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Sex offenders compared to non-sex offenders A total of 262,420 non-sex offenders were released from State prisons in 1994 in the 15 States. Of the 262,420 non-sex offenders, 94% had at least 1 prior arrest and 82% had at least 1 prior conviction (not in a table). Overall, the 9,691 sex offenders had a shorter criminal history than the 262,420 non-sex offenders. Before the arrest that resulted in their prison sentence, sex offenders had been arrested 4.5 times, on average. This prior arrest record was about half that of non-sex offenders (8.9 prior arrests). In addition, among the 1994 prison releases, 23.7% of the sex offenders (2,297), compared to 44.3% of non-sex offenders (116,252), had served prior prison sentences. Sex offenders were more likely to have been arrested (28.5%) or convicted (13.9%) for a sexual offense than non-sex offenders (6.5% with a prior arrest for a sex crime; 0.2% with a prior conviction for a sex crime). The same is true for child molesting -about 1 in 1 O sex offenders had a prior arrest for a sex offense against a child, compared to about 1 in 100 non-sex offenders. Rapists and sexua/ assau/tars For approximately 71 % of the 3,1 15 rapists, the arrest for rape that resulted in their imprisonment was their first for a sex crime. The remaining 29% had one or more prior sex crime arrests. Likewise, for sexual assaulters, the sexual assault arrest that led to their imprisonment was the first arrest for a sex crime for 72% of the 6,576 sexual assaulters. The remaining 28% had been arrested at least once before for some type of sex crime. Table 6. Prior criminal record of child molesters and statutory rapists released from prison in 1994 Child Statutory Prior to the sex crime for which imprisoned molesters rapists Percent with at least 1 prior arrest for - a Any crime 76.8 % 80.6% Any sex offense 29.0 38.4 Sex offense against a child '18.3 '19.6 Prior arrests for any crimes Mean 4.1 4.8 Median 2 3 Percent with at least 1 prior conviction for - a Any crime 54.6% 64.6 Any sex offense ? 1 .9 21 .2 Sex offense against a child 7.3 11.5 Prior convictions for any crimes Mean ? .6 2.2 Median t 1 Percent with prior prison sentence for any crimes '19.3% 23.4 Percent who were first releases° 74.5% 73.7 Total released 4,295 443 Note: The 4,295 child molesters were released in 1 S States; the 443 statutory rapists in 11 States. Because of overlapping definitions, all statutory rapists also appear under the column "child molesters." e"Prior" does not include the arrest, conviction, or prison sentence that was the reason the sex offenders were in prison in '1994. Persons with no prior arrest or prior convictions were coded zero and were included in the calculations of mean and median priors. Calculation of prior convictions excluded Ohio, and calculation of prior prison sentences excluded Ohio and Virginia. °Data on first releases are based on releases from 13 States. First releases include only those offenders leaving prison for the first time since beginning their sentence. First releases exclude those who left prison in '1994 but who had previously been released under the same sentence and had returned to prison for violating the conditions of release. Child molesters and sexua/ assau/tern The 4,295 child molesters had at least 1 arrest for child molesting (the arrest that led to their imprisonment). For 3,509 (81 .7%) of them, that arrest was their first ever arrest for child molesting (table 6). For the other 786 men (18.3% of the 4,295), that was not their first. Some had one prior arrest for a sex offense against a child, some had two, and others had three or more. Among those with three or more priors was a man whose first arrest for child molesting was in 1966, when he was age 20. When released in 1994, he was serving an 11-year sentence for molesting a child under age 14. The prior criminal record of this serial pedophile spanned three decades, with arrests for child molesting in the 1970's, the 1980's, and the 1990's. 1 2 Recidivism of Sex Offenders Re/eased from Prison in 1994 50A-61