An Examination of the Degree to Which Sex Offenders Kill

• Author: Lisa L. Sample
• Published date: 01 September 2006
• DOI: 10.1177/0734016806292929
• Date: 01 September 2006
• Subject Matter: Articles

230

An Examination of the Degree

to Which Sex Offenders Kill

Lisa L. Sample

University of Nebraska at Omaha

It seems clear that most of our current sex offender policies and those being proposed for the

future are the result of sexually related homicides against children committed by previously

convicted sex offenders. Given the enactment of these laws, one implicit legislative assump-

tion emerges: that many, if not most, sex offenders go on to kill. This study explores the

assumption that sex offenders often kill their victims. Specifically, criminal history informa-

tion from Illinois from 1990 to 1997 is analyzed to examine the degree to which sex offend-

ers are charged with murder in conjunction with a sex crime and the likelihood of arrested sex

offenders experiencing a future arrest for homicide. These results are compared to those found

for other types of nonsexual offenders. Findings indicate that sex offenders do not frequently

commit murder, nor do they commit homicide at higher rates than other types of offenders.

Keywords: sex offender; recidivism; community notification; homicide

On observation, it is clear that most of the current sex offender policies we have today,

and those being proposed for the future, are the result of sexually related homicides

against children committed by previously convicted sex offenders. For example, Megan

Kanka, Jacob Wetterling, and Jessica Lunsford were all children who were abducted, sex-

ually assaulted, and killed by repeat sex offenders, and all share the distinction of having

sex offender legislation passed in their names. At the national level, in 1994, the Jacob

Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act man-

dated that 10% of a state’s funding under the Edward Bryne Memorial State and Local Law

Enforcement Assistance grant program be used for establishing a statewide system for reg-

istering and tracking convicted sex offenders (National Criminal Justice Association,

1997). The Wetterling Act was amended by the passage of “Megan’s Law” in 1996, which

requires states to make sex offender registry information available to the public. More

recently, at the state level, Florida legislators passed the Jessica Lunsford Act, which

lengthens the sentences that sex offenders will serve on conviction and requires lifetime

tracking by global positioning satellite once sex offenders emerge from prison (948.30 f.s.).

The march of sex offender legislation is unlikely to stop here, however, as new cases of sex-

ually motivated homicides against children occur.

In May 2005, Shasta Groene, 8, and her brother Dylan, 9, were found missing from their

Idaho home where the bodies of their mother, 13-year-old brother, and their mother’s

Criminal Justice Review

Volume 31 Number 3

September 2006 230-250

© 2006 Georgia State University

Research Foundation, Inc.

10.1177/0734016806292929

http://cjr.sagepub.com

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Author’s Note: The author wishes to thank the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation and the University of

Missouri–St. Louis Graduate School for the funding to conduct this research. The author also wishes to thank

Timothy Bray, Richard Rosenfeld, and the anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions, which

helped to make this a better article. The views expressed herein reflect only those of the author.

Sample / Degree to Which Sex Offenders Kill 231

boyfriend were discovered (“Groene Suspect Charged With Kidnapping,” 2005). By July,

Shasta had been found alive and in the custody of a previously convicted and registered sex

offender, Joseph Duncan. She reported that she and her brother had been repeatedly sexu-

ally molested (“Authorities in Idaho Case Find Human Remains,” 2005). Her brother Dylan

was later found dead. The father of these children has now added his voice to the calls of

Jessica Lunsford’s and Polly Klass’s fathers for Congress to enact additional sex offender

legislation, a national sex offender registry (“Authorities in Idaho Case Find Human

Remains,” 2005). The hope is that this legislation would help prevent sex offenders from

moving from state to state unnoticed. Although Congress has not moved to enact this leg-

islation to date, it seems likely that it will pass in the future. The passage of a national reg-

istry would simply provide further evidence that current sex offender laws are predicated

on sexually related homicides against children.

The media attention given to the murder of children by previously convicted sex offend-

ers, and the subsequent passage of sex offender laws, has firmly established a connection

between sex offending and homicide, at least for those offenders who offend against chil-

dren. In many cases, however, these laws have not been applied to only sex offenders with

child victims. In some states, notification has been applied to all sex offenders equally, irre-

spective of their crime type or age of their victims. Given the broad application of some sex

offender policies, one implicit assumption then emerges: Many, if not most, sex offenders

go on to kill. This assumption leads to two important questions, both of which have policy

implications for the future. First, to what degree do sex offenses precede, or occur in con-

junction with, a homicide? Second, are sex offenders more prone to committing homicide

than other groups of offender types? Answers to these questions provide insight into the

degree to which sex offender policies will help prevent lethal violence and may also help

narrow the scope of our current laws so they may better address those that present the most

danger to society.

This study explores simply one assumption underlying sex offender laws, the notion that

sex offenders often kill their victims. Specifically, criminal history information from Illinois

from 1990 to 1997 was analyzed to determine to what degree sex offenders are charged with

murder in conjunction with their arrest for a sex crime and the likelihood of arrested sex

offenders experiencing a future arrest for homicide. The results from this research are dis-

cussed in terms of the potential efficacy of current, and proposed, sex offender policies.

Undoubtedly, there are many assumptions about sex offenders and their behaviors that

underlie sex offender laws. Inherent in laws requiring registration and global tracking of

sex offenders is the notion that these offenders will inevitably reoffend. Why else would

they be required to provide their addresses to the public and law enforcement agencies or

have all their movements tracked and monitored? Also inherent in current sex offender poli-

cies is the assumption that sex offenders are a homogenous group of criminals, experienc-

ing similar levels of reoffending. Why else would registration and community notification

laws be applied to all sex offenders in some states regardless of their offense type, personal

circumstance, or age of their victims? These are important assumptions to investigate, as

they undeniably have implications for the success of sex offender polices at achieving goals

of deterrence and prevention. What appears to have driven most of our current policies,

however, is the sexual assault and murder of children. In fact, one has to wonder if

Congress would have passed the Wetterling Act or “Megan’s Law” if these children would