STATUS OF OFFENDER AT TIME OF OFFENSE: FIRST OFFENDERS VS. RECIDIVISTS
Certain shortcomings of this data should again be pointed out. The opportunity for recidivistic behavior in sex offenses is obviously related to the severity of the first conviction and also to the length of time between the man’s first offense and his age at the present report. In the longer-term convictions, such as are meted out in cases of rape, lengthy incarceration may prevent repetition of the crime for many years. Short-run sentences for minor offenses such as peeping or loitering increase the number of years in which additional convictions are possible. Or if a man is first convicted at a late age, this lessens the time he has left to repeat his offense.
From the percentages of offenses which were first sex offenses it is apparent that certain types of offenses tend to be preceded by other sex offenses of any type.4 This shows up most strongly in exhibition, homosexual offenses vs. minors, peeping, and in the aggression and homosexual offenses vs. children. From half to two thirds of the offenses in these five groups are not first sex offenses. In contrast, toward the lower end of the rank-order are clustered the three incest groups and the nonforce heterosexual offenses vs. minors and adults. The incest offenses are undoubtedly low in prior convictions in part because of the two factors mentioned earlier: older offenders and longer terms of imprisonment. As for the two offense types that rank twelfth and thirteenth, heterosexual offenses vs. minors and adults, these are generally considered to be the least criminal and the most “normal” of the offenses in our 14-typc category, and hence might well be expected to be found low in prior sex-offense convictions. This does not imply that the behavior involved may not be repeated many times subsequently, but rather that the circumstances that led to complaint, arrest, and conviction were avoided successfully. Only 10 per cent of the more “normal” offenses—those vs. adult females—were committed by offenders who had a previous conviction for a sex offense, This is in contrast to double the proportion (still low) for those who committed offenses against minor females.
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