A Multilevel Analysis of Registered Sex Offender Violation Status: The Role of Neighborhood Disadvantage and Social Services (original) (raw)
Related papers
Neighborhood Characteristics and the Social Control of Registered Sex Offenders
2012
This study uses geospatial and regression analyses to examine the relationships among social disorganization, collective efficacy, social control, residence restrictions, spatial autocorrelation, and the neighborhood distribution of registered sex offenders (RSOs) in Chicago. RSOs were concentrated in neighborhoods that had higher levels of social disorganization and lower levels of collective efficacy, offered greater anonymity, and were near other neighborhoods with high concentrations of RSOs. Furthermore, social control mechanisms mediated some of the effects of structural disorganization. The neighborhoods where RSOs were likely to live did not exhibit characteristics that would support the informal social control of such offenders, as RSO legislation assumes.
International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 2011
Despite growing focus on registration and notification systems as central elements of national sex offender management practice, there has been remarkably little systematic analysis of the content of these registries and the diversity of individuals contained within them. Specifically, little research attention has been paid to examining the heterogeneity of the population of registered sex offendersa circumstance that may obscure important distinctions within the population and, in turn, may undermine the ostensible purpose of SORN to prevent sexual victimization. Addressing this significant gap in our current knowledge, this article sets forth a national profile of the registered sex offender (RSO) population, drawn from an analysis of data on 445,127 RSOs obtained from the public registries of 49 states, Washington, DC, Puerto Rico and Guam. In contrast with the homogenized perception about registered sex offenders that permeates much public discourse, the analysis illuminates the wide diversity of registrants across a range of demographic, offense-related, registry status, and risk-oriented variables. Policy and practice implications concerning risk, prevention, and the public safety utility of sex offender registries are discussed.
Revisiting Sex Offender Registration and Notification: Does Awareness Differ Across Community Type?
Criminal Justice Review, 2022
In recent decades, sex offender registry and notification has become ubiquitous across the United States. Although researchers have attempted to evaluate the awareness of registered sex offenders, much of this work has had a nearly unilateral focus on urban communities. In response, researchers have called for further investigation into whether awareness manifests differently across community type (suburban and urban). To address this question, we draw from two data sets. The first data set contains property data for single-family households sold in 2015 from a suburban county in Illinois and an urban county in Kentucky. The second data set consists of survey responses from 113 suburban and 171 urban county residents within 1,000 feet of the nearest sex offender that was delivered via a sequential mixed-mode design. In addition, we investigate whether awareness manifests differently across community type through a number of predictors (e.g., children in the household, education) and potential theoretical explanations (fear of crime, informal social control, and social cohesion). We find that community types do have differing levels of awareness and that varying levels of social cohesion may explain this difference. Implications are also discussed.
Sex Offender Reintegration: Consequences of the Local Neighborhood Context
American Journal of Criminal Justice, 2014
In this paper we seek to assess the effects of the neighborhood context on sex offenders’ perceptions of their neighbor’s willingness to support them upon release. We also examine the effect of the neighborhood context on sex offenders’ feelings of stress and the need for secrecy, potential risk factors for recidivism. Using survey data obtained from a sample of 333 in-treatment sex offenders, we find that the neighborhood social context exerts an important influence on sex offenders’ perceptions of neighborhood support. We also find that offenders are less likely to worry about the negative repercussions of their status as a sex offender when they perceive higher levels of neighborhood support. Despite the limitations of the sample, implications of this research indicate a need for policies that promote public awareness of local sex offenders while also offering education and understanding about potential barriers to successful sex offender reintegration.
Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 2010
This study focuses on the relationship between returning offender residential mobility and neighborhood structural factors characteristic of socially disorganized neighborhoods. It uses a unique data set that combines information on parolees released in the state of California during the 2005-2006 time period with their geocoded addresses to view the types of neighborhoods they are moving to. The authors find that sex offenders are entering neighborhoods with more concentrated disadvantage and residential instability upon reentry from prison and upon subsequent moves. This effect for sex offender status is particularly strong for whites and Latinos, leading them into more socially disorganized neighborhoods. The authors also find that sex offenders are more likely to enter neighborhoods with more minorities as measured by Latinos and African Americans and less likely to enter neighborhoods with more whites.
SEX OFFENDER RESIDENCE RESTRICTIONS: UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES AND COMMUNITY REENTRY
Justice Research and Policy, 2007
Many states and hundreds of local municipalities have passed zoning laws prohibiting sex offenders from living within close proximity to schools, parks, playgrounds, day care centers, and other places where children congregate. The purpose of this study was to investigate the positive and negative, intended and unintended consequences of residence restrictions on sex offenders. Results indicate that residence restrictions create housing instability for many offenders and limited accessibility to employment opportunities, social services, and social support. Young adult offenders were especially impacted because residence restrictions limited affordable housing options and often prevented them from living with family members. Implications for policy development and implementation are discussed.
Justice Research and Policy, 2006
Sex offender registries have been established throughout the United States. To date, 16 states have adopted additional residency restriction policies, precluding registered sex offenders from living within a certain distance of places where children gather. This study quantifies the impact of residency restrictions on housing options for registered sex offenders using Orange County, Florida, as a case study. A Geographic Information System (GIS) is employed to identify all occupied residential properties using parcel-level zoning data as well as those that fall within the 1,000-foot restricted buffer zones around attractions, bus stops, daycares, parks, and schools. Results indicate that housing options for registered sex offenders within urban residential areas are limited to only 5% of potentially available parcels and that bus stop restrictions impact the amount of livable area the most, followed by daycares, schools, parks, and attractions. The limited options to establish residency exist mostly in low-density rural areas. This supports the argument that residency restrictions for sexual offenders are a strong contributing factor to their social and economic isolation. The impacts of increasing the buffer to a proposed 2,500-foot zone are discussed, and a comparison of the individual restriction categories is presented.
Sociology Compass, 2010
Since the mid-1990s legislators have enacted a series of laws regulating convicted sex offenders who have returned to communities. Policymakers crafted these laws to appease a worried public, but they were based on assumptions about sex offenders’ behaviors that were not well supported by research evidence. In this paper we examine the social context within which these laws were passed and the assumptions behind the three most common sex offender laws – mandatory registration, community notification, and residence restrictions. Next we review the research that has been conducted so far to evaluate the effectiveness of these laws and their unintended consequences. We conclude with a discussion of the lessons learned from these sex offender laws for both policymaking and future research.
Examining the Concentration of Registered Sex Offenders in Upstate New York Census Tracts
This study examined the census tract characteristics associated with the spatial concentration of registered sex offender (RSO) residences in 1,823 census tracts across 53 counties in upstate New York. The concentration of RSOs for each tract was measured using excess risk scores, which essentially measures disproportionate concentrations of RSOs based on the resident population of the county and tract. The tract characteristics examined included structure characteristics from the 2010 Census, such as indicators of social disorganization, housing availability and affordability, and population density, legal characteristics describing the presence of residence restrictions, and controls for spatial autocorrelation and regional differences. Results indicate that RSOs are disproportionately more likely to be found in tracts exhibiting high levels of concentrated disadvantage, available housing, and affordable housing, and disproportionately less likely to be found in tracts with high levels of ethnic heterogeneity. Controlling for spatial autocorrelation (lag) did not change overall results, but was significantly and positively associated with excess risk. Implications for future policy and research practices are discussed.
Effectiveness of Residence Restrictions in Preventing Sex Offense Recidivism
Crime & Delinquency, 2012
Many municipalities have recently extended residence restrictions for sex offenders beyond the provisions of state law, although the efficacy of these measures in reducing recidivism has not been empirically established. This study used arrest histories in Jacksonville, Florida, to assess the effects of a recently expanded municipal 2,500-foot residence restriction ordinance on sex crimes and sex offense recidivism. Using a quasiexperimental design, pre-and posttest measures of recidivism were compared, and no significant differences in citywide sex crimes or recidivist sex crimes were found. In addition, time-series analysis revealed no significant differences in sex crime trends over time when compared with nonsex crimes from the same offender sample. After controlling for several demographic factors, individuallevel multivariate results indicate that the timing of the residence restriction policy was not associated with a meaningful change in sex crime arrests or sex offender recidivism after the policy implementation date, suggesting that the residence restriction did not achieve its intended goal of reducing recidivism.