The association between sentencing and recidivism in men who have committed a sexual offence

ABSTRACT

There have been few studies examining the impact of sentencing decisions on recidivism in individuals who commit sexual offences, which is important as this population may face more stigma, and different conditions in the community, than individuals who have committed non-sexual offences. The present study examined how sentence type and custodial sentence length impacted the incidence of sexual, violent, and non-violent recidivism in 659 Canadian men who were convicted of a sexual offence. Findings suggested that custodial sentences were associated with a greater likelihood of reoffending for all types of recidivism, except sexual recidivism. Custodial sentences of less than two years were consistently associated with an increased likelihood of non-sexual recidivism compared with those who served no time in custody. There was more mixed evidence for whether custodial sentences and custodial sentence length added to the prediction of recidivism once risk and sexual offence type were accounted for.

PRACTICE IMPACT STATEMENT

Custodial sentences, including shorter custodial sentences, was associated with increased violent and non-violent reoffending. Accounting for risk and type of sexual offence introduced greater uncertainty regarding the relationship between sentencing factors and recidivism. These findings contribute to the larger body of literature that questions the rehabilitative impact of lengthy custodial sentences.

KEYWORDS:

• sentencing
• incarceration
• sexual offending
• recidivism
• Static-99R
• victim age

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Dr. James M. Cantor for facilitating access to the data used to conduct the research study. We would also like to thank Kylie Reale for her assistance with coding the recidivism data.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.