MYTH 1:
Most sexual assaults are committed by strangers.
REALITY:
Most sexual assaults are committed by someone known to the victim or the victim's family, regardless of whether the victim is a child or an adult.
MYTH 2:
Most sex offenders reoffend
REALITY:

This is the most common and most commonly exploited myth - and the easiest one to dispel with governmental research and reports. For example:

During September 1998, the Research Unit of the Arizona Department of Corrections. (ADC) completed an analysis of sex offenders released from ADC custody over the ten-year period from July 1988 through June 1998.

2,444 sex offenders were released from ADC custody over the ten-year period. The average period of follow-up (to June 30, 1998) for all sex offenders was 54.5 months. Among the 2,444, 509 or 20.8 % returned at least once to the custody of the Department, including 346 or 14.2% with new felony convictions. While sex offenders returned to prison for a variety of new crimes, 78 or 3.2% returned for a new felony sex offense.

Among the 2,444 released sex offenders, 1,087 (44.5%) were released to the supervision of ADC parole officers. Among this group, eight (8) or 0.7% were found to have committed a new sex offense during the period of parole supervision. Among the eight (8), one (1) or 0.1% returned to custody with a new sex offense conviction while still under supervision. The remaining seven (7) were returned to custody after termination of the period of supervision.

The most serious new sex offense committed by the 78 sex offense recidivists was:
Child molestation or sexual conduct with a minor 34(44% of 78)
Rape or sexual assault 22(28%)
Sexual indecency (exposing) 14(18%)
Sexual abuse 8(10%)

FROM ANOTHER STUDY - A META-ANALYSIS:

The 61 studies provided information on 28,972 sexual offenders, although sample sizes were smaller for any particular analysis. On average, the sex offense recidivism rate was 13.4% ( n = 23,393; 18.9% for 1,839 rapists and 12.7% for 9,603 child molesters). The average follow-up period was 4 to 5 years. The recidivism rate for nonsexual violence was 12.2% ( n = 7,155), but there was a substantial difference in the nonsexual violent recidivism rates for the child molesters (9.9%; n = 1,774) and the rapists (22.1%; n = 782). When recidivism was defined as any reoffense, the rates were predictably higher: 36.3% overall ( n = 19,374), 36.9% for the child molesters ( n = 3,363), and 46.2% for rapists ( n = 4,017). These averages should be considered cautiously because they are based on diverse methods and follow-up periods, and many sexual offenses remain undetected ( Bonta & Hanson, 1994 ).

Predicting Relapse -A Meta-Analysis of Sexual Offender Recidivism Studies
BY R. Karl Hanson, Corrections Research Department of the Solicitor General of Canada
Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology © 1998 by the American Psychological Association
April 1998 Vol. 66, No. 2, 348-362



Most former sex offenders were intra-familial cases. These are the individuals with the lowest risk of re-offence.

The only categories of sex offender with a high risk of re-offence are: Rapists or true predatory pedophiles, which make up such a small fraction of cases.

It is noteworthy that recidivism rates for sex offenders are lower than for the general criminal population. For example, one study of 108,580 non-sex criminals released from prisons in 11 states in 1983 found that nearly 63% were rearrested for a nonsexual felony or serious misdemeanor within three years of their release from incarceration; 47% were reconvicted; and 41% were ultimately returned to prison or jail (Bureau of Justice Statistics).

MYTH 3:
Sexual offense rates are higher than ever and continue to climb.
REALITY:
Despite the increase in publicity about sexual crimes, the actual rate of reported sexual assault has decreased slightly in recent years.

The rate of reported rape among women decreased by 10% from 1990 to 1995 (80 per 100,000 compared to 72 per 100,000) (Greenfeld, 1997). In 1995, 97,460 forcible rapes were reported to the police nation-wide, representing the lowest number of reported rapes since 1989.

More recently, when examining slightly different measures, it appears that rates have continued to drop. The arrest rate for all sexual offenses (including forcible rape and excluding prostitution) dropped 16% between 1993 and 1998. In 1998, 82,653 arrests were logged for all sexual offenses, compared to 97,955 arrests in 1993 (Federal Bureau of Investigations, 1997 and 1998).

MYTH 4:
Children who are sexually assaulted will sexually assault others when they grow up.
REALITY:
Most sex offenders were not sexually assaulted as children and most children who are sexually assaulted do not sexually assault others.

Early childhood sexual victimization does not automatically lead to sexually aggressive behavior. While sex offenders have higher rates of sexual abuse in their histories than expected in the general population, the majority were not abused. Among adult sex offenders, approximately 30% have been sexually abused. Some types of offenders, such as those who sexually offend against young boys, have still higher rates of child sexual abuse in their histories (Becker and Murphy, 1998).

While past sexual victimization can increase the likelihood of sexually aggressive behavior, most children who were sexually victimized never perpetrate against others.

MYTH 5:
Longer sentences and harsher punishments will deter sexual abusers.
REALITY:

In reality, already long sentences, lifetime registration, notification or even GPS monitoring does NOT deter people from committing sexual abuse.

Considering that the majority of sexual abuse of children (CSA) is perpetrated by someone within the family or that the child knows and trusts, longer sentences (such as a recent federal proposal of mandatory minimums of 25-life, and the Jessica Lunsford Act) will only deter reporting of those very offenses! If mom knows that dad (or step-dad, or even grandpa, uncle or another child within the family) will go to prison for life, she is not likely to report the abuse to authorities.

This may be hard to understand, but knowing how the family members are treated by those within the system (Social Services, the courts and Federal agencies such as HUD) and by the community and society in general, it becomes obvious how someone would not want to subject their entire family to the lifelong shame, stigma, humiliation and intense ostracism automatically transferred to them simly by being associated with a sex offender.

This is not good for anyone: the offender will not get the necessary treatment, neither will the victim!

Non-offending parents and parents of juvenile offenders have told SOhopeful specifically that their child-victim stated that if they knew what was going to happen to their family, they never would have disclosed in the first place. That is, they would rather have endured the abuse then what the family has had to endure at the hands of the very system that is supposed to protect them and the society who is supposed to care so much for the victim. This is a very damning indictment against the current system.