February 20, 2007 |
2007-R-0182 | |
SEX OFFENDERS—PROSECUTIONS AND SENTENCES | ||
| ||
By: Sandra Norman-Eady, Chief Attorney | ||
You asked for statistics on the (1) disposition of certain criminal prosecutions and (2) sentences inmates convicted of these crimes are currently serving. The crimes you are interested in are risk of injury; first-, second-, and third-degree sexual assault; aggravated first-degree sexual assault; first- and second-degree promoting prostitution; enticing a minor; obscenity as to minors; and employing and promoting minors in obscene performances.
SUMMARY
There were over 1,200 prosecutions during FY 05-06 for the crimes you specified (hereafter referred to as sex offenses). Of these, 330 resulted in convictions. The number of prosecutions does not represent the number of people prosecuted, but rather the number of cases. One person may have been prosecuted for an offense multiple times.
We were unable to find out the actual sentences received by the 330 convicted sex offenders. However, we were able to obtain the sentences currently being served for these crimes by inmates in the Department of Correction's (DOC) custody. On February 20, 2007, DOC had 14,850 sentenced inmates. Of these, 744 were serving time for the sex crimes you expressed an interest in. The sentences they are currently serving range from less than a month for second degree sexual assault to over 100 years for first-degree sexual assault.
SEXUAL ASSAULT PROSECUTIONS
There were 1,205 sexual offense prosecutions in FY 05-06, according to Judicial Department statistician Gregory Pac. Table 1 shows the number of cases prosecuted and their disposition.
Table 1: Sexual Offense Prosecutions
Statutes |
Total Cases |
Dismissed by Court |
Not Guilty |
Guilty |
Not ** Prosecuted | |
First-degree sexual assault |
75 |
16 |
55 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
Aggravated first-degree sexual assault |
296 |
8 |
137 |
32 |
119 |
0 |
Second-degree sexual assault |
404 |
7 |
260 |
6 |
126 |
5 |
Third-degree sexual assault |
115 |
4 |
58 |
2 |
51 |
0 |
Risk of Injury |
280 |
6 |
97 |
155 |
20 |
2 |
First-degree promotion of prostitution |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Second-degree promotion of prostitution |
5 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
Obscenity as to minors |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Employing minors in obscene performances |
5 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Promoting minors in obscene performances |
13 |
0 |
10 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
Enticing a minor |
11 |
1 |
5 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
*Generally, a criminal charge is nolled when the prosecutor determines that an adjudication of the charges is not in the public's interest, or that the available and admissible evidence is not sufficient to satisfy a jury of the defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Nolled charges are erased after at least 13 months.
**A prosecutor may decide not to prosecute for a number of different reasons, including in exchange for a plea to another charge. The charges that are not prosecuted do not show up as convictions in the defendant's criminal history.
CURRENT SENTENCES FOR CERTAIN SEX CRIMES
Of the 744 currently sentenced sexual offenders, none was convicted of promoting prostitution in the first degree or enticing a minor as a primary offense. For the remaining crimes, Table 2 shows the number of inmates sentenced for each. Table 3 shows the ranges of sentences inmates are serving for committing these crimes. We have attached the DOC report that shows the actual number of months each inmate is serving for committing each crime.
Table 2: Sentenced Inmates
Crimes |
Inmate Population |
First-degree sexual assault |
456 |
Aggravated first-degree sexual assault |
24 |
Second-degree sexual assault |
205 |
Third-degree sexual assault |
48 |
Risk of Injury |
1 |
Second-degree promotion of prostitution |
3 |
Obscenity as to minors |
2 |
Employing minors in obscene performances |
3 |
Promoting minors in obscene performances |
2 |
Source: DOC
Table 3: Inmate Sentences
Crimes |
Sentences in Years | |||||||
< 1 |
1-4. 5 |
5-10 |
10. 1-15 |
16-20 |
21-30 |
31-50 |
55-or More | |
First-degree sexual assault |
3 |
22 |
212 |
99 |
50 |
36 |
27 |
7 |
Aggravated first-degree sexual assault |
0 |
2 |
5 |
8 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
Second-degree sexual assault |
12 |
83 |
88 |
12 |
7 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
Third-degree sexual assault |
1 |
29 |
14 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
Risk of Injury |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Second-degree promotion of prostitution |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Obscenity as to minors |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Employing minors in obscene performances |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
Promoting minors in obscene performances |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Source: DOC
SNE: dw