New Hampshire prisons currently hold about 685 sex offenders, or more than 25 percent of the entire inmate population of 2,515. Vermont prisons held about 420 sex offenders as of June 2005, or more than 20 percent of the total population of 1,970.

Nationally, the average time served behind bars for people convicted of felony-level sex assaults was 64 months in 2002, according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics. That was the second-longest period served by a type of offender, exceeded only by the 142-month average for convicted murderers, the bureau says.

In Vermont, the median sentence for a conviction of aggravated sexual assault in 2005 was eight to 25 years, according to the Vermont Center for Justice Research in Montpelier. (Eight years was the median minimum sentence, and 25 years was the median maximum.) The figures suggest that the 60-day minimum sentence originally handed down by Judge Edward Cashman in a highly publicized molestation case earlier this year was significantly shorter than most. Further, the median sentences in the state have not changed significantly since 2001, when seven to 20 years was the median range.

The median time served on split sentences for aggravated sexual assault convictions was about 16 months in fiscal year 1996, three years in fiscal year 2002 and about nine months in fiscal year 2005.

New Hampshire criminal justice officials could not furnish similar sentencing figures.

Even when sentencing data are available, experts say it can be difficult to draw broad conclusions. The range of sentences can vary so much from county to county that it is very difficult to determine a "typical" sentence or to detect trends in sentencing, William Clement, the director of the Vermont Center for Justice Research, recently testified before the state's Senate Judiciary Committee.

— Jodie Tillman