To bolster claims that the risk posed by sex offenders is overblown, a defendant cited a handful of studies.The rate of recidivism for such offenders is not upwards of 80 percent, as the U.S. Supreme Court stated in a 2002 decision. The Human Rights Watch estimated it was more like 25 percent, and it may even be more like 5 percent, according to the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics, he argued.The defendant, Marc Pepitone, who was convicted under a state law forbidding sex offenders who committed their crimes against …