Statistics - Offenders
 
Adults
 
  • Rapists repeat their offenses at rates up to 35%; offenders who molest young boys, at rates up to 40%; and those rates do not decline appreciably over time. 

  • The typical pedophile commits an average of 280 sexual crimes during his lifetime. 

  • The average serial child molester has between 360-380 victims in his lifetime. 

  • 46% of rapists who were released from prison were re-arrested within 3 years of their release for another crime: 18.6% for a violent offense, 14.8% for a property offense, 11.2% for a drug offense and 20.5% for a public disorder offense. 

  • Offender Characteristics:
    • The average age of a rapist is 31-years-old
    • White male 52.2%
    • Reports never being married 42%.

  • On a given day in 1994 there were approximately 234,000 offenders convicted of rape or sexual assault under the care, custody, or control of corrections agencies; nearly 60% of these sex offenders are under conditional supervision in the community. 

  • An estimated 24% of those serving time for rape and 19% of those serving time for sexual assault had been on probation or parole at the time of the offense for which they were in State prison in 1991. 

  • Of released sex offenders who allegedly committed another sex crime, 40% perpetrated the new offense within a year or less from their prison discharge.   

  • Overall, an estimated 61% of violent sex offenders in State prisons have a prior conviction history that resulted in a sentence to probation or incarceration.  

  • Only 2% of the Catholic clergy sexual abusers were ever jailed. The number of victims reported were 10,667 with an estimate of 4,392 abusers.

 

Juveniles
 
  • The average adolescent sex offender will, without treatment, go on to commit 380 sex crimes during his lifetime.

  • 20% of all rapes and 30% to 50% of child molestations are perpetrated by adolescent males. 

 
References
Able, G., et al. Self-reported Sex Crimes of Nonincarcerated Paraphiliacs. Journal of Interpersonal Violence 2:3-25, 1987.
Howard E. Barbaree, Stephen M. Hudson and Michael Seto (1993) Sexual Assault in Society: The Role of the Juvenile Offender. In The Juvenile Sex Offender. Guilford Press, NY.
In the Supreme Court of the United States. Godfrey and Botelho v. John Doe. Brief for the United States as Amicus Curiae in Support of Petitioners. 01-729.
Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 1994 Study. 2002.
South Carolina Forcible Sex Crimes. (1999). Summary, South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, Columbia, SC.
US Department of Justice Sex Offense and Offenders Study. 1997.