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Exceptions for children old enough to
<br />give consent Certain adults can be
<br />prosecuted for having consensual
<br />intercourse with a child who has
<br />reached the age of consent. For
<br />example, in one State it is a third
<br />degree felony for a psychotherapist to
<br />have intercourse with a 17- year -old
<br />client even though 17 is over the
<br />minimum age of consent in that State.
<br />In another State, where an adult gener-
<br />ally cannot be prosecuted for having
<br />consensual intercourse with a 16 -year-
<br />old, an exception is made when the
<br />adult is the child's school teacher. In
<br />that case the teacher can be prose-
<br />cuted for a "class A" misdemeanor.
<br />Exceptions are made for other profes-
<br />sions as well (clergy, for example).
<br />In this report, 443 of the 9,691 released
<br />sex offenders are identified as statutory
<br />rapists based on information supplied
<br />by the prisons that released them.
<br />There were more than 443 statutory
<br />rapists among the 9,691 released male
<br />sex offenders, but the 443 are all that
<br />could be positively identified with the
<br />limited information available. One
<br />reason statutory rapists are not easily
<br />identified from penal code information
<br />available on the released sex offenders
<br />is that most States do not use the term
<br />"statutory rape" in their laws.
<br />First release Though all 9,691 sex
<br />offenders in the study were released in
<br />1994, for a fourth of the offenders 1994
<br />was not the first year of release since
<br />receiving their prison sentence. This
<br />group had previously served a portion
<br />of the sentence and were released,
<br />then violated parole and were returned
<br />to prison to continue serving time still
<br />left on that sentence. For the remaining
<br />75% of sex offenders released, the
<br />1994 release was their "first release,"
<br />meaning their first discharge from
<br />prison since being convicted and
<br />sentenced to prison.
<br />"First release" should not be confused
<br />with first ever release from a prison.
<br />"First release" pertains solely to the
<br />sentence for the imprisonment offense
<br />(as defined above). It does not pertain
<br />to any earlier prison sentences offend-
<br />ers may have served for some other
<br />offense.
<br />Attention is drawn to first releases
<br />because certain statistics in the report
<br />— for example, "average time served,"
<br />"percent of sentence served," "child
<br />molester's age when he committed the
<br />sex crime for which he was
<br />imprisoned" — could only be computed
<br />for those prisoners classified as first
<br />releases. For such statistics, date first
<br />admitted to prison for their imprison-
<br />ment offense was needed. Since
<br />prison records made available for the
<br />study only provided this admission date
<br />on first releases, first releases neces-
<br />sarily formed the basis for the
<br />statistics.
<br />Prior arrest Statistics on prior arrests
<br />were calculated using arrest dates
<br />from the official criminal records of the
<br />9,691 released sex offenders. Only
<br />dates of arrest were counted, not the
<br />number of arrest charges associated
<br />with that arrest date. To illustrate, one
<br />man was arrested on March 5, 1970,
<br />and that one arrest resulted in 3
<br />separate arrest charges being filed
<br />against him. In this study, that March 5
<br />arrest is considered one prior arrest.
<br />Prior arrests were measured two differ-
<br />ent ways in this report. The first way
<br />did not include the imprisonment
<br />offense for which the sex offender was
<br />in prison in 1994. Prior arrest statistics
<br />that did not include the imprisonment
<br />offense are found in sections of the
<br />report that describe the criminal
<br />records of the 9,691 sex offenders at
<br />the time of release from prison. In this
<br />case, any arrest that had occurred on a
<br />date prior to the sex offender's arrest
<br />for his imprisonment offense was
<br />considered a prior arrest. For example,
<br />one released sex offender was found
<br />to have four different dates of arrest
<br />prior to the date of arrest for his impris-
<br />onment offense. Those four arrests
<br />resulted in 17 different charges being
<br />brought against him. When describing
<br />this released prisoner's criminal record,
<br />he is considered to have four prior
<br />arrests.
<br />The second way of measuring prior
<br />arrests did include the imprisonment
<br />offense of the released sex offender.
<br />Prior arrest statistics that did include
<br />the imprisonment offense are found in
<br />sections of the report that describe the
<br />recidivism rates of the 9,691 sex
<br />offenders following their release from
<br />prison. In this case, any arrest that had
<br />occurred on a date prior to the sex
<br />offender's release from prison was
<br />considered a prior arrest. By definition,
<br />all 9,691 sex offenders had at least one
<br />arrest prior to their release, which was
<br />the sex crime arrest responsible for
<br />their being in prison in 1994. This
<br />means that the sex offender who was
<br />arrested on four different dates prior to
<br />the arrest for his imprisonment offense
<br />under the first definition of prior arrest
<br />was, under this second definition,
<br />classified as having five prior arrests,
<br />once his imprisonment offense is
<br />included.
<br />Thirteen tables in the report provide
<br />statistics on prior arrests (and, in 2 of
<br />the 13, prior convictions and prior
<br />imprisonments). In tables 15, 16, 17,
<br />18, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 36, and 37,
<br />"prior arrests" includes the sex crime
<br />arrest for the imprisonment offense;
<br />these tables have the heading "prior to
<br />1994 release." In tables 5 and 6, "prior
<br />arrests" excludes that arrest; these
<br />tables have the heading "prior to the
<br />sex crime for which imprisoned."
<br />In all tables, the same counting rule
<br />was used: arrest dates, not arrest
<br />charges, were counted to obtain the
<br />number of prior arrests.
<br />Rearrest Unless stated otherwise, this
<br />recidivism measure is defined as the
<br />number or percentage of released
<br />prisoners who, within the first three
<br />years following their 1994 release,
<br />were arrested either in the same State
<br />that released them (in this report those
<br />arrests are called "in- State' arrests) or
<br />in a different State (those arrests are
<br />Recidivism of Sex Offenders Released from Prison in 1994 5
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