Patrick A. Langan, Ph.D., Erica Leah Schmitt, Matthew R. Durose, Bureau of Justice Statistics

November 16, 2003    NCJ 198281

Presents, for the first time, data on the rearrest, reconviction, and reimprisonment of 9,691 male sex offenders, including 4,295 child molesters, who were tracked for 3 years after their release from prisons in 15 States in 1994. The 9,691 are two-thirds of all the male sex offenders released from prisons in the United States in 1994. The study represents the largest followup ever conducted of convicted sex offenders following discharge from prison and provides the most comprehensive assessment of their behavior after release.

Highlights:

• Within 3 years following their release, 5.3% of sex offenders (men who had committed rape or sexual assault) were rearrested for another sex crime.
• On average the 9,691 sex offenders served 3 1/2 years of their 8-year sentence.
• Compared to non-sex offenders released from State prisons, released sex offenders were 4 times more likely to be rearrested for a sex crime.
• The 9,691 released sex offenders included 4,295 men who were in prison for child molesting.

Press Release
PDF (521K)
ASCII file (107K)
Spreadsheet (Zip format 76K)
Codebooks and Datasets
To order paper version

Help for using BJS products

To cite this product, use the following link:
http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=1136

View All Publications and Products