with the true figures of re-offending.
Please check your sources. Sex offender re offend less than any other save for murderers. Murderers are rarely released so the number is low. If you want to give the public truth than re write this letter otherwise continue on as a liar. Sex offenders rarely (5%) re offend. Do your homework before running your mouth.
You are misrepresenting the statistics. Sex offenders have one of the lowest rates of repeat offending, especially for other sex offenses.
Comment especially for "Advocate": I just completed researching every state for sex offender recidivism reports and, while only twenty-four states published such reports, the numbers are not changing from that 2000 report. A 2009 report from Arizona showed a 2.4% rate of rearrest for a new sex crime. A 2008 report from California showed 3.55%. Lest any proclaim sex offender laws are having an effect, New York and New Jersey both and independently researched that question recently and found the rates of every category of crime dropping in the same proportion to sex crimes, negating such claims for sex offender laws. New York also reported that more than 95% arrested for sex crimes over a twenty year period were first-time-offenders!
Im going to strike out in the dark here... Im thinking that this has alot to do with money... $130000 per person per year is really hard to turn down just say they are sex offenders and no gov official would cut dollars there in fear of enraging the public... safe money... minnesota alone has just for around 550 offenders in MSOP... not including approved upgrades, etc, a cost of approx 71,500,000 just last year...OUCH!
google locked in limbo from star tribune... old article but still relivant...
Everybody researching sex offense stats in the US eventually runs across http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/rsorp94.pdf but how come no one ever talks about a very real statistic found in Page 1:Highlights:paragraph 3 - During the study 517 sex offenders were rearrested for sex crimes and 3,328 non-sex offending felons were arrested for sex crimes, the sex offenders accounted for only 7.4% of the arrests for sex offenses during the study. This might indicate a flaw in the penal system as there seem to be more sex offenders coming out than there are going in. It could also suggest that sex crime laws target the wrong threat.
Did you know that? treatment for former? offenders has proven effective and that most sex offenders never commit another crime? This is one of the reasons why the sex offender registry has been proven to be ineffective! Studies have consistently shown that sex offenders, as a whole, have a far lower rate of re-offending than any other crime type. Even long-term studies by reputable researchers found low rates of recidivism (between 2%-10% in most studies as long as 15 years). Of those few former sex offenders who do recidivate, the majority are convicted of NON-sexual offenses. If you want valid statistics, here they are:
a. Texas department of State Health Services. “Council on Sex Offender Treatment Treatment of Sex Offenders - Recidivism Rates” http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/csot/csot_trecidivism.shtm
b. Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, “Ten Year Recidivism Follow-up of 1989 Sex Offender
Releases.”
c. Michigan Parole Board, “Recidivism Statistics 1990-2000”.