Moderating effects of age, employment status and level of education on the predictive utility of the LSI-R for sexual offenders

Using a Midwestern sample of sex offenders, the current study reports findings on the utility of the Level of Service Inventory-Revised (LSI-R) in predicting recidivism for offenders with a history of sexual crimes. The current study includes data from a sample of 250 sexual offenders over a 36-month period. This study aims to investigate how three variables – level of education, age and employment status – correlate to recidivism, and if they moderate the effectiveness of the tool in predicting future offending. This study found a statistically significant relationship between total LSI-R score and general recidivism, supporting the predictive utility of the LSI-R for sex offenders. These findings imply the need for intervention programmes focused on young sex offenders to reduce their potential for reoffending. The present study contributes to the available research by increasing the knowledge regarding sexual offender recidivism rates. Keywords: Sex offenders, recidivism, age, level of education, employment

The Impact of Using Documented but Uncharged Offense Data on JSORRAT-II Predictive Validity

Following the implementation of sexual offender notification laws, researchers have found a drop in the rate of prosecutions and an increase in plea bargains for sexual offenses committed by male juveniles. This type of prosecutorial hesitation has implications for the predictive validity of sexual recidivism risk assessments, such as the Juvenile Sexual Offender Recidivism Risk Assessment Tool–II (JSORRAT-II), that require data from officially adjudicated offenses in the scoring of several items. The present study sought to test the impact of including data from documented but uncharged (DBU) sexual offenses in the scoring of the JSORRAT-II on its predictive validity using an exhaustive sample of 1,095 juveniles who offended sexually from the states of Iowa and Utah. Although sexual recidivists had significantly more DBU data, the inclusion of those data did not improve the predictive validity of the tool. The authors discuss additional reasons why changes in prosecutorial practice might remain confound in risk assessment studies and suggest future research to investigate those hypotheses.

Recidivism Among Female Child Molesters

During recent years, research about female sexual offender recidivism rates using official criminal justice records has increased. Although informative, rearrest or conviction rates may be insufficient for this population. This study examines two potential outcome measures for accurately studying recidivism among 57 female sexual offenders; a criminal recidivism measure based on formal legal charges and a reported recidivism measure based on child welfare reports. Based on the criminal recidivism outcome measure, 10 (17.5%) women were charged for a subsequent sexual crime. The broader reported recidivism measure identified six additional women with subsequent contact with police or child welfare agencies for sexually inappropriate behaviors. There were no significant differences found between the 41 nonrecidivists and the 16 recidivists. The implications of these findings are discussed.