The impact of parolees' perception of confidentiality of their self-reported sex crimes

Parole officers who supervise sex offenders need to know if parolees continue to be a risk for child molestation after their incarceration. One hundred and twenty convicted child molesters under Parole Supervision were asked to participate in two interviews about their sexual offenses: first by a parolee officer in the parole office and then in a non-parole, psychologic setting by a psychologist. Seventy-four subjects agreed to participate in the parole setting, and 18 of those 74 agreed to participate in the psychologic setting. Hypotheses tested included whether perceived confidentiality affects reports of past child molestation or current urges to molest children or whether it improves the consistency between the offender's reports of their sex crimes and their arrest records. Results indicated that as confidentiality increased, reports of prior sex offenses and current urges to molest increased. The relevance of this finding to our current system of parole supervision is discussed.