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Sex offender registration and recidivism risk in juvenile sexual offenders
Author(s) -
Caldwell Michael F.,
Dickinson Casey
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
behavioral sciences and the law
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.649
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1099-0798
pISSN - 0735-3936
DOI - 10.1002/bsl.907
Subject(s) - recidivism , juvenile , sex offender , sex offense , risk assessment , psychology , juvenile delinquency , demography , sexual violence , criminology , poison control , injury prevention , psychiatry , clinical psychology , sexual abuse , computer security , medicine , medical emergency , biology , sociology , computer science , ecology
Juvenile sex offenders are increasingly included in sex offender registration laws, based, in part, on the assumption that they pose a distinctively high risk for future sexual violence and registration may help to mitigate this risk. To test this assumption, the current study compares risk scores on the static scales of the Juvenile Sex Offender Assessment Protocol—II (JSOAP‐II; Prentky & Righthand, 2003) and the Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (YLS/CMI; Hoge, Andrews, & Leschied, 2002), between samples of 106 registered and 66 unregistered juvenile sex offenders. New criminal charges, including sexually based crimes, were examined over a mean follow‐up of 49.2 months (SD = 29.6 months). Results indicated that registered youth had lower risk scores on scales that most accurately predicted recidivism and registered youth were charged with new crimes at rates similar to those of unregistered youth. Reoffense risk, as measured by the risk scales, was not moderated by registration. The findings did not support the assumption that registration can effectively lower the risk for reoffense in juvenile offenders. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.