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Unraveling the Sexual Recidivism Drop in the U.S. and Canada  


Author:  Patrick Lussier, Ph.D..


Source: Volume 17, Number 03, Winter 2025 , pp.51-64(14)




Family & Intimate Partner Violence Quarterly

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Abstract: 

Patrick Lussier reports on the surprising findings of a meta-analytic study addressing recidivism rates among sexual offenders in two countries—the U.S. and Canada. Despite these two countries having very different laws addressing sexual recidivism, they both experienced significant drops in sexual recidivism (a 40 percent drop in the U.S. and a 60 percent drop in Canada) between 1940 and 2019. In analyzing the findings from this study, Lussier addresses the common myth that the recidivism rate among sexual offenders is high when in fact, the data suggests that it has been historically low.

Keywords: “Second Wave” American and Canadian Sex Offender Laws; Sex Offender Recidivism Risk; Social Awareness Towards Sexual Offending

Affiliations:  1: Université Laval.

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