Analysis of Risk Factors Contributing to the Recidivism of Sex Offenders on Probation

摘要

Over the last decade, the use of community supervision for sex offenders has generated an intensity of public debate rarely experienced with regard to issues of community corrections. Nationally visible cases involving sex offenders who re-offended once released into the community have prompted legislators, the media and local communities to focus on the risk sex offenders pose to public safety and the most appropriate means of dealing with this unique offender population. Recent legislation has, for instance, mandated community notification in an effort to enhance community safety, created the possibility of lifetime probation for sex offenders as a means to extend formal supervision and control indefinitely and, for those deemed to be sexual predators, authorized their continued incarceration for an indefinite period for the purpose of treatment once their sentence to the Department of Corrections has expired. These initiatives are based on assumptions regarding the risks posed by this offender population, including the wide-spread belief that strangers pose a greater risk than family members, friends and acquaintances, that all sex offenders pose similar levels of risk and exhibit similar risk factors and that prevailing methods of community supervision and treatment of sex offenders are inadequate.