Journal article
Recidivism rates of sex offenders managed under the Dangerous Prisoners (Sexual Offenders) Act 2003: an evaluation of actuarial justice
Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, Vol.28(2), pp.310-323
2021
Abstract
According to the Dangerous Prisoners Sexual Offenders Act 2003 (DPSOA), an offender is considered 'dangerous' if there is an 'unacceptable risk' that he will commit 'serious sexual harm'. Current legislation operates within an actuarial justice framework, whereby increasing resources are spent on those considered at greater risk. There is limited research on the efficacy of this approach. The current study examines sexual recidivism rates of a sample of DPSOA offenders. Court files of 104 community-supervised dangerous sex offenders (M
age
= 50.7 SD = 10.8) were examined to determine date and type of re-offending. Recidivism was operationalised as time until arrest (for a sexual conviction/contravention). The overall level of sexual recidivism was low (7.69%). Kaplan-Meier analyses of survival curves identified no difference in rates between risk categories. While this likely suggests that they are not dangerous or an unacceptable risk, the strict conditions of supervision may be effective in preventing sexual re-offending. Further, limitations in empirically understanding the construct need to be considered.
Details
- Title
- Recidivism rates of sex offenders managed under the Dangerous Prisoners (Sexual Offenders) Act 2003: an evaluation of actuarial justice
- Authors
- M.T Rowlands (Corresponding Author) - Queensland University of TechnologyG Palk (Author) - Queensland University of TechnologyRoss Young (Author) - Queensland University of Technology
- Publication details
- Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, Vol.28(2), pp.310-323
- Publisher
- Routledge
- DOI
- 10.1080/13218719.2020.1775154
- ISSN
- 1934-1687
- Organisation Unit
- Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation); University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99550993802621
- Output Type
- Journal article
Metrics
19 Record Views
InCites Highlights
These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output
- Web Of Science research areas
- Criminology & Penology
- Law
- Psychiatry
- Psychology, Multidisciplinary
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:
Source: InCites