Sex-Crime Recidivism: The Misconception of Increased Reoffending

Media depictions often suggest that those convicted of sex-crimes have a high recidivism rate. This contributes to a public belief that those convicted will reoffend at a higher rate than other crimes. These reports, however, are misleading and backed up by anecdotes rather than official data. This research project aims to reveal the misleading information and identify the true recidivism rate by analyzing the recidivism rates from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, utilizing published journal articles, and identifying governmental legislation that was enacted due to the misleading information.