Lifetime Sex Offender Recidivism: A 25-Year Follow-Up Study

Abstract

A sample of 320 sex offenders and 31 violent non-sex offenders, seen for psychiatric assessment between 1966 and 1974, were compared retrospectively on lifetime recidivism rates to 1999 over a minimum of 25 years. A number of criteria and data sources were used; RCMP records and hospital records were the best sources, albeit the RCMP had records for only 54.1% of the cases. Approximately three in five offenders reoffended, using sex reoffence charges or convictions or court appearances as criteria, but this proportion increased to more than four in five when all offences and undetected sex crimes were included in the analysis. Group differences in recidivism were noteworthy, with child sexual abusers and exhibitionists most likely to reoffend and incest offenders least likely. Time at large and time incarcerated played a relatively minor role overall in results, except in the case of offenders who were sexually aggressive against adult females, courtship disordered, or violent. The typical known criminal career spanned almost two decades, indicating that sex offence recidivism remained a problem over a significant part of the offenders' adult lives.

Beyond sexual recidivism: A review of the sexual criminal career parameters of adult sex offenders

“…The issue of dangerousness has been addressed by examining sex offenders' likelihood of sexual recidivism using different methodologies. However, early descriptive studies of sex offenders' criminal records were not supported by an organizing conceptual framework which led to the emergence of controversies among researchers about the nature and extent of sex offenders' criminal behavior (e.g., Abel & Rouleau, 1990;Langevin et al, 2004;Marshall, Barbaree, & Eccles, 1991;Webster, Gartner, & Doob, 2006). These controversies certainly did not help to challenge common myths, stereotypes, and false beliefs about sex offenders' criminal behavior which have, in some instances, served as the foundation to develop new criminal justice policies to tackle the problem of sexual violence and abuse (e.g., La Fond, 2005;Quinn, Forsyth, & Mullen-Quinn, 2004).…”

Punishment beyond Incarceration: The Negative Effects of Sex Offender Registration and Restrictions

“…Sex offenders are far less likely than any other offender to recidivate (Hanson & Morton-Bourgan, 2005;Langevin, R., Curnoe, Federoff, Bennett, Langevin, M. & Peever, 2004, Sample & Bray, 2006& Tewskbury, Jennings & Zgoba, 2012), and it may be cruel to treat them as social pariahs rather than giving them a chance at successful reentry as we do with every other offender. Despite this, it would be unreasonable, in our society, to do away with the sex offender registry and restrictions completely.…”

“…Recidivism refers to a relapse into criminal behavior, which includes rearrest, reconviction, or returning to prison, after one serves their sentence or goes through a type of intervention (NIJ, 2014). When compared to non-sex offenders, sex offender recidivism rates are low (Hanson & Morton-Bourgan, 2005;Langevin, R., Curnoe, Federoff, Bennett, Langevin, M. & Peever, 2004, Sample & Bray, 2006& Tewskbury, Jennings & Zgoba, 2012). It is a common belief in our society that sex offenders have high rates of recidivism but, per research, this belief is false.…”

Conversational Narratives at Quixote House: How Released Offenders and Religious Members Build Community and Find a New Identity in Winnipeg

“…Some studies link the rates of recidivism to individual characteristics, such as mental illness or the conviction for certain types of offence (Collins, Vermeiren, Vahl, Markus, Broekaert, & Doreleijers, 2011;Serowik & Yanos, 2011;Langevin, et al, 2004;Webster, Gartner, & Doob, 2006). Other studies focus on social and structural factors that impede the "desistance from crime" in the growing convict population (Farrall, Sharpe, Hunter, & Calverley, 2011).…”