Are Sex Offender Classifications Effective?

Recent public policy changes seek to improve community safety by standardizing procedures by which states classify sex offenders and subject them to registration notification requirements. Presumably, efforts to classify offenders outlined by the Adam Walsh Act (AWA) are expected to result in better identification and therefore management of offenders who pose the greatest threat to public safety.

“A Multi-state Recidivism Study Using Static-99 and Static-2002 Risk Scores and Tier Guidelines from the Adam Walsh Act” will be the first comprehensive investigation of risk assessment procedures and their predictive validity with samples of American sex offenders. PHS associate professor, Michael Miner, PhD, is a co-principal investigator of this study which is funded by the National Institute of Justice of the United States Department of Justice. Miner described the study by saying, “This research team includes some of the best minds in sex offender and public policy research. It is an honor to be associated with such a great group of researchers and with a project that will inform, and possibly transform, risk assessment and risk management in the United States.”

The principal aim is to examine how well the AWA classification categories predict sexual offender recidivism compared with the Static-99, an actuarial risk assessment instrument. Additional study goals include using Static-99 scores to further examine the risk distribution of Tier III (high risk) offenders as defined by the AWA, determining whether other extant classification schemes accurately predict recidivism, and determining whether type of notification (e.g. aggressive, passive, Internet) is related to recidivism. Finally, extensive examination of the degree to which sex offense recidivism varies with offender age will be investigated. Study data will be collected from five states including Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Florida, and South Carolina. It is expected that this research will inform policy development and implementation and ultimately lead to improved community protection.