[Richmond Times-Dispatch] (The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) Shawn D. Bushway, University at Albany, State University of New York and David J. Harding, University of California, Berkeley (THE CONVERSATION) Rapper Meek Mill is back in prison in Pennsylvania for violating the terms of his probation. According to officials, Mill left the state without permission, did not meet with his probation officer, tested positive for Percocet, failed to complete community service and got into a fight at an airport. Mill’s case…
Read MoreTag: Recidivism
What is a Valid Evaluation or Study of Recidivism
Over the years a lot of studies and evaluations have been done on everything from the safety of automobiles, airplanes and ocean liners to the type of people that buy fast food rather than cook at home. So what truly is a valid study and what Is required for it to meet scientific standards? Please understand I am not talking about pseudo scientific standards but about mathematical statistical analysis standards or true scientific standards, the type of standards that are required within a court of law. Full Article
Read MoreThe big lie about sex offenders
Much of the destructive, extra-punishment punishment we inflict on sex offenders is due to the widely held belief that they’re more likely to re-offend than the perpetrators of other classes of crimes. This has been the main justification for the Supreme Court’s authorization of sex-offender registries and for holding sex offenders indefinitely after they’ve served their sentences. Lower courts have then cited those rulings to justify a host of other measures, from severe restrictions on where sex offenders can live to GPS monitoring of their every move. Full Article
Read MoreHow the Supreme Court Spread a False Statistic About Sex Offenders
When a false idea gains traction, spreading far and wide, it’s always interesting to try to trace it back to its source to figure out what caused it to catch on in the first place. The New York Times has an NY Times: Dubious Data Belies Supreme Court’s Stance on Repeat Sex Offenders, and it pertains to a common myth about sex offenders: that they have extremely high recidivism rates relative to other types of criminals. Full Article Related NY Times: Dubious Data Belies Supreme Court’s Stance on Repeat Sex…
Read MoreNew evidence says US sex-offender policies are actually causing more crime
… Cases like this might seem to argue for even tougher controls on ex-offenders convicted of sex crimes. But new research indicates that the existing sex-offense regime in the US actually may be making repeat sex crimes more likely. Full Article
Read MoreAnother Eye-Popping Statistic
Earlier this year, I talked to the press spokesperson for a state senator who was proposing a new ban targeting those on the state’s sex offender registry. I asked her about the purpose of the legislation–why focus on this group of ex-offenders? The question seemed to catch her off guard: “Oh! Well these people reoffend at very high rates compared with others!” she replied. Full Article
Read MoreND: Monitoring sex offenders effective
Tory Jacobson was a detective sergeant with the Moorhead Police Department in 2003 when he came up with an idea about how to keep better track of registered sex offenders. The law at the time required people convicted of certain crimes to keep law enforcement agencies informed of their whereabouts. The burden was and still remains on the offender to remain compliant, or face possible incarceration. The problem: Noncompliance wasn’t always immediately apparent, leading in some cases to a lag time between when an offender stopped following the rules and…
Read MoreCalifornia Re-Offense Rates Revealed
The overall re-offense rate for registrants in California is 4.8 percent, according to a recent report issued by Dr. Karl Hanson and colleagues. Of that total, the highest re-offense rate is for transients who lack stable housing. The report also compared re-offense rates for registrants on parole and probation. The report found that registrants on parole have a higher rate of re-offense (6.1 percent) as compared to those on probation (4.3 percent). Additional findings in the report include: Hispanics have the lowest rate of re-offense (3.06 percent) as compared to…
Read MoreRate of Re-Offense Drops Again
According to a new report from the CA Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), the rate of re-offense for registrants on parole declined again in 2015. This is the third consecutive reduction in the rate of re-offense reported by the CDCR. The new CDCR report states that the rate of re-offense for registrants on parole was .6 percent in 2015. That rate compares to CDCR reported rates of .8 percent in 2014, 1.8 percent in 2013 and 1.9 percent in 2012. “The CDCR reports debunk the myth that registrants have…
Read MoreIN: Life parole lacks active monitoring
Earlier this year, 33-year-old ____ ____. was charged with molesting four local children. He recently agreed to plead guilty and to disclose details about even more victims. The Mishawaka man admitted to similar incidents before, in two other Indiana counties. He left prison in 2010, and as a sex offender on parole, he was subject to strict rules including no alcohol, drugs or pornography. He couldn’t be around children or change addresses without permission. That period of parole supervision, which included frequent contact with a parole officer and the possibility…
Read MoreNewly Released Report Reveals Misleading Government Data for Registrant Re-Offense Rates
Although statistics demonstrate that there is a low rate of re-offense for registrants, reports released by the government often conveys the opposite, according to a newly released academic report. The report concluded that the government’s use of untrue or unsubstantiated ‘knowledge’ can have deleterious effects such as the passage of new laws that violate registrants’ civil rights and do not increase public safety. In addition to a comprehensive analysis of statistical data, the report includes quotes of false information regarding re-offense rates from federal and state legislators that led to the…
Read MoreThe Community Notification Registry is More than a Hit list for just Murderers.
Everyone quotes the Department of Justice study done in 1997 that looked at offenders released in 1994. The government has rehashed the study and done their best to make sex offenders look bad.This study was reevaluated in 2001, 2002, and again in 2003 for the governments part. They like to point to the fact that 5.3% (517) of the 9,691 sex offenders released in 1994, were rearrested for a new sex crime, then they grudgingly admit that 3.5% (339) are reconvicted in a new sex crime since the government is been so kind…
Read MoreNew CDCR Report Reduces Rate of Re-Offense to Less than 1 Percent
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has issued a new report that reflects a significantly lower rate of re-offense for registered citizens on parole. The name of the report is “2014 Outcome Evaluation Report“, however, it was issued by the agency’s Office of Research in late July 2015. According to the report, the rate at which a registered citizen on parole commits a new sex offense is .8 percent. This rate is based upon a study of 5,522 registered citizens who returned to prison over a period of…
Read MoreHow a dubious statistic convinced U.S. courts to approve of indefinite detention [Opinion]
In the 2002 case McKune v. Lile, the Supreme Court upheld a Kansas law that imposed harsher sentences on sex offenders who declined to participate in a prison rehab program. The substance of the Kansas law the court upheld isn’t as important as the language the court used to uphold it. In his opinion, Justice Anthony Kennedy reasoned that they pose “such a frightening and high risk of recidivism” which he wrote “has been estimated to be as high as 80%.” Five year earlier, in Kansas v. Hendricks, the court…
Read MoreThe Supreme Court’s Crucial Mistake About Sex Crime Statistics
Proponents of criminal justice reform never talk about sex offenders. They’re political untouchables subject to lifelong restrictions that continue long past their confinement, restrictions justified as necessary to protect the public from their propensity to re-offend. Two Supreme Court decisions established that justification. But they rely on a scientific study that doesn’t exist. Full Article Related ‘Frightening and High’: The Frightening Sloppiness of the High Court’s Sex Crime Statistics
Read MoreReformed. . . or not?
Contrary to popular belief, convicted sex offenders typically don’t commit those acts again but it’s difficult to determine who will and who won’t. The idea of a sexual predator stalking our neighborhoods like hunters preying on innocent women and children is frightening. Certainly those predators exist: serial rapists and pedophiles who’ve assaulted numerous victims over months and years, even after prison sentences and convictions. They are the reason sex offender registration laws exist. But that perception of sex offenders casts a wide net over thousands of men and women in…
Read More‘Frightening and High’: The Frightening Sloppiness of the High Court’s Sex Crime Statistics
This brief essay reveals that the sources relied upon by the Supreme Court in Smith v. Doe, a heavily cited constitutional decision on sex offender registries, in fact provide no support at all for the facts about sex offender re-offense rates that the Court treats as central to its constitutional conclusions. This misreading of the social science was abetted in part by the Solicitor General’s misrepresentations in the amicus brief it filed in this case. The false “facts” stated in the opinion have since been relied upon repeatedly by other…
Read MoreMyths and research on sex offender registries
Studies show that while public sex offender registries sound like a good way to keep a community safe, the numbers tell a different story. And widely held beliefs turn out to be myths — among the more prevalent is that most sex offenders are pedophiles who might snatch a child from a park or bus stop. Here are the myths, and the research that debunks them. Full Article Related from the Detroit Free Press MI: Does Michigan’s sex offender registry keep us safer?
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