Are Actuarial Risk Data Used to Make Determinations of Sex Offender Risk Classification?

• Published date: 01 August 2011
• Date: 01 August 2011
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X10372784
• Subject Matter: Articles

Articles

International Journal of

Offender Therapy and

Comparative Criminology

55(5) 676 –692

© 2011 SAGE Publications

Reprints and permission:

sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav

DOI: 10.1177/0306624X10372784

http://ijo.sagepub.com

Are Actuarial Risk Data Used

to Make Determinations of

Sex Offender Risk

Classification? An Examination

of Sex Offenders Selected for

Enhanced Registration and

Notification

Brandy L. Blasko1, Elizabeth L. Jeglic2,

and Cynthia Calkins Mercado2

Abstract

This study examined whether evaluators use actuarial risk scores and risk information

to make determinations about sex offender risk status for the purpose of enhanced

registration and notification. Although it was expected that sexual offenders selected

for enhanced registration and notification would have higher scores on actuarial risk

assessment tools than those who were not selected, few differences were found

between groups with regard to risk factors associated with sexual offense recidivism.

Given that actuarial tools enhance the prediction of sexual recidivism, this study

may shed light on problems in the implementation of sex offender policy measures.

Results are discussed as they pertain to the assessment and application of registration

and community notification statutes for sexual offenders.

Keywords

sex offender, assessment, sexually violent predator, community notification

1Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

2John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York

Corresponding Author:

Brandy L. Blasko, Department of Criminal Justice, Temple University, 1115 W. Berks St.,

5th Fl., Gladfelter Hall, Philadelphia, PA 19122

Email: bblasko@temple.edu

Blasko et al. 677

During the past two decades, policy makers and legislators have increasingly devel-

oped and enacted new laws that attempt to prevent sexual offense recidivism, including

enhanced sentencing, registration and community notification, residence restrictions,

and civil commitment (Levenson & Cotter, 2005; Zimring, 2004). As a result of this

increased focus, clinicians are increasingly tasked with evaluating recidivism risk

among sex offenders (Harris, Rice, & Cormier, 2002). Evaluators’ ability to identify

those sex offenders at highest risk for recidivism depends, however, on their ability to

accurately assess risk (Lucken & Bales, 2008).

Sex Offender Legislation

In 1994, the United States Congress enacted the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against

Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act following the abduction of

11-year-old Jacob Wetterling. In allowing law enforcement agents to track and main-

tain the addresses of known sex offenders, it was hoped that this legislation would

allow for the more rapid apprehension of suspects in sexually related crimes. In 1996,

following the rape and murder of 7-year-old Megan Kanka in New Jersey by a twice-

convicted sex offender, the Jacob Wetterling Act was amended, allowing communities

to be notified of known offenders in their vicinity. This federal legislation, commonly

known as Megan’s Law, mandates that all 50 states maintain a database available to

the public containing information on convicted sex offenders. Although “Megan’s

Laws” vary from state to state with regard to the amount and type of information avail-

able to the public, these notification statutes allow community members to be made

aware of a sex offender’s presence in their neighborhoods.

Although national guidelines for sex offender registration in the United States were

established in 1994 when the Jacob Wetterling Act was enacted, more recently the Sex

Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) has set forth a new set of mini-

mum standards for sex offender registration and notification. These standards were

developed in an attempt to standardize separate amendments that have been made to

the Jacob Wetterling Act since its implementation in 1994.

Enhanced Registration and Community Notification

Enhanced registration and community notification are forms of sex offender–specific

policy implemented to increase public protection by enhancing registration and notifi-

cation requirements for a subset of high-risk sex offenders. Although they are not as

well known as standard registration and notification statutes, these enhanced require-

ments often include a longer registration period, mandated treatment, and also determine

the method of mandated community notification for a subset of high-risk sex offenders.

States typically use either an offender- or offense-based approach to determine the

additional requirements to which offenders are subject under this legislation.

Approximately 20 states currently use an offender-based approach (Terry, 2006).

In these states, a board, committee, or agency is called on to use their discretion in