An assessment of the risk of recidivism in convicted sexual offenders in Nyeri Maximum Security Prison Kenya

Abstract

Introduction Sexual offence recidivism can contribute significantly to the total tally of sexual offences in a community. The risk of re-offending varies from one individual offender to the other so that assessing the level of risk in any particular offender can help in planning his/her management in order to minimize the risk. Various methods of risk assessment have been developed and used in some countries to achieve this objective. These methods fall in two main categories, the actuarial and the clinical. Some approaches have used a combination of these two approaches in an attempt to improve the predictive validity achieved by the other two. Objectives (a) To determine the levels of risk of recidivism in a population of convicted sexual offenders. (b) To assess adequacy of data in forensic records, that is relevant to risk of re-offending in convicted Sexual Offenders. (c) Make recommendations on the application of risk assessment procedures in preventing recidivism by Sex Offenders discharged from correctional institutions. (d) Make recommendations for further research. Study design: This is a cross-sectional descriptive study. Methodology: Those who volunteered for the study and gave informed written consent were interviewed using a socio-demographic questionnaire. Then the risk assessment instrument-the Static-99 - was scored from documented information as well as self-reports. Results Of the 79 subjects, 48 (60.76%), were convicted of defilement and attempted defilement, 19 (24.05%), of rape and attempted rape, 5 (6.33), of incest, 3 (3.8%), of unnatural offences and another 4 (5.06%), of indecent assault. For the risk assessment scores, 29 (36.6%), of the 79 participants had a Low Risk Category, 41 (51.9%), had a Medium Low Risk level of recidivism while 9 (11.4%), had a medium High level risk of recidivism. The Scores ranged from 0-5 with a mean score of 2.06 (SO 1.18). Conclusions The subjects obtained a risk of recidivism score of between 0-5 on the Static-99 instrument. These translated to a risk of recidivism score of a low of 5% to a high of 40% for the 0 and 5 score respectively. Other subjects fell in between. In the study sexual offenders of all age groups were represented in the sample. However, most offenders were in the younger age groups below the age of forty.