Two decades after Dutroux. What do we know about the recidivism of sex offenders in Belgium?
In the aftermath of several affairs of sexual abuse, over the last decades in Belgium practical initiatives
and policy measures have been developed that target sex offenders. Until recently, little was known in
our country about the prevalence and nature of recidivism of sex offenders. In this contribution, statistics about recidivism and risk factors related to sex offenders are reported for entire national offender populations and for a specific group of offenders that received specialized treatment. In correspondence with the international literature, sex offenders do not receive more new convictions than non-sex offenders. In terms of re-incarceration, sex offenders also return to prison less often and after a longer lapse of time. Age and criminal history are important predictors for recidivism for both sex offenders and non-sex offenders. Finally, a range of static factors from Static (99R and 2002R) are found to be predictive for sexual recidivism among sex offenders.