Juvenile Sexual Crime Reporting Rates Are Not Influenced by Juvenile Sex Offender Registration Policies

• NCJ Number: 251899
• Journal: Psychology, Public Policy, and Law Volume: 23 Issue: 2 Dated: 2017 Pages: 131-140
• Author(s): Jeffrey C. Sandler; Elizabeth J. Letourneau; Donna M. Vandiver; Ryan T. Shields; Mark Chaffin
• Date Published: 2017
• Length: 10 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Study/Research); Report (Grant Sponsored); Program/Project Description; Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study used National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) data on juvenile sexual crime reports originating in four states to assess the association between four different juvenile sex offender registration policies and juvenile sexual crime reports.

Abstract

Autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) analyses revealed no significant changes from before to after the implantation of juvenile registry requirements, suggesting that none of the tested policies influenced juvenile sexual crime reports. These results are commensurate with the only study evaluating juvenile sex offender registration on first-time sexual crimes and with the broader literature evaluating (and failing to find) an association between juvenile sex offender registration enactment and juvenile sexual offense recidivism rates. Juvenile sex offender registration policies were implemented with the primary aim of improving public safety. To date, no published studies support any public safety effect associated with juvenile sex offender registration policies. The current findings, when coupled with the larger literature base, support efforts to exclude juveniles from state and federal registration policies. (Publisher abstract modified)