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Abstract: 

Author’s Note: Much of the material found in this summary may be found in Franklin Zimring, Alex R. Piquero, and Wesley G. Jennings, “Sexual Delinquency in Racine: Does Early Sex Offending Predict Later Sex Offending in Youth and Young Adulthood?,” Criminology & Public Policy (forthcoming 2007); and Franklin Zimring, Wesley G. Jennings, Stephanie Hays, and Alex R. Piquero, “The Predictive Power of Juvenile Sex Offending: Evidence From the Second Philadelphia Birth Cohort Study,” unpublished manuscript (2007). The public policy portrait of sex offenders is based, in large part, on the assumption that sex offenders are persistent offenders who specialize in sex offenses to the neglect of other types of offenses, and whose offending careers are marked by high recidivism and dangerousness to their victims. In a confusing manner, the research that exists with respect to these assumptions has both supported and refuted most of the forementioned statements.

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Affiliations:  1: John Jay College of Criminal Justice.