One of the most uniquely horrific crimes is sex crimes in today’s society. Many officials are reluctant to talk about sex crimes let alone reform them. These crimes are the cause of public outrage. These fears are fueled by shows such as “America’s Most Wanted” and “How to Catch a Predator.” People in our society watch these shows and believe that all sex offenders will repeat the same crime. However, in actuality crimes of abduction, rape, and murder against children are rare.
Many believe that monitoring sex offenders after their release from prison is necessary because they are a high risk to society, however this is not necessarily true. According to the National Alert Registry, only eight percent of those charged with a sex crime will commit the same crime. This number is lower than burglars, robbers, thieves, drug offenders and other convicts. There was also a study done, by the New Jersey registration, which stated that sex offense rates were already falling before Megan’s law was implemented.
These information leads me to question whether child sex crime is an issue, or is it just another exaggerated fact portrayed by the media?
I have witnessed a family member molesting a person quite recently on a ride along. We had responded to a call and a older cousin had molested his younger cousin. When I asked the officer on my ride along if this was rare he told me that this was actually the norm. The raped or the molested usually know their attacker. I was shocked when the details came out that the person had committed the acts previously, but the family was trying to resolve the issues "within the family".
ReplyDeletein some cases the media does show the public stories that will get attention and viewing rates. we need to actually observe what really does happends with sex offenders. there are sex offenders that are repeated offenders.
ReplyDeleteWow! I found it interesting that your numbers show that "only eight percent of those charged with a sex crime will commit the same crime". I thought the recidivism rate would be much higher.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that most offenders know their victim.