SynthesisTrauma, violence & abuse2024
A meta-analysis of trends in general, sexual, and violent recidivism among youth with histories of sex offending.
Synthesis in Trauma, violence & abuse, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 34 citations in OpenAlex.
- Examining Benchmarks of Sexual Recidivism Rates for Short, Moderate, and Long-Term Follow-Up Periods: A Meta-Analysis of Canadian and American Studies.Trauma, violence & abuse · 2026Pooled it
- Constructing Offender Typologies From Judicial Data: A Clustering Analysis of Sextortion Cases.Sexual abuse : a journal of research and treatment · 2026Article
- Criminal Careers in the Making? Characteristics and Trajectories of Juveniles Charged With a Sexual Offense.Sexual abuse : a journal of research and treatment · 2026Article
- Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Adolescents with Problem Sexual Behaviors: Feasibility and Acceptability for Alleviating Traumatic Stress, Regulation Problems, and Sexual Behavior Problems.Journal of child & adolescent trauma · 2025Article
- Assessing Variability in Offending Between Sex and Non-Sex Offenders Through Age 70.Criminal behaviour and mental health : CBMH · 2025Article
- Characteristics of harmful sexual behaviour in autistic adolescent males as compared to controls.Psychiatry, psychology, and law : an interdisciplinary journal of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Psychiatry, Psychology and Law · 2025Article
- "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late:" Exploring the Role of the Criminal Justice System Within the Narratives of Men Convicted of Sexual Recidivism in Norway and North America.Sexual offending (Trier, Germany) · 2025Article
- Sex Offender Recidivism: Some Lessons Learned From Over 70 Years of Research.Criminal justice review · 2024Article
- substance use and recidivism of intimate partner violence in Peru: A cross-sectional study.Health psychology research · 2024Article
- Expanding treatment pathways for sexually abusive behaviour in young people: an examination of Therapeutic Treatment Orders.Psychiatry, psychology, and law : an interdisciplinary journal of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Psychiatry, Psychology and Law · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Recent research suggests that sexual recidivism rates have been declining, which contrasts with observations regarding general recidivism rates as well as perceptions of sexual reoffending risk. If sexual recidivism rates are in decline, it raises fundamental policy questions about the youth justice system's tendency to operate on the assumption that juvenile sexual offending is a risk marker for sexual reoffending in adulthood. A systematic review and a quantitative meta-analysis were conducted to determine the general, violent, and sexual recidivism rates of adolescent perpetrators of sexual offenses with data stemming from studies published worldwide between 1940 and 2019. A total of 158 empirical studies including 30,396 adolescent perpetrators of sexual offenses were retrieved to examine estimates of general, violent, and sexual recidivism. The study findings highlight that the risk of general recidivism (weighted pooled mean = .44) is substantially higher than violent (weighted pooled mean = .18) and sexual recidivism (weighted pooled mean = .08). The study did not observe convincing evidence that sexual recidivism rates for adolescent perpetrators are declining, but rather that these rates have been consistently low over the years. There was strong evidence that multiple study characteristics moderate the recidivism rates observed. Given the low weighted pooled sexual recidivism rate reported in the study, the use of adult-like strategies to increase public safety and prevent sexual recidivism seems misguided, not only because sexual recidivism is unlikely, but also because such strategies are not developed to address general criminogenic needs that may explain general recidivism rates observed.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.