Three-year study: No measurable recidivism of SOs at all
By Kyle Feldscher . . .
Almost none of the Michigan homicide and sex offenders paroled during a 39-month period between 2007 and early 2010 returned to prison for a similar offense during a three-year span, according to a study released Monday.
The report released by Citizens Alliance on Prisons and Public Spending was released as a part of CAPPS on-going effort to get reforms to Michigan’s criminal sentencing process passed before the end of the legislative calendar later this month.
According to the report, titled “Paroling people who committed serious crimes: What is the actual risk?,” 99 percent of prisoners who were convicted of a homicide (second-degree murder or manslaughter) or a sexual assault offense did not return to prison for a similar crime within three years of being paroled. Of the 820 homicide offenders, two returned to prison for a new homicide and of the 4,109 sex offenders paroled, 32 returned to prison for a new sex offense.
“People who commit homicides or sex offenses have extremely low re-offense rates overall and almost never return to prison for committing a new crime of the same type,” the report stated. “The fact that someone committed a very serious offense in the past does not mean they are currently a risk to the public.” (See mLIVE.com for full article)
Although this article attempts to tell the facts unfortunately many view the situation of the SO registry as a very important tool with the on-going saying “if it saves one child it is well worth it”. So even though of the 4,109 sex offenders only 32 recommitted a crime right there states to many persons that all the money spent on the registry and the lives it destroys is well worth it because their thoughts are because a person is on the registry it means they are less likely to reoffend and because of the registry “parents” were able to prevent more abuses because if there was not a registry their child may have wondered to the neighbor’s house (a registrant) and would have been abused. So because of the registry they will always think that without the registry there would have been more than just 32; so in their eyes the registry works and is worth the millions devoted to it. Now; if they took the money that they are spending on the registry and put that towards more support and education and treatment the number instead of being 32 may have been as low as 6 or even less. The money is being spent on the wrong ends. But doing this will cause everyone to work too hard and will make them look too soft on crime so it is much easier to spend that money on a registry instead of putting the money where it will do some real good like preventing a crime possibly. It is so much easier for persons to say “SO can not be reformed nor taught to restrain from their temptations” so why invest in their treatment when it is so much easier to invest in the registry. You make a law; spend the money to enforce it and spend no time or money on preventing the crime to begin with; now what sense does that make? It is all a matter of convenience. Pass the law; get re-elected and then look like you are tough on crime and you can sit back and look good to the voters. Until an elected official actually stands up and show they care about the people they have been voted into office by to represent this on going horrid cycle will just continue and continue and soon a registrant won’t even be able to leave their home without breaking some absurd law or ordinance. Not only that with the information so available on the net the registrant won’t even be safe in their own home because of those that feel they have to take the law into their own hands and goes after the registrant which means the registrant is not even safe in their own home.
Oh, and of the 32 that re-offended how many of those were ones that peed behind a dumpster; get a grip people. Wake up and educate yourselves and stop letting officials and elected ones raise your kids and be your “false” safety blanket.
I can NOT agree with you more. As I have described before…politicians and lawmakers are “numbers/statistics”, “WINDOW DRESSING”… addressing the problem would be to much trouble.
People, and especially those on SOR, need to go on. They need a voice. Many have been victimized by those in powerful positions and taken advantage by those in those positions to feed their egos.
I am a former SO. The registry wouldn’t stop me from re-offending if I so chose to do so! Yes people near me know I’m on the list but most trust me anyway because I am a good person that made a bad choice once in my life! I just won custody of my daughter in fact! Now if I wanted to re offend I’d simply go to an area where I’m not known. I mean do you know the face off every offender 100 miles away? The list gives a false sense of security to the public! and again if some one wanted to re offend they would already be determined to do it and a list on a computer isn’t going to stop them! In fact they may be more determined to eliminate the evidence of there crime AND VICTIM! Another issue I have is why isn’t there a list for all crimes? Look at people who commit DUI. This is one I take personal because I lost a good friend to a drunk driver. And don’t think I don’t take sex offences personally because both my wife and sister are victims of rape and child hood molestation! Back to my point with the DUI offenders, how many people re offend with drunk driving? How many deaths have occured from drunk drivers compared to sex offences! why don’t they have a way to prevent these people from being served or sold alcohol? I committed my sex offence but my wife and daughters have paid the same price as myself for being on megan’s law just from association! I agree while on probation I should have been on there because I had not paid my debt to the public off yet. However I completed my probation and theropy. I am no longer a threat! And now because of the new laws I’ve gone from the minimum time on the list to the maximun(LIFETIME) simply because of how my judge listed my crimes! And that is just a kick in the pants too. you just can’t change a punishment after you deal it out! I mean what if you got a speeding ticket and are told you have to pay $100 and you sign guilty and before you get to pay it they up it to $300 and you now loose your car. that isn’t what you agreed to. this isn’t fair!
I’m sorry to throw a wrench into your bicycle spokes here but umm….I’m appalled that you even gave kind of a “props” to the Probation Dept. Those baffoons aren’t worth the tax money they steal from the states for their paychecks.
You say “However I completed my probation and theropy. I am no longer a threat!”
You probably were NEVER a threat. And here’s a little something for everyone to take into consideration about “plea bargains” –
If your crime could land you 5 years in prison but the D.A. makes you a deal to do 2 yrs with 5 suspended and 5 yrs of probation, YOU CAN DENY THAT OFFER and take the FULL 5 YEARS and get out of prison SCOT FREE with no bafoon probation officer or “treatment” group to answer to. This goes for convictions for ALL types of crimes. No one wants to do the maximum sentence, however, if you do, you come out free as a bird with no one telling you that you CAN’T HAVE A COMPUTER, YOU CANNOT GO TO YOUR DAUGHTER’S HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION, YOU CAN’T SHOP AT A MALL OR GO TO A MOVIE THEATER. None of this utterly useless nonsense if you take the full (or close to it) amount of prison time. Remember, the ACCUSED can have his/her say in a plea bargain.
That in and of itself PROVES that there is no real “threat” and no need for so called “supervision”. All that nonsense is to earn $$$$ and get votes from the frightened puppets known as the tax payers.
I just want to add that the registry didn’t stop those 32, nor would it potentially stop the rest for that matter.
For my offense committed in 2000 in Michigan, I was ultimately incarcerated in that state between 2003 and 2009. During that time, due to my educated background, I worked as a tutor and later as the law library clerk. During this time I became familiar with the work of CAPPS, as very heavily involved in bringing some degree of rational analysis to the vastly exploding Michigan prison system. CAPPS reports were almost literally the only voice in the wilderness of panic, well researched and presented, and moreover they were able to present them to the legislature and other authorities in Michigan. I believe the efforts of such groups, and of course RSOL, that enabled some of the more rational people in government to cite scientific data on recidivism which ultimately increased the parole rate for many categories of offenders.
When I began my term, the release rate for incarcerated sex offenders was about 15%, and subsequently dropped even lower, despite the fact that such offenders had the lowest risk of re-offense among all categories of offenders. When I was finally released, in 2009, the release rate had climbed back up to about 30% for sex offenders. CAPPS may have been indispensable to this move.
This comment is my way of saying thanks to them.
I agree, I know two men who offended in their teens and that was over 25 years ago. They follow all the laws and it is unreasonable the lives they have to live. They have family and grown children who are affected by the stigma they endure and the hardship of finding work and leading a normal life. There should be time limits based on the person case and record. No one can prevent someone from offending only the person themselves, many have proven they have stopped, many deserve s second chance. We need to help them.
It appears to me after a person has done his time whether in jail or on probation that man has to hold them accountable for the rest of their life. Keeping one in check for an offense till there dying days seems to be a bit much. Most all of SO’s want to forget all this and put the past behind them but Court officials and law makers think that the Sex Offender is the worst thing on earth, that the sex offender is an elite group by itself.
Law makers are an elite group by themselves and people that vote for these people that make up all this should vote for the more Christian one as the sex offender is a characteristic of the human make up.
Only God can change that with the renewing of the mind and government doesn’t want to hear about God and what he can do.
It is sad that Government doesn’t realize God is in control to change a person if they only ask. We need more of a God-Centered nation.
I agree with you. My husband is a registered sex offender for an offense that happened right after his 18th birthday. He is now 42 years old and this still haunts us as a family. We have raised five children together and it was always an issue about if he could go to school events. The kids’ friends’ parents found out and questioned us. We are on the no-no list of houses at Halloween. It comes up on background checks when he was job searching. He is a good man who made a bad choice at 18. Should him and our family be punished for life because of that? Just to put it in perspective, he did 9 whole months of work release, and a lifetime of shame of ridicule.
You folks are right. The short version is that the sentencing guidelines and registration requirements of the Adam Walsh Act are not fair, nor do they accomplish what they were suppose to do. One size does not fit all. The problem lies with politicians who do not actually read the laws they vote for. They are not interested in what’s fair, or research, statistics, data and facts. They even ignore the opinion of legal professionals. They make decisions based the fear-mongering news media who live off sensationalism, high profile cases and paranoid uneducated voters. I know of only one or two politicians in federal government ( and none in our state gov)
that have had the guts to stand up for what’s right. The rest are too busy KEEPING their jobs to actually DO their jobs.
I was convicted of one count of invasion of privacy in Pennsylvania from using an old cell phone to basically “sneak a peek” I didn’t even know this was a Meagan’s Law offense at the time and neither did my lawyer. Turns out it never was before the Adam Walsh Act of 2012. I had all of the official testing done and had no mental abnormalities and even though it was only an M3, I was given an SVP status. I lost my job with the township, my promotion, my pension, my car, home, and became homeless sleeping in a field. I know how horrible this can be and is designed to make it impossible for a person to exist. I was given a life sentence for an M3 and 7 years of probation. Meagan’s Law is the worst part of the sentence and every study has shown that it doesn’t help anyone; not victims, or offenders. It has created an entirely new “decay” of society. I can’t find work even though a went to college and have a good resume. This is why people become new types of criminals, because they have nothing to lose and nothing to live for. The justice system produces criminals instead of preventing them with Meagn’s Law. I am not condoning illegal activity, I just believe there is a difference between a child rapist and someone who did something petty. There were no minors involved in my crime either.