Age of first arrest and its relationship to repeat arrests for sexual offending behaviors in children and adolescents

This retrospective correlation study begins with the collection of data from all juvenile sex offenders (JSO) arrested in the year 2000 within the State of Florida. The age of 2,169 JSOs at the time of their first sexual offending arrest was documented as well as the gender and race of each JSO. Also documented was whether each youth had repeated arrests for sexual offences during a subsequent five year follow-up period from 2000-2005. Descriptive statistics reveal the largest groups of first time sexual offenders were youth 17 years of age, followed by 14-year-olds and then 16-year-olds. The lowest numbers of first time offenders were 11-year-olds followed by children under the age of 11 years. The results also indicate the highest percentages of repeat offenders were found among 11-year-olds with the 12 year old group having the next highest percentage. The lowest percentage of repeat offenders was observed among individuals aged 17 years at the time of their first sex offense arrest with 16-year-old offenders having the next lowest percentage. An analysis of the data using the Pearson's chi-square test reveals there is an association between the ages of JSOs at the time of their first arrest for offending behaviors and their recidivism rates for future sexual offenses. Specifically, teenagers who commit their first sexual offense at a later age (16 and 17 years of age) have a lower likelihood of being repeat offenders than those who commit their first sex offense at an earlier age (11 through 14 years of age). T-tests were used to determine that the proportion of repeat offenders aged 11, 12, 13, and 14 years was significantly higher than the proportion among those who were 16 and 17 years of age at the time of their first offense. There were no statistically significant associations between gender or race and the likelihood of being a repeat sex offender among JSOs in this study.