Recidivism rates of sex offenders managed under the Dangerous Prisoners (Sexual Offenders) Act 2003: an evaluation of actuarial justice

According to the Dangerous Prisoners Sexual Offenders Act 2003 (DPSOA), an offender is considered 'dangerous' if there is an 'unacceptable risk' that he will commit 'serious sexual harm'. Current legislation operates within an actuarial justice framework, whereby increa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Psychiatry, psychology, and law Vol. 28; no. 2; pp. 310 - 323
Main Authors:	Rowlands, M.T., Palk, G., Young, R. McD
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	England Routledge 01-04-2021 Australian Academic Press Group Pty Ltd
Subjects:	actuarial justice Courts Dangerous offenders Dangerous Prisoners (Sexual Offenders) Act 2003 dangerous sex offenders dangerousness DPSOA Efficacy Evaluation Law and legislation Legislation Offending Prisoners Recidivism Sex crimes sex offender legislation Sex offenders sex offending Social aspects Violence against Women AUSTRALIA Queensland recidivism sex offender legislation actuarial justice sex offending dangerousness DPSOA Dangerous Prisoners (Sexual Offenders) Act 2003 dangerous sex offenders
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Summary:	According to the Dangerous Prisoners Sexual Offenders Act 2003 (DPSOA), an offender is considered 'dangerous' if there is an 'unacceptable risk' that he will commit 'serious sexual harm'. Current legislation operates within an actuarial justice framework, whereby increasing resources are spent on those considered at greater risk. There is limited research on the efficacy of this approach. The current study examines sexual recidivism rates of a sample of DPSOA offenders. Court files of 104 community-supervised dangerous sex offenders (M age = 50.7 SD = 10.8) were examined to determine date and type of re-offending. Recidivism was operationalised as time until arrest (for a sexual conviction/contravention). The overall level of sexual recidivism was low (7.69%). Kaplan-Meier analyses of survival curves identified no difference in rates between risk categories. While this likely suggests that they are not dangerous or an unacceptable risk, the strict conditions of supervision may be effective in preventing sexual re-offending. Further, limitations in empirically understanding the construct need to be considered.
Bibliography:	PSYCHIATRY, PSYCHOLOGY AND LAW, Vol. 28, No. 2, Apr 2021, 310-323 Informit, Melbourne (Vic) PSYCHIATRY, PSYCHOLOGY AND LAW, Vol. 28, No. 2, Apr 2021, [310]-323 ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	1321-8719 1934-1687
DOI:	10.1080/13218719.2020.1775154