Part 1 of Sex Offenders and Laws in Minnesota talked about the years of active legislation in Minnesota that enabled law enforcement agencies to get a handle on sex offenders through state and federal registry programs. However, once the sex offender is released from jail, the public needed to know if these sex offenders would re-offend again. As a result, the Minnesota Correctional Facility (MCF) conducted a study on 3,166 sex offenders who were released from jail between 1990 and 2002.

First, the study examined the factors that influenced sex offender recidivism. MCF tracked this group of sex offenders for over an eight-year period. The study analyzed whether intense supervision as well as length of supervision of sex offenders influenced recidivism. The study also tracked the effects of treatment on recidivism as well as the likelihood of re-offending.

The results of the eight-year study showed these results:

• Prior sex crimes, stranger victims, male child victims (i.e. deviant sexual interests), and treatment failures significantly increased an offender’s risk of recidivating with a sex crime.
• Post-release supervision had a significant impact on the extent to which sex offenders’ recidivated. Over the last 15 years sexual recidivism rates dropped from 15% to 3% because of intense supervisions for longer periods of time following release from prison.
• The intensity of post-release supervision decreased the extent to which sex offenders’ recidivated with sex offenses.

The study goes on to say that when sex offenders are placed on ISR (Intense Supervised Release), they are continuously supervised by a team of three to five supervision agents, whose caseloads are capped at 15 per state law. During all four phases of ISR, offenders are required to maintain steady employment, comply with random alcohol/drug testing and are subjected to unannounced face-to-face contacts with their supervision agents at both their residence and place of work.

Sex offenders must remain on ISR until they successfully complete all four phases of the program, or until they reach the expiration of their sentence. Due to the longer, more intensive periods of post-release supervision, the study found that sex offenders were getting revoked more often and returned to prison for longer periods of time.

Even though the Minnesota Correctional Facility’s study shows progress is being made in reducing sex offenders’ recidivism rate, you are the first line of defense to keep your children safe. Be aware of who is living next door to you or near your child’s school or playground. You can also check the Minnesota Registry that lists Level 3 sex offenders published by the Minnesota Department of Corrections. You can play a big part in helping to prevent crime.