Citation

Webster CM, Rosemary G, Doob AN. Can. J. Criminol. Crim. Justice 2006; 48(1): 79-93.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Canadian Criminal Justice Association, Publisher University of Toronto Press)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

A recently published article by Langevin, Curnoe, Fedoroff, Bennett, Lungevin, Peever, Pettica, and Sandhu (2004) reports a recidivism rate of 88.3% for sex offenders. A detailed analysis of the study demonstrates that this unusually high level is uninterpretable because the offenders whose criminal careers were followed are unlikely to be representative of sex offenders in general. Furthermore, the measure of recidivism used in the study not only distorts the normal meaning of recidivism but also artefactually creates an inflated -- and consequently meaningless -- recidivism rate.