Parks, Playgrounds, and Incidents of Sexual Assault

Abstract

In the United States, certain laws restrict those convicted of sexually offending from accessing social spaces where youth congregate such as parks and playgrounds. However, empirical work to date has rarely described sexual assaults in these locations or tested the assumptions of these laws explicitly. To address these gaps in the literature, we drew on the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) to analyze offender, victim, and crime characteristics of sexual assaults that occurred at parks and playgrounds over a 5-year period (2010-2015). Estimated via multivariate logistic regression, results showed support for these law’s assumptions when analyzing this particular location. However, stranger perpetrators were significantly more likely to sexually assault adult victims versus youth victims. Several other offense features distinguished youth versus adult victim sexual assault incidents at parks and playgrounds, such as the offender age, the use of force, and the injuries sustained by the victim. Collectively, these findings both support and challenge these types of social space restriction laws.

A Statutory Analysis of State-Level Sex Offender Residency, Loitering, Presence, and Entry Restrictions

“…But no research has collated statewide loitering restrictions to identify how they compare to residency restrictions. Even less scholarship has paid attention to presence or entry restrictions, akin to trespassing laws and sometimes referred to as social exclusion zones, which aim to immobilize other daily activities of sex offenders (Budd et al, 2018).…”

“…Fourth, the youth-centric public areas commonly identified by residency restrictions are not hotspots for sex crimes. Rather, sex crimes often occur at the offender's, victim's, or a shared residence, particularly when victims are minors (Budd et al, 2018;Colombino et al, 2011;Mogavero & Kennedy, 2017).…”

“…Third, these laws are premised on sexual offending patterns by strangers seeking children. However, the empirical evidence consistently demonstrates that most sex crimes occur between known persons, mainly when the victims are minors (Budd et al, 2018; Chajewski & Mercado, 2009; Levenson, 2008; Mogavero & Kennedy, 2017). Thus, the wide impact of residency restrictions is greatly diminished, particularly when preventing intrafamilial or acquaintance-based sex offenders.…”

The nature and extent of sexual assault in the sky: Shining a light on a ‘black box’

“…Our results show that sexual assaults tended to occur in the summer months. This finding is typical for 'on the ground' sex offenses (Budd et al, 2019). Because we focus on media accounts, it is unclear if this pattern stems from more frequent media coverage during the summer season, or whether it reflects a genuine increase in sex crime.…”

“It's Like a Drive by Misogyny”: Sexual Violence at UK Music Festivals

“…SPA, 2014) university campuses (Brook, 2019) parks, and playgrounds (Budd et al, 2019). An international study of street sexual harassment in 22 countries reports that 50% of women have been fondled or groped and more than 81.5% of women have been harassed before the age of 17 (Hollaback, 2014).…”