Situational Aspects of Sexual Offending: Implications for Residence Restriction Laws

Abstract

Residence restriction laws, which aim to restrict known sex offenders from residing near child-dense community structures, appear, in part, to be based on the assumption that sex offenders are likely to seek out their victims in public places where children congregate. The current study examined the locations where offenders first came into contact with their victims and the locations where offenders perpetrated offenses. Archival case files ( N = 405) of adult male sex offenders were analyzed to determine the frequency with which sex offenders met their victims and offended in public, semi-public, or private locations. Descriptive analyses revealed that 76.5% of the sex offenders in this sample met their victims in private locations, while 7.7% met their victims in semi-public settings, and 15.8% met their victims in public settings. Similarly, 82.2% of index offenses took place in private locations, while 10.9% and 6.9% occurred in semi-public and public locations, respectively. Given that a minority of offenses occur in public settings, sex offender-specific legislation that restricts offender access to child-dense places may be most effective if tailored narrowly to offender subtypes most likely to seek out victims in public places.