This article reviews the empirical research on the prediction of reoffendin
g among sexual offenders. The major predictors of sexual-offense recidivism
are factors related :to sexual deviance (e.g., deviant sexual preferences,
previous sex crimes) and, to a lesser extent, criminal lifestyle (e.g., an
tisocial personality disorder, total number of prior offenses). The factors
that predict general recidivism among sex offenders are the same as the fa
ctors that predict general recidivism among nonsexual criminals (e.g., juve
nile delinquency, prior violent offenses). Given that there are special pre
dictors of sexual recidivism, evaluators should consider separately the ris
k for sexual and nonsexual recidivism.