ABSTRACT
Nuisance-type offenses are frequently occurring offenses considered by many to cause little or no harm to others (Lanning, 2010). However, not only do they consume police officers’ time, but they account for a substantial number of sex crimes (Reese, 1979). Understanding and recognizing nuisance offenses can be very important to law enforcement, particularly when these offenses are committed by a sex offender who has the potential for escalating, or has already escalated, in violence. Officers who readily recognize a sexual component in a nuisance offense can then begin to focus on the offenderspecifically his past, present, and future crimes.
