NCJ Number
214628
Date Published
March 2006
Length
48 pages
Annotation
This study examined the prevalence of sex offenders and parolees convicted of nonsex offenses residing in long-term care facilities; any harms they might have caused while in these facilities; legal requirements for notifying facilities and others when offenders were residents; and the extent to which such facilities had different supervision and separation requirements for offender residents.
Abstract
The study identified approximately 700 registered sex offenders living in long-term care facilities in all States during 2005. The study recommends that the FBI assess the completeness of the National Sex Offender Registry (NSOR) and assess options to increase its comprehensiveness. There were 204 parolees convicted for nonsex offenses residing in long-term care facilities in the 8 States that received a detailed review. Most identified sex offenders were male, under age 65, and living in nursing homes. The study could not determine the overall risk posed by registered sex offenders and parolees in these facilities, because the reporting of resident abusive behavior was not linked to offender status. Facility administrators expressed greater concern about the risk posed by cognitively impaired or mentally ill residents. Federal law requires State law enforcement agencies to release relevant information about registered sex offenders when necessary to protect the public, but the study did not identify a similar Federal law for the parolee population. Long-term care facilities contacted for the study did not routinely impose different supervision or separation requirements on residents who were offenders based only on their prior convictions. This study analyzed NSOR, which is a compilation of sex offender registries submitted by all States. The study compared data from the sex offender registries with NSOR data from seven of the eight States reviewed. Data on parolees that included address information was obtained from State databases in the eight States. 4 tables and appended supplementary information