Date of Award

Spring 2019

Degree Type

Capstone - Open Access

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

First Advisor

Nicole Frisch

Abstract

In states with sex offender residency restrictions, sex offenders have been found to cluster in areas that are poorer, less white, and generally less advantaged, but little research has been done on whether these patterns exist without residency restrictions in place (Tewksbury & Mustaine, 2008). All cities and towns in the state of Massachusetts eliminated residency restrictions for sex offenders in 2015 by way of court order. This policy shift provides a unique opportunity to study sex offender residency patterns that are not constrained to certain geographic areas. Using publicly available data, multivariate regression was used to examine correlates of sex offender residency. Specifically, the relationships between median household income, percent white, violent and property crime rates, and unemployment rate and sex offender residence rate in fifty-seven Massachusetts cities and towns were explored. Significant positive relationships were found between violent crime rate and sex offender residence rate and unemployment rate and sex offender residence rate. Marginally significant negative relationships were found between property crime rate and sex offender residence rate and median household income range and sex offender residence rate. The relationships between percent U.S. citizen and sex offender residence rate and percent white and sex offender residence rate were not found to be significant. Implications and areas for future research are discussed. Keywords: sex offender residences, Massachusetts, social disorder, sex offender residency restrictions

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