Studies and Research by topic

Recidivism Sex offender recidivism is lower than the re-offense rates for all other crimes except murder.

• Sex Offender Recidivism in Connecticut, 2012  re-offense rate: 2.7%
• "Low reoffending risk found for child porn users", The Age, 2012 re-offense rate: 7.5%
• "A Model of Static and Dynamic Sex Offender Risk Assessment", Robert J. McGrath, Michael P. Lasher, Georgia F. Cumming, 2011 re-offense rate: 4.6%
• "The Recidivism Rates of Female Sexual Offenders Are Low", Franca Cortoni, R. Karl Hanson and Marie-Ève Coache, 2010 re-offense rate: 3%
• "Sexual Assault Trends and Sex Offender Recidivism in Maine", Maine Statistical Analysis Center, 2010 re-offense rate: 3.8%
• "Evaluating the Effectiveness of Sex Offender Registration and Notification Policies for Reducing Sexual Violence against Women", Elizabeth J. Letourneau, Ph.D., Jill S. Levenson, Ph.D., Dipankar Bandyopadhyay, Ph.D., Debajyoti Sinha, Ph.D., Kevin S. Armstrong, 2010 re-offense rate: 4%
• "Sex Offender Recidivism Analysis", Sam Caldwell, 2010 re-offense rate: 8.47%
• "California DOC report looks at recidivism rates", Bernice Yeung, 2010 re-offense rate: 5%
• "The Effects of Failure to Register on Sex Offender Recidivism", Minnesota Department of Corrections, 2010 "The results from the multivariate statistical analyses showed that a prior FTR conviction did not significantly increase the risk of sexual recidivism."
• "The Impact of Prison-Based Treatment on Sex Offender Recidivism", Minnesota Department of Corrections, 2010 "Sex offender treatment provided within the DOC reduced the risk of rearrest for a new sex offense by 27 percent."    
  
• "Improving State Criminal History Records: Recidivism of Sex Offenders Released in 2001", Stan Orchowsky & Janice Iwama, 2009. re-offense rate: <5.3%
• "Sex Offenders Released From Prison to Hennepin County [Minnesota]", Hennepin County Department of Community Corrections, 2009 re-offense rate: 9%
• "Recidivism of Alaska Sex Offenders", Alaska Justice Forum, 2009 re-offense rate: 3%
• "RECIDIVISM OF PAROLED SEX OFFENDERS—TEN (10) YEAR STUDY", California Sex Offender Management Board, 2008 re-offense rate: 3.38%
• "Indiana Department of Correction Recidivism Rates Decrease for 3rd Consecutive Year", 2008 re-offense rate: 1.05%
• "RECIDIVISM/REOFFENDING BY SEXUALLY ABUSIVE ADOLESCENTS", Rob L. Wetzel, Ph.D, 2008  re-offense rate: 7.75%
• "Recidivism Rates Compared 2005-2007", Indiana Department of CORRECTION, 2007 re-offense rate: 5.7%
• "Sex Offender Recidivism", Arizona Department of Corrections, 2007 re-offense rate: 5.5%                              
• "Sex Offender Recidivism Report", Minnesota Department of Corrections, 2007  re-offense rate: 3%
• "Criminal Recidivism in Alaska", Alaska Judicial Council, 2007 re-offense rate: 3%
• "Sex Offender Populations, Recidivism and Actuarial Assessment", New York State Division of Probation and Correctional Alternatives, 2007 re-offense rate: 3.5%
• "SEX OFFENDER SENTENCING IN WASHINGTON STATE: RECIDIVISM RATES", Washington Institute for Public Policy, 2005 re-offense rate: 2.7%
• "Recidivism of Sex Offenders Released from Prison in 1994", US Dept of Justice, 2003 re-offense rate: 8.5%
• "Ten-Year Recidivism Follow-Up Of 1989 Sex Offender Releases", State of Ohio, 2001 re-offense rate: 9%
• "Recidivism of Sex Offenders", Center for Sex Offender Management, 2001 
  

Residency restrictions, child safety zones, etc 

• "Efficiency of County-Level Sex Offender Residence Restrictions in New York", Kelly Socia PhD, 2011 "Residence restrictions were not associated with significantly reduced arrests for sex crimes committed either by RSOs or non-RSOs against child victims."
  
• The Consequences of Residency Restrictions - Illustrated with maps
  
• "Sex Offender Residence Restrictions", Jill Levensen PhD "Though laudable in their intent, there is little evidence that recently enacted sex offender policies achieve their stated goals of reducing recidivistic sexual violence."
• "Sexual Offender Residence Restrictions", Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers, 2010 "Research also shows that housing instability increases both absconding and criminal recidivism."
• "Off to Elba: The Legitimacy of Sex Offender Residence and Employment Restrictions", Joseph Lester, 2006 "Unencumbered without a home or a job, a convicted sex offender is more at risk to re-offend."
• "The Impact of Sex Offender Residence Restrictions: 1,000 Feet From Danger or One Step From Absurd?", Jill S. Levenson & Leo P. Cotter, PhDs, 2005 "Other scholars have concurred that sex offender statutes inadvertently may increase risk by aggravating the stressors that can trigger some sex offenders to relapse."
• "Sex Offenders' Residence Restrictions", Sandra Norman-Eady, Chief Attorney, 2007 "Proponents of residency restrictions argue the need to safeguard potential victims and opponents argue the need to track offenders. We have found no empirical studies on whether these laws reduce crime rates."
• "Sex Offender Residency Restrictions", U.S. Department of Justice, 2008 "If unable to find legal housing, offenders may report false addresses, become homeless or go underground. Others may be forced to live in rural areas with less access to employment or mental health services."
  
• "Sex Offender Residency Restrictions Impede Safety Goals", Jill Levensen PhD, 2012 "Laws restricting where sex offenders live or work will do little to prevent the most common circumstances in which children are sexually abused, through positions of authority and familiarity."
• "Sex Offenders? Not in My Backyard", Elizabeth Weill-Greany, 2007 "When asked if the Council heard any testimony that these ordinances have cut down on sex abuse in other jurisdictions she answered, “Honestly, no.”
  

Impact of the Sex Offender Registry 

• "Overreach on sex offenders makes Americans’ lives living hell", Sadhbh Walshe, The Guardian, 2012 "The registry was intended to prevent other children from falling victim to a similar fate, a desire shared by everyone. But the laws have so drastically expanded what qualifies as a sex offense, there are now over 700,000 Americans on the registry, many of whom have never harmed a child and are unlikely to ever harm a child, rendering it a self-defeating tool."
• "Sex Laws: Unjust and Ineffective", The Economist, 2012 "If there are thousands of offenders on the registry, it is harder to track the truly dangerous ones." 
  
• "Do Sex Offender Registration and Notification Laws Affect Criminal Behavior?", JJ Prescott & Jonah E. Rockoff  "This finding is consistent with work by criminologists showing that notification may contribute to recidivism by imposing social and financial costs on registered sex offenders and, as a result, making non-criminal activity relatively less attractive. 
• "Sex Offender Registries: Fear Without Function?", Amanda Y. Agan, 2010 "The results from all three datasets do not support the hypothesis that sex offender registries are effective tools for increasing public safety."    
  
• "A Time-Series Analysis of New York State’s Sex Offender Registration and Notification Law", Jeffrey C. Sandler, Naomi J. Freeman, and Kelly M. Socia, 2008 "Thus, it appears that the enactment of SORA had little, if any, impact on rates of general offending in New York State and no significant impact on rates of sexual offending." 
• "Megan’s Law: Assessing the Practical and Monetary Efficacy", Kristen Zgoba, Ph.D, 2008 "Given the lack of demonstrated effect of Megan’s Law on sexual offenses, the growing costs may not be justifiable."
  
• "No Easy Answers", Human Rights Watch, 2007 "Unfortunately, our research reveals that sex offender registration, community notification, and residency restriction laws are ill-considered, poorly crafted, and may cause more harm than good."
  
• "How to Not Protect Kids from Sexual Assault", Mark Funkhouser, 2012 "The vast majority of the children who are assaulted are victims of someone in their immediate family or a coach, priest or someone else who has been brought into a position of trust. Creating a list of offenders is worthless in controlling assaults by such individuals. In fact, experts say the risk of stranger abuse is something like .0017 per 1,000 kids."
• Fifty State Survey of Juvenile Sex Offender Registration Requirements
  

Internet sex crimes 

• "Low reoffending risk found for child porn users", The Age, 2012
• "Viewing Child Porn Not A Risk Factor For Future Sex Offenses, Study Suggests", Science Daily, 2009 "Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Psychiatry studied 231 men convicted of consuming child pornography in 2002 and found that only 1% had gone on to commit a hands-on sex offense in the following six years."
  
• "Online “Predators” and Their Victims: Myths, Realities, and Implications for Prevention and Treatment", Janis Wolak, David Finkelhor, Kimberly J. Mitchell, Michele L. Ybarra, 2008 "we have yet to find cases of sex offenders stalking and abducting minors on the basis of information posted on social networking sites."
  

Victim and offender characteristics, relationships The majority of sex crimes are committed by first-time offenders who know their victims.

• "Sexual Assault of Young Children as Reported to Law Enforcement", US Department of Justice, 2000 "Just 3% of the offenders in the sexual assaults of children under age 6 were strangers, compared with 5% of the offenders of youth ages 6 through 12, and 10% of offenders of juveniles ages 12 through 17."
  
• "Rape and Sexual Assault", US Department of Justice, 2000  "The closer the relationship between the female victim and the offender, the greater the likelihood that the police would not be told about the rape or sexual assault."
  
• "You Might be a Sex Offender if...", Marshall Burns, PhD, 2009  "Nineteen-year-old Bill Elliott had sex with his girlfriend days before she turned 16, and he served four months in jail for it. Five years later, his and another man's names were pulled at random from the sex offender registry by a Canadian vigilante, who shot them to death in their homes before taking his own life."
• Juveniles Who Commit Sex Offenses Against Minors (US Department of Justice, 2009) "Juveniles account for more than one third (36%) of those known to police who to have committed sex crimes against minors."
  
• "Kids who commit sex crimes low risk to re-offend", Jonathan Athens, 2012 "Unlike adult offenders, children who commit these offenses do not understand the consequences of their actions on their victims."   
  

Disconnect Between Public Perception and Facts

• "Public Perception of Sexual Assault - A Comparison", Cody R. Sebben, Pabst Science Publishers, 2011 "This demonstrates that the perception of sexual offender recidivism in our raters does not correspond with real figures."
  
• "Exploring Public Awareness and Attitudes about Sex Offender Management", Center for Sex Offender Management, 2011 "Media portrayals of sex crimes and the individuals who commit these offenses are not always grounded in current statistics, research, and accurate information which, in turn, can create perceptions, expectations, and demands for public policies that may not be well-informed and which may not result in the desired outcomes."
  

Civil Commitment The effectiveness of civil commitment was recently called into question when Minnesota released the first sex offender from their civil commitment program in over 20 years.

• "With provisional discharge, Minnesota sex offender program reaches milestone", Twin Cities Pioneer Press, 2/26/2011  
  
• "Civil Commitment Without Psychosis: The Law's Reliance on the Weakest Links in Psycho-diagnosis", Thomas K. Zander PhD, Psy. D, 2005  "Should the definition of what constitutes a mental disorder vacillate depending on the ever‐changing whims of legislators, employers, or judgmental neighbors?"

Children as Sex Offenders?! In almost every state, children are charged as adult sex offenders depending on their age and the crime committed. In Texas, offenders as young as 10 are listed on the public registry.

• Juveniles Who Commit Sex Offenses Against Minors (US Department of Justice, 2009) "Juveniles account for more than one third (36%) of those known to police who to have committed sex crimes against minors."
  
• "Kids who commit sex crimes low risk to re-offend", Jonathan Athens, 2012 "Unlike adult offenders, children who commit these offenses do not understand the consequences of their actions on their victims."  
  
• Fifty State Survey of Juvenile Sex Offender Registration Requirements
  
• "RECIDIVISM/REOFFENDING BY SEXUALLY ABUSIVE ADOLESCENTS", Rob L. Wetzel, Ph.D, 2008 
  
• 6-Year-Old charged with sexual harrassment in Denver, CO "Zero-tolerance policies don’t work, and in many circumstances create legal consequences that are in fact inappropriate to the student."
• 6-year-old charged with sexual assault in Hercules, CA "The parent, who asked only to be identified as Oswin, said his son was accused of brushing his best friend’s leg or groin while the two were playing on the playground at Lupine Hills Elementary in Hercules two months ago. Oswin said his child was kept in the principal’s office for two hours until he confessed. He was suspended, and a sexual battery charge was placed on his permanent school record."
• "Juveniles Wait Years to Get Past Sex Crimes," Houston Chronicle "Texas does not have a minimum age for juvenile registration, but the minimum age for prosecution is 10."

Financial Implications of the Registry and Related Legislation The registry has cost our country billions of dollars over the years, and has little to nothing to show for it.

• "Megan’s Law: Assessing the Practical and Monetary Efficacy", Kristen Zgoba, Ph.D, 2008 "Given the lack of demonstrated effect of Megan’s Law on sexual offenses, the growing costs may not be justifiable."
• What will it cost states to comply with the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act?, Justice Policy Institute, 2008 "JPI’s analysis finds that in all 50 states, the first-year costs of implementing SORNA outweigh the cost of losing 10 percent of the state’s Byrne Grant. Most of the resources available to states would be devoted to the administrative maintenance of the registry and notification, rather than targeting known serious offenders. Registries and notification have not been proven to protect communities from sexual offenses, and may even distract from more effective approaches."