| Title |
Recidivism Rates Among Child Molesters and Rapists: A Methodological Analysis
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Law and Human Behavior, January 1997
|
| DOI | 10.1023/a:1024860714738 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Robert A. Prentky, Austin F. S. Lee, Raymond A. Knight, David Cerce |
| Abstract |
We address the high variability in sex offender recidivism rates by examining several of the critical methodological differences that underlie this variability. We used a dataset on 251 sex offenders (136 rapists and 115 child molesters) who were discharged over a 25-year period to examine changes in recidivism as a function of changes in dispositional definition of reoffense (e.g., arrest or conviction), changes in the domain of criminal offenses that are considered, and changes in the length of exposure time. The data indicate that: (a) both rapists and child molesters remain at risk to reoffend long after their discharge, in some cases 15-20 years after discharge; (b) there was a marked underestimation of recidivism when calculating a simple proportion (%) consisting of those who were known to have reoffended during the follow-up period, and (c) there was a marked underestimation of recidivism when the criterion was based on conviction or imprisonment. Forensic, clinical and policy implications of this high variability are discussed. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 10 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 2 | 20% |
| Unknown | 8 | 80% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 10 | 100% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 89 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Spain | 1 | 1% |
| Israel | 1 | 1% |
| United States | 1 | 1% |
| Poland | 1 | 1% |
| Unknown | 85 | 96% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 16 | 18% |
| Student > Master | 14 | 16% |
| Student > Bachelor | 11 | 12% |
| Student > Doctoral Student | 8 | 9% |
| Researcher | 7 | 8% |
| Other | 18 | 20% |
| Unknown | 15 | 17% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Psychology | 48 | 54% |
| Social Sciences | 11 | 12% |
| Medicine and Dentistry | 7 | 8% |
| Philosophy | 2 | 2% |
| Nursing and Health Professions | 1 | 1% |
| Other | 3 | 3% |
| Unknown | 17 | 19% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 33. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 07 April 2024.
All research outputs
#1,215,436
of 25,658,139 outputs
Outputs from Law and Human Behavior
#70
of 1,053 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#934
of 93,176 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Law and Human Behavior
#1
of 5 outputs
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