Sex Offenders

This is an intensive, supervised release program for individuals released from prison in Minnesota who are at high risk for reoffending. The primary goal of the program is to reduce recidivism of released individuals. The program is rated Promising. The program reduced the risk of general, felony, and violent reconvictions and any rearrests, but increased the risk of a technical violation revocation. All of these differences were statistically significant.

This was a mobile application for law enforcement officers that projected the locations of persons-of-interest based on their residences and other location information contained in the police department’s crime database. The program is rated Promising. Officers using the application had a statistically significant greater number of warrant arrests and information reports than officers in the control group. There was no statistically significant impact on citation arrests.

The program is targeted at individuals whose mental illnesses are seen as instrumental in their offenses, and who are likely to qualify for and benefit from publicly supported treatment in the community. The overall goal is to reduce recidivism . The program is rated Effective. Participants in the program were less likely to be convicted of any new offense and convicted of felony offenses, compared with the matched comparison group. The difference was statistically significant.

This was a registration requirement targeting individuals convicted of sex offenses and other crimes against children. The federal legislation required the registration of people released after serving time for a sex offense, including name, address, sex crime committed, and a photograph. The program is rated No Effects. The program did not statistically significantly reduce sex-crime rates.

This inpatient program provides group and individual therapy to those who have committed sexual offenses and have recently been released from prison in Ontario, Canada. The program is rated No Effects. There was no significant difference in sexual recidivism rates between the treatment group and the comparison group.

This is a community notification program targeting people who have been released after serving time for sex offenses in Minnesota. This is a state response to the federal requirements of Megan’s Law and authorizes law enforcement to notify local communities about where people who have been released after serving time for sex offenses will be living. The program is rated Promising. The experimental notification group had lower recidivism rates for sexual crimes compared with the non-notification

The program provides cognitive–behavioral treatment and relapse prevention to people who commit repetitive, compulsive sex offenses. Cognitive–behavioral treatments focus on reconstructing person’s cognitive distortions; relapse prevention focuses on pattern recognition and breaking the cycle of recommitting sex crimes. The program is rated Promising. The intervention participants showed a statistically significant lower likelihood of recidivating, compared with the general prison-population.

In 2005, the city of Jacksonville, Florida passed an ordinance that required persons convicted of sex offenses to reside more than 2,500 feet away from any place where children congregate. The goal was to reduce sex crimes, especially those committed against children. However, the city residence restriction law was later deemed unconstitutional in 2007. The program is rated No Effects. The residence restriction had no statistically significant impact on their rates of rearrests for sex crimes.

This was a case management program implemented in seven different correctional institutions across Minnesota. The program connected caseworkers in prisons with supervision agents in the communities to which participants return upon release from prison. The program is rated Promising. It statistically significantly reduced recidivism as measured by rearrest, reconviction, technical violation revocation, and reincarceration for any reason, but had no impact on new offense reincarceration.

This is a program, provided by the Minnesota Department of Corrections, which offers treatment, therapy, and transitional services to convicted males in prison. The program is rated Promising. Treatment group inmates had a statistically significant lower likelihood of being rearrested for sex offenses, violent offenses, or any offenses, compared with comparison group inmates who did not receive any treatment.

This program involves using systems based radio frequency or global positioning system technology to monitor convicted persons’ locations and movements in community-based settings. The goal is to increase compliance and reduce recidivism. This program is rated Promising. Compared with the control group, who were on other forms of community supervision, the treatment group using electronic monitoring showed statistically significant reductions in the risk of failure to comply.

This is a community-based program that provides sexual abuse–specific assessment, treatment, consultation, and long-term support to adolescents who were convicted of sexual abuse and to their families. This program is rated Promising. Intervention participants showed a statistically significant lower likelihood of being charged with a sexual reoffense, nonsexual violent reoffense, nonviolent reoffense, or any reoffense, compared with control participants, at the 20-year follow up.

This program is an adaptation of Multisystemic Therapy, specifically designed for adolescents who have committed sexual offenses and demonstrated other problem behaviors. The program is rated Promising. Program participants had lower rates of self-reported person and property offenses as well as lower rates of arrests for sexual crimes and other crimes, compared with control group participants. These findings were statistically significant.

This is a prevention program for middle and high school students, which is designed to stop or prevent dating violence perpetration and victimization. This program is rated Effective. The intervention group showed statistically significant reductions in psychological, physical, and sexual abuse perpetration, and physical abuse victimization, compared with the control group at the 4-year follow up; however, there were no significant differences between groups on sexual abuse victimization.