How ‘different’ are the criminal careers of sex offenders? A comparison of sex offenders with non-sex offenders based on national conviction data for Belgium and the Netherlands
Since long, the delinquency of sex offenders has been the focus of many assumptions. These include the ideas that sex offenders are prone to commit new offences, that they are repeating (identical) sex offences and that they do not seize to offend. Such ideas suggest sex offenders are a distinct group. Based on the study of criminal careers of sex offenders, it is possible to assess whether they are truly ‘different’ from non-sex offenders, as seems in line with widely shared assumptions about sex offenders. Drawing on national conviction records, the (parameters of) criminal careers of sex offenders and non-sex offenders in Belgium and the Netherlands are described and compared and a trajectory model is computed. The results show a picture of some differences and many similarities between sex offenders and non-sex offenders.