NCJ Number
217437
Journal
Federal Probation Volume: 70 Issue: 3 Dated: December 2006 Pages: 45-49
Date Published
December 2006
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This study compared the characteristics of adult and juvenile offenders on the Texas sex offender registry, as well as the characteristics of their offenses and victims.
Abstract
Of the 36,347 offenders in the study, 91.45 percent were adults at the time of disposition and 8.55 percent were juveniles. Both adults and juveniles were mostly male, and the majority were classified as White; however, a significantly higher percentage of juvenile offenders were Black (25 percent) compared to the adult offenders (21 percent). Eighty-eight percent of adults and 84 percent of juveniles had committed only one offense. Among those with multiple offenses, juveniles had committed significantly more offenses. Adults were more likely to have committed indecency with a child (36 percent), whereas, juveniles were more likely to have been convicted of aggravated sexual assault against a child (40 percent). The victims of adult offenders ranged in age from 1 to over 90 years old. Victims of juvenile offenders ranged in age from 1 to 85 years old. The mean age of victims of adult offenders was higher than that of the victims of juvenile offenders. Although victims of both adult and juvenile offenders were most likely to be female, juvenile offenders were almost four times more likely than adult offenders to victimize males. The intent of this study is to add to the informed debate on sex offender registries and juvenile sex offenders by showing the difference between registered youths and adults. The dataset for the study was obtained in February 2004. A juvenile was defined as age 17 or younger. 2 tables and 30 references