Facts and Fiction about Sex Offenders

5-2-15 New Hampshire:

The New Hampshire Prison sex offender treatment program compiled recidivism data in 1999 for a national survey by the Colorado Department of Corrections.

Lance Messenger, the New Hampshire program director at the time, reported a 6.2% sex crime re-arrest rate after an average of 4.8 years on parole for 204 men who completed the Intensive Sex Offender Treatment Program.

The recidivism rate was 12.4% for 435 sex offenders who received no treatment and had spent an average of 8.6 years in the community. Messenger is now in private practice and recently told this writer his report did not constitute a rigorous scientific study. ..Source..

New Hampshire Sex Offender Recidivism Rates

5-2-15 New Hampshire:

It seems NH doesn't want the world to know the specific recidivism rates for sex offenders. The way the state compiles its recidivism rates is by groups: Violent, Property, Drug and Public Order. In addition their definition of recidivism is misleading "Recidivism rate refers to the percentage of a cohort, or sub-group, of offenders who are re-incarcerated in the state’s prison system as a result of a new sentence, a parole revocation or a probation revocation, within three years of their release." That making it impossible to get true recidivism rates by crime types.

With that in mind we looked at their 2014 report (2008 cohorts/releases) Appendix-B (very last page) and summing all sex related groups came cup with roughly 20% remembering that includes returns to prison for non sex crimes (Technical violations) as well.

They do have another page of all of their past recidivism reports on this site which folks may wish to review.