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Chart comparing 9-year rearrest rates by most serious commitment offense type. The chart shows that people released after serving sentences for rape or sexual assault are much less likely than those who served sentences for property, drug, public order, or violent crimes generally to be rearrested.

Data Source: Based on Table 2 of "Recidivism of Sex Offenders Released from State Prison: A 9-Year Follow-up (2005-2014), Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2019. Note that arrest does not indicate conviction or actual guilt. (Graph: Wendy Sawyer, 2019)

This graph originally appeared in BJS fuels myths about sex offense recidivism, contradicting its own new data.

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