From Known to Stranger Crossover: A Retrospective Study of Child Sex Offenders Released Into the Community
Aim/Background: Strict enforcement of residential restrictions has been the norm although there is a paucity of empirical evidence as to whether recidivist child sex offenders will reoffend against an unknown child having had no previous history of offending against children unknown to them. This research investigated Known to Stranger crossover of 110 men who sexually reoffended against children after release from prison. Methods: The offenders were released from prison between 1996 and 2003, and followed up until 2009 (M 117.85 months, SD 26.99) The mean age of the participants when first arrested for a sexual offence was 27.82 years (SD 9.35: Range 14 68 years) Results and Conclusions: The incidence and factors associated with the risk of crossover from Known to Stranger child victims were examined, with results showing that sexual reoffending was low at 6.8% Crossover from Known to Stranger victims was lower still; at less than 1% of the men released into the community. Despite the low base rate of the Known to Stranger group, analysis showed that offenders whose first victim was from the Social relationship domain (i.e. the offender met the victim through someone known to the offender as a work colleague, friend, or even a family member) were more likely to reoffend against a stranger child than offenders from the other Known relationship domains. Being younger in age at the time of the first sexual offense was also associated with a risk of relationship crossover. The recidivist group was most likely to be rated as medium high to high risk of re offending at the time of their release from prison.