Publications by authors named "Cynthia Calkins Mercado"

Studies have produced equivocal findings regarding whether sex offenders are stable in their choice of victims. Indeed, it remains unclear whether a sex offender's subsequent victims are typically of the same gender, age range, and victim-perpetrator relationship as that of the initial victim. Although some differences may be attributed to methodological disparities, others are not.

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Recently, legislative initiatives to prevent sex crime recidivism include the passage of child safety zones (also called loitering zones) that prohibit sex offenders from lingering near places where children congregate. The ability of policies such as these or residence restrictions to curb sexual recidivism depends on the empirical reality of sex offender perpetration patterns. As such, the current study sought to examine locations where sex offenders first come into contact with their victims and whether sex crime locations differ among those who perpetrate offenses against children as compared to those who perpetrate offenses against adults.

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This study examined whether evaluators use actuarial risk scores and risk information to make determinations about sex offender risk status for the purpose of enhanced registration and notification. Although it was expected that sexual offenders selected for enhanced registration and notification would have higher scores on actuarial risk assessment tools than those who were not selected, few differences were found between groups with regard to risk factors associated with sexual offense recidivism. Given that actuarial tools enhance the prediction of sexual recidivism, this study may shed light on problems in the implementation of sex offender policy measures.

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The authors sought to examine the impact of notification and residence restriction statutes on sex offender reintegration. Although previous research has primarily sampled sex offenders receiving treatment, the authors examined the impact of these policies on a broad sample of registered sex offenders subject to notification via the Internet. Findings from a survey of 138 community sex offenders revealed that a high percentage perceived residence restriction and community notification legislation to negatively affect employment, housing, and social relations.

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The development of recent statutory schemes, in both the United States and Australia, aim to keep the most dangerous sex offenders detained beyond the expiration of their prison sentence. In Kansas v. Hendricks (1997), the United States Supreme Court found constitutional Sexually Violent Predator (SVP) legislation that allows for the post-sentence, indefinite civil commitment of a subclass of dangerous offenders.

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The Kansas v. Hendricks (1997) decision, in which the Supreme Court authorized post-sentence civil commitment for certain sex offenders, appeared to be constitutionally legitimized by limiting the class of offenders eligible for this special form of civil commitment to those who are "unable to control" their dangerousness. Nowhere in the available record, however, did the Court elucidate what they meant by this notion of volitional impairment.

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Objective: Mental health courts successfully divert defendants into treatment. However, few studies have examined whether this increased access to services positively affects client outcomes. This study compared changes in symptoms in a sample of defendants in Broward County mental health court with such changes in a comparison sample of defendants in a regular court.

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