title: Sex offenders and sex crime recidivism: investigating the role of sentence length and time served.
abstract: The relationship between criminal justice sanctions and sex crime recidivism remains largely unexplored. Therefore, using a sample of 8,461 previously incarcerated male sex offenders from 13 states in the United States, we focus on the sentence meted out for the sex crime conviction and the amount of time sex offenders served as a result of their conviction. Sex offenders were grouped into four categories: rapists, sexual assaulters, child molesters, and all sex offenders combined. Recidivism was operationalized as rearrest and reconviction. Findings suggest how recidivism is operationalized matters. When recidivism is measured as rearrest for another sex offense, sentence length and time served are unrelated to sex crime recidivism. On the other hand, when recidivism is operationalized as reconviction for another sex offense, sentence length is positively related to recidivism for rapists, sexual assaulters, child molesters, and all sex offenders combined, while time served is negatively related to recidivism for child molesters and all sex offenders combined.
authors.affiliation: Indiana University South Bend, USA kbudd@iusb.edu.
authors.forename: Kristen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Budd
authors.affiliation: Saginaw Valley State University, University Center, USA.
authors.forename: Scott A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Desmond
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011329:Prisoners / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012008:Recurrence; D012307:Risk Factors; D000068356:Self-Control; D012742:Sex Offenses / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology; D012752:Shame; D012927:Social Control, Informal; D057545:Social Stigma; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States
keywords: recidivism; sentence length; sex crimes; sex offenders; time served