Adjudicated Adolescents Located on a State Sex Offender Registry Website as Adults: Common Denominators

ABSTRACT

This is a landmark study, the first to use a listing on a state sex offender registry website as a predictive variable for tracking adult recidivism of male adolescents adjudicated for sex offenses, and the longest to follow a cohort of these youth after discharge from a secure residential treatment program. Upon admission, the sample (N = 145) were assessed by JSORRAT-II and MEGA^♪, two contemporary standardized, validated risk assessment tools for assessing youth who have engaged in sexually abusive behavior. They were then followed once discharged for 17.08 years into adulthood (mean follow-up = 14.0 years, SD = 1.71). Recidivism rate was 6.2% (defined as a listing for the subject on the California Megan’s Law Sex Offender Registry Website). The study offers a baseline for future studies that use a state sex offender registry website as a predictive variable for recidivism. Shared common denominators of recidivists and non-recidivists were risk level (i.e. most were High Risk or Very High Risk on MEGA^♪); and having a history of adverse childhood experiences other than sexual abuse (i.e. child neglect/emotional abuse and exposure to domestic violence). A history of sexual abuse, experienced by twice as many non-recidivists as recidivists, differentiated the sample. Recidivists also had fewer protective factors than non-recidivists, as assessed by the MEGA^♪ upon admission to the facility. The mean age of recidivists was younger than non-recidivists, suggesting they may have been removed from their home at an early age, and/or had an early onset of persistent coarse sexual improprieties and/or sexually abusive behaviors that persisted into adulthood. The results highlight the importance of integrating trauma-informed interventions in treatment programs for those individuals who are sexually abusive that have a history of multiple adverse childhood experiences.

KEYWORDS:

• Adolescent sex offenders
• risk assessment
• recidivism
• MEGA^♪
• JSORRAT-II
• sex offender registry
• Trauma outcome process assessment (TOPA)

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Notes on contributors

Lucinda A. Lee Rasmussen

Lucinda A. Lee Rasmussen, Ph.D., LCSW is a Professor at the School of Social Work at San Diego State University and a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. She has 40 years of clinical and research experience related to child sexual abuse. Dr. Rasmussen is the creator of the Trauma Outcome Process Assessment (TOPA), a practice model addressing the impact of traumatic experiences, specifically sexual abuse, child maltreatment, and exposure to domestic violence. Her research focuses on risk assessment of youth who are sexually abusive, including longitudinal study of recidivism of adjudicated adolescents into adulthood.