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Sexual offenses

On this page, the Prison Policy Initiative has curated all of the research about sexual offenses that we know of. For research on other criminal justice topics, see our Research Library homepage.


  • Sex Offense Civil Commitment Minnesota's Failed Investment and the $100 Million Opportunity to Stop Sexual Violence Mitchell Hamline School of Law, April, 2024“As of September 1, 2023, only 21 of the 946 people committed to the Minnesota Sex Offender Program have been fully discharged from the program (~2%), while at least 94 have died during their commitment (~10%).”
  • Responding to Crimes of a Sexual Nature: What We Really Want Is No More Victims Sentencing Project, January, 2024“Compared to a decade ago, individuals convicted of rape or sexual assault are serving more time in prison prior to release...If this pattern persists over time, it will have a compounding effect on the size of the prison population.”
  • report thumbnail What is civil commitment? Recent report raises visibility of this shadowy form of incarceration Prison Policy Initiative, May, 2023“With little transparency about or consistent standards regarding how to progress through treatment, many people inside say that civil commitment feels like a de facto life sentence.”
  • Inside Illinois Civil Commitment: Treatment Behind Razor Wire Civil Commitment Working Group Illinois, November, 2022“While anecdotal reports do reflect incremental improvements to conditions after recent leadership changes at Rushville, the fact remains that Rushville is not a treatment center, it is a prison full of people who are serving de facto life sentences.”
  • Federal Sentencing of Child Pornography: Production Offenses United States Sentencing Commission, October, 2021“Notably, in 2020 alone, the Cyber Tipline of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received 21.7 million reports of child sexual abuse imagery, online child exploitation and enticement, child sexual molestation, and child sex trafficking.”
  • Sexual Assaults Recorded by Law Enforcement, 2019 Bureau of Justice Statistics, July, 2021“This report presents statistics on sexual assault victimizations that were reported to the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) in 2019 by law enforcement agencies in 20 states.”
  • Federal Sentencing of Child Pornography: Non-Production Offenses United States Sentencing Commission, June, 2021“The average sentence [for non-production child pornography offenses] increased more gradually, from 91 months in fiscal year 2005 to 103 months in fiscal year 2019.”
  • Pushed Out and Locked In: The Catch-22 for New York's Disabled, Homeless, Sex-Offender Registrants Allison Frankel, November, 2019“New York should immediately stop detaining people solely because they are homeless, and divert its attention from sex-offender regulations that have no demonstrable impact on public safety.”
  • The Agony & the Ecstasy of #MeToo: The Hidden Costs of Reliance on Carceral Politics Guy Padraic Hamilton-Smith, July, 2019“Approaches that rely on carceral politics are deaf to the needs of survivors, especially when those needs diverge from maximizing state power.”
  • report thumbnail BJS fuels myths about sex offense recidivism, contradicting its own new data Prison Policy Initiative, June, 2019“The BJS data show that people who served time for sex offenses had markedly lower recidivism rates than almost any other group. Yet the data continue to be framed in misleading ways.”
  • A Texas Sized Failure: Sexual Assaults in Texas Prisons Prison Justice League & the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault, November, 2016“Regardless of claims that PREA standards are being implemented in Texas prisons, reports from prisoners themselves indicate that sexual assaults in Texas correctional facilities remain a serious problem.”
  • Hidden challenges: Sex offenders legislated into homelessness Jill S. Levenson, June, 2016(The unique stigma of the registered sex offender status coupled with residence restrictions can obstruct community re-entry even more profoundly)
  • Partnering with Community Sexual Assault Response Teams: A Guide for Local Community Confinement and Juvenile Detention Facilities Vera Institute of Justice, March, 2016“Partnerships with SARTs can help facilities implement coordinated, victim-centered response policies and procedures that meet key requirements of the PREA standards.”
  • Zero Tolerance: How States Comply With PREA's Youthful Inmate Standard Campaign for Youth Justice, December, 2015“Despite evidence based research highlighting the harms of placing youth in adult facilities and the long term costs of incarceration to youth and society, 1200 youth are in state prisons on any given day across the country.”
  • Sexual Victimization in Juvenile Facilities Reported by Youth, 2012 Bureau of Justice Statistics, June, 2013“An estimated 9.5% of adjudicated youth in state juvenile facilities and state contract facilities (1,720 youth) reported experiencing one or more incidents of sexual victimization in the past 12 months or since admission, if less than 12 months.”
  • PREA Data Collection Activities, 2012 Bureau of Justice Statistics, June, 2012“An estimated 9.6% of former state prisoners reported one or more incidents of sexual victimization during the most recent period of incarceration in a jail, prison, and post-release community-treatment facility.”
  • Prison Rape Elimination Act Data Collection Activities, 2011 Bureau of Justice Statistics, June, 2011
  • PREA Data Collection Activities, 2011 Bureau of Justice Statistics, May, 2011“State prison administrators reported 589 substantiated incidents of sexual victimization in 2008, up 28% from 459 in 2005.”
  • Characteristics Of Suspected Human Trafficking Incidents, 2008-2010 Bureau of Justice Statistics, April, 2011“About 8 in 10 of the suspected incidents of human trafficking were classified as sex trafficking, and about 1 in 10 incidents were classified as labor trafficking.”
  • PREA Data Collection Activities, 2010 Bureau of Justice Statistics, June, 2010“Among youth victimized by staff, 5% reported physical injury; fewer than 1% had sought medical attention.”
  • PREA Data Collection Activities, 2009 Bureau of Justice Statistics, July, 2009“The National Inmate Survey (NIS) gathers data directly from inmates on the incidence of sexual assault in correctional facilities.”
  • National Prison Rape Elimination Report National Prison Rape Elimination Commission, June, 2009“Many victims cannot safely and easily report sexual abuse, and those who speak out often do so to no avail. Reporting procedures must be improved to instill confidence and protect individuals from retaliation without relying on isolation.”
  • Registering Harm How Sex Offense Registries Fail Youth Communities Justice Policy Institute, November, 2008“Continued investments in registries put our families in danger with short-sighted policies that alienate people who are trying to safely re-enter the community.”(See also the Wash Act Briefing Book here: http://www.justicepolicy.org/content-hmID=1811&smID=1581&ssmID=80.htm)
  • Sexual Violence Reported by Juvenile Correctional Authorities, 2005-06 Bureau of Justice Statistics, July, 2008“Sexual misconduct involving staff-on-youth accounted for 28 percent of all substantiated incidents, while staff sexual harassment of youth accounted for 8 percent.”(Males were more likely to be victims of youth-on-youth sexual violence (73%) than victims of staff sexual violence (49%). Females were more likely to be victims of staff sexual violence (51%) than victims of youth-on-youth sexual violence (27%).)
  • Sexual Victimization in Local Jails Reported by Inmates, 2007 Bureau of Justice Statistics, June, 2008“An estimated 5.1% of female inmates, compared to 2.9% of male inmates, said they had experienced one or more incidents of sexual victimization.”
  • The Vortex: The Concentrated Racial Impact of Drug Imprisonment and the Characteristics of Punitive Counties Justice Policy Institute, December, 2007“The report documents racial disparities in the use of prison for drug offenses in 193 of the 198 counties that reported to government entities.”
  • Federal Prosecution of Child Sex Exploitation Offenders, 2006 Bureau of Justice Statistics, December, 2007“The main sex exploitation offense referred to U.S. attorneys shifted from sex abuse (73%) in 1994 to child pornography (69%) in 2006.”
  • Sexual Victimization in State and Federal Prisons Reported by Inmates, 2007 Bureau of Justice Statistics, December, 2007“Nationwide, about 2.1% of inmates reported an incident involving another inmate and 2.9% reported an incident involving staff.”
  • No Easy Answers: Sex Offender Laws in the US Human Rights Watch, September, 2007“The evidence is overwhelming, as detailed in this report, that these laws cause great harm to the people subject to them. On the other hand, proponents of these laws are not able to point to convincing evidence of public safety gains from them.”
  • Sexual Violence Reported by Correctional Authorities, 2006 Bureau of Justice Statistics, August, 2007“There were 2.91 allegations of sexual violence per 1,000 inmates held in prison, jail, and other adult correctional facilities in 2006, up from 2.46 per 1,000 inmates in 2004.”
  • Rates of Sexual Victimization in Prison for Inmates With and Without Mental Disorders Psychiatric services, 2007“Approximately one in 12 male inmates with a mental disorder reported at least one incident of sexual victimization by another inmate over a six-month period, compared with one in 33 male inmates without a mental disorder.”
  • The Culture of Prison Sexual Violence National Institute of Justice; Mark S. Fleisher, Jessie L. Krienert, November, 2006“A majority of inmates reported that inmates' safety -- protection from physical and sexual assault, was the personal responsibility of inmates, independent of institution efforts to protect them.”
  • Addressing Sexual Violence in Prisons Urban Institute, October, 2006
  • Sexual Violence Reported by Correctional Authorities, 2005 Bureau of Justice Statistics, July, 2006“[There were] 885 [substantiated] incidents of sexual violence in 2005... 38% of allegations involved staff sexual misconduct; 35% inmate-on-inmate nonconsensual sexual acts; 17%, staff sexual harassment; and 10% inmate-on-inmate abusive sexual contact.”
  • Sex Offender Sentencing in Washington State: Failure to Register As a Sex Offender Washington State Institute for Public Policy, January, 2006“[S]ex offenders with a conviction for failing to register have recidivism rates that are twice the rate of those without a conviction.”
  • Sex Offender Sentencing in Washington State: Has Community Notification Reduced Recivism? Washington State Institute for Public Policy, December, 2005
  • Sex Offender Sentencing in Washington State: Notification Levels and Recidivism Washington State Institute for Public Policy, December, 2005“The notification levels determined by the ESRC do not classify sex offenders into groups that accurately reflect their risk for reoffending.”
  • Still In Danger: The Ongoing Threat of Sexual Violence against Transgender Prisoners Stop Prisoner Rape and ACLU National Prison Project, September, 2005
  • Sexual Violence Reported by Correctional Authorities, 2004 Bureau of Justice Statistics, July, 2005(required by the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003)
  • PREA Update Stop Prisoner Rape's Report on the Prison Rape Elimination Act Stop Prisoner Rape, May, 2005
  • Deterring Staff Sexual Abuse of Federal Inmates Office of the Inspector General, April, 2005“This report examines sexual abuse of federal inmates by correctional staff and the current law's impact on deterrence of staff sexual abuse”
  • No Refuge Here: A First Look at Sexual Abuse in Immigration Detention Stop Prisoner Rape, October, 2004
  • Custodial Sexual Misconduct Laws: A State-by-State Legislative Review Stop Prisoner Rape (now known as Just Detention International), July, 2004(Check justdetention.org for more recent information)
  • The Sexual Abuse of Female Inmates in Ohio Stop Prisoner Rape, December, 2003
  • Recidivism of Sex Offenders Released from Prison in 1994 Bureau of Justice Statistics, November, 2003
  • Rape and Sexual Assault: Reporting to Police and Medical Attention, 1992-2000 Bureau of Justice Statistics, August, 2002
  • Summary of State Sex Offender Registries, 2001 Bureau of Justice Statistics, March, 2002
  • No Escape: Male Rape in U.S. Prisons Human Rights Watch, April, 2001
  • Sexual Assault of Young Children as Reported to Law Enforcement: Victim, Incident, and Offender Characteristics Bureau of Justice Statistics, July, 2000
  • All Too Familiar: Sexual Abuse of Women in U.S. State Prisons Human Rights Watch, December, 1996(summary and recommendations only)
  • Child Rape Victims, 1992 Bureau of Justice Statistics, June, 1994(based on 15 states)

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