Recidivism of Sex Offendes Released from Prison in 1994

Sentence length and time servedAll sex offendersAll 9,691 sex offenders selected to bein this study had a prison sentencegreater than 1 year. The shortest termswere a day over 1 year; the longestwere life sentences. The fact that sexoffenders with a life sentence (18offenders in the study) were among the9,691 released in 1994 should not besurprising because only rarely do lifesentences in the United States literallymean imprisonment for the remainderof a person’s life. Most felons receivinga life sentence are eventually paroled(unpublished tabulation of data fromthe 1997 BJS Survey of Inmates inState Correctional Facilities).• on average a rapist spent more timein confinement before being released(5¼ years) than a sexual assaulter(just under 3 years)• median sentence length was longerfor rapists (half of the rapists had asentence of 9 years or more, while halfof the sexual assaulters had asentence of 5½ years or more)• 39.2% of the 3,115 rapists were inprison for over 5 years prior to release,while 12.5% of the 6,576 sexualassaulters served 61 months or more• rapists served 49% of their sentencebefore being released, compared to43% for sexual assaulters.Depending on the length of theirsentence and the amount of time theyhad served before being released,some of the released sex offenderswould have been on parole (or someother type of conditional release)throughout the full 3 years they weretracked in this study. For example,when released, 63.3% of rapists hadmore than 3 years left to serve on theirsentence. In their case, any newcrimes they committed during this3-year followup period were offensescommitted while still on parole. Bycomparison, just over half of releasedsexual assaulters had more than 3years left to serve.On average, a sex offender releasedfrom prison in 1994 had an 8-year termand served 3½ years of that sentence(45%) before being released (table 3).Half of the released sex offenders hada sentence length of 6 years or less.Half had served no more than a third oftheir sentence before being released.When released, the majority (54.5%)had more than 3 years of theirsentence remaining to be served.Rapists and sexual assaultersRape always involves forcible intercourse,whereas sexual assault (as theterm is used here) never does,although it can involve other types offorcible sexual assault. Because forcibleintercourse is considered to be amore serious offense than other formsof forcible sexual assault, penalties forrape are generally more severe thanthose for sexual assault.Consistent with the more seriousnature of rape —• on average a released rapist had alonger sentence (just over 11 years)than a sexual assaulter (just under 7years)Table 3. Sentence length and time served for sex offenders releasedfrom prison in 1994, by type of sex offenderCharacteristicSentence length (in months)MeanMedianTime served (in months)MeanMedianPercent of sentence servedUpon release in 1994, percentwho had served —6 months or less7-1213-1819-2425-3031-3637-6061 months or moreUpon release in 1994, percent withtime still remaining to be served6 months or less7-1213-1819-2425-3031-3637-6061 months or moreTotal first releasesAll97.3 mo72.042.3 mo32.344.9%4.5%9.516.59.78.19.921.620.22.8%5.08.412.88.18.525.129.46,470Rapists134.0 mo108.062.6 mo48.249.3%3.1%3.010.55.16.18.024.939.22.4%5.76.29.36.26.922.840.51,859Sexualassaulters82.5 mo66.034.1 mo26.543.1%5.0%12.119.011.58.910.720.212.52.9%4.79.214.28.89.126.024.95,860Note: The 6,470 sex offenders were released in 13 States. Figures are based on first releasesonly. First releases include only those offenders leaving prison for the first time since beginningtheir sentence. First releases exclude those who left prison in 1994 but who had previously beenreleased under the same sentence and had returned to prison for violating the conditions ofrelease.Recidivism of Sex Offenders Released from Prison in 1994 9