OH- Five Year Recidivism Follow-Up Of Sex Offender Releases

August 1996

INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this report is to determine baseline recidivism rates for sex offenders releasedfrom Ohio’s prisons. This information is important in understanding the proportion of sex offenderswho return to Ohio’s prisons, as well as the nature of their recidivism crimes.

METHODOLOGY
The 1989 Ohio prison release population was identified in order to establish a five yearfollow up period. This included three different release type populations. The first group, expirationof definite sentence, or flat time offenders, were those who received a definite (flat) sentence for athird or fourth degree felony and were released without any further supervision once they had servedtheir sentence. The second group of offenders released were parolees. These offenders had beengiven an indeterminate sentence, (i.e., 5 to 25 years) and were subsequently approved by the ParoleBoard to be released into the community with supervision before completing their maximumsentence. The last group of offenders was given a suspended sentence. These offenders had beenplaced in prison for a short time, and then granted shock probation by a judge. They also were placedunder community supervision.

Of those released from Ohio’s prisons in 1989, 848 were identified as sex offenders. For the purposes of this study, sex offenders were defined as those inmates whose commitment offense wasany of the following offenses: ..more.. by Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction