| Abstract: | This article describes the nature, extent, and empirical ramifications of nonfelonious sex crimes on the New York City subway. Nonfelonious sex crimes are defined as those offenses designated “sexual abuse” and “public lewdness” in the revised New York Penal Code of 1967. excluding sexual abuse in the first degree. Offenders are predominantly black and Hispanic; victims white, youthful, and unexceptional in looks. Contrary to psychiatric stereotypes, 50% of recidivists in rhese crime categories prove to have arrest records for violent crimes. including nonsexual ones: and sexual abuse and public lewdness recidivists tend to commit either offense interchangeably. |
