TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2007//
TI  - Effect of age-at-release on long term sexual re-offense rates in civilly committed sexual offenders
JO  - Sexual abuse: a journal of research and treatment
A1  - Prentky, Robert A.
A1  - Lee, Austin F. S.
SP  - 43
EP  - 59
VL  - 19
IS  - 1
N2  - A cohort of 136 rapists and 115 child molesters civilly committed to a prison in Massachusetts and followed for 25 years (see Prentky, Lee, Knight, & Cerce, 1997) was examined for the effect of age at time of release on sexual recidivism. The present study (1) examined the recidivism rates for each of five age-at-release groups, separately for rapists and child molesters, (2) tested the fit of linear and quadratic models for 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25-year windows using Cox regression analysis, (3) presented the predicted failure rates for rapists (up to five years post-release) and child molesters (out 21 years post-release), and (4) provided a computational formula for estimating the sexual recidivism rate given an individual's age and number of years post-release. For rapists, a linear model extending 5 years best captured our data (LR=5.62, p<.02). Going out any further than 5 years did not enhance the predictive efficacy of the model. By contrast, a quadratic model extending the full duration of the study (25 years) provided the best fit (LR=6.30, p<.04) for child molesters. Our data supported the general conclusion that risk of sexual recidivism diminishes as a function of increasing age at time of release for rapists. We found marked differences, however, in the re-offense patterns of rapists and child molesters, with the latter group evidencing a distinct quadratic, rather than linear, pattern. Since these findings derive from a population screened for civil commitment by virtue of their presumptive dangerousness, they may not be generalizable to samples of sex offenders drawn from the general prison population.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1079-0632
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11194-007-9035-6
ID  - ref1
ER  -