Fact vs. Fiction on Sexual offenders

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unsuspecting children?

think this, the facts show a different story. Federal and State data show that most sex

crimes against children are committed by someone the child knows—either a family

member or close associate. Under 10 percent of sex crimes against children are

committed by a stranger. Sexual abuse of children is not typically committed by

strangers.

Aren’t all sex offenders perverted strangers who sneak up and snatchAlthough news stories about gruesome crimes lead us to

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fact the DOJ statistics show how many missing children were runaways (99% of

which return home safely, according to their statistics) and how many were abducted

by a family member. They don’t list the number abducted by strangers, because the

number is so small, as shown in table 3 of the NISMART-2 2002 Bulletin, “National

Estimates of Missing Children: An Overview.”

Aren’t most of the America’s missing children abducted by strangers? No, in

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2002 U.S. Department of Justice study showed that 60% of the children abducted by

strangers or slight acquaintances during a 12-month study period

This statistical data relates to all abductions, not specifically regarding sex offenders.

Aren’t children who have been abducted by strangers typically murdered? Awere not killed.

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crime (habitual sex offenders)?

recidivism (re-arrest) rates for tens of thousands of sex offenders show that 87 to

97% of all convicted sex offenders who have been released do not commit any more

sex crimes. Time spans in the studies ranged from 3 to 13 years. The offenders

included those who had committed crimes against children, as well as those who had

committed crimes against adults. A 1994 U.S. Department of Justice study of

recidivism of sex offenders versus other ex-convicts showed that 87% of sex crimes

during the study period were committed by someone other than a convicted sex

offender.

Aren’t all or most sex crimes committed by people formerly convicted of a sexFederal and State crime statistics and data on

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the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics 2000 report, “Sexual

Assault of Young Children as Reported to Law Enforcement: Victim, Incident, and

Offender Characteristics” show that a surprising 40% of reported sex crimes against

children are committed by other children (under the age of 18), not by adults. So not

all sex offenders are adults.

Aren’t all sex offenders warped or psychologically damaged adults? Data from

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between the terms “sex offender” and “sexual predator.” According to Grubin and

Winegate

and 13% of the population of sex offenders. Theses predators are likely to commit

other sex crimes. The other 87% to 97% of sex offenders are very unlikely to commit

any more sex crimes. This shows that not all sex offenders are sexual predators.

Only a small percentage of them are. These predators can be identified through

existing assessment tools. If these people are not incarcerated or civilly committed,

Once a sex offender, always a sexual predator. There is an important difference1 statistics, apparent sexual predators constitute somewhere between 2.5%

they should have the highest level of police attention, in order to protect the public.

The low-risk sex offenders are a different group with a different risk level and should

be treated differently, using programs outlined in this report. This approach will result

in significant cost savings without increasing risks to the public.

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that the registry will list 'the most violent and predatory sex offenders'; however,

people caught up in this situation are most times given the appalling choice only

between 25 years to life if you go to trial, or accept a plea bargain. What they are not

told, is the plea bargain countless times includes the predator label and registering for

life. Unfortunately many times this includes one-crime one-victim, non-violent and novictim

(public exposure that was not even witnessed by anyone) offenders, even

those who were never officially charged or convicted of a sex offense and the severity

of the sentence and label depends highly on public and judicial attitude of the day.Abuse of the Predator Label. The stated legislative intent of Megan's Law specifies