Lecture 3 Sex Offenders: Assessment, Treatment & Recidivism

Sex Offender Assessment, Treatment and Recidivism  Assessment : When? How?  Goal: Management of risk & recidivism reduction  Treatment : Does it work?  Recidivism : What factors predict sexual re-offending?  Is Mr WK likely to re-offend?

Sex offenders vary in their RISK FOR REOFFENDING and in their RESPONSE TO TREATMENT Assessment needs to be carried out at:  Admission  Pre-treatment: timing, focus, format & content  Follow-up (Post-treatment)  Pre-release  Post-release…To simultaneously predict risk & identify targets for intervention

 Cognitions  Social difficulties  Lifestyle problems  Sexual deviancies

Multimodal assessment technique  ensures multiplicity of perspective and mitigates reporting bias:  Psychological testing  Physiological testing  File reviews  Behavioural observations  Clinical interviews  Collateral contacts

 Mental ability and neuropsychological functioning  Personality - e.g. MMPI  Other questionnaires:  Sexual satisfaction scale  Marital adjustment scale  Empathy scales  Self-efficacy and self-esteem inventories etc

 Measurement of deviant sexual arousal/preferences using  Phallometric assessment (penile plethysmography) using standardised stimuli to determine age and sex preference, and interest in sexual violence relative to consensual sexual interactions

 Differentiates paedophiles from non-paedophiles  Differentiates rapists from non-rapists using rape scenarios  Among rapists, sexual and violent recidivism are well predicted by PPG-measured interest in non-sexual violence  Sex offenders who demonstrate deviant sexual arousal are more likely to commit new sex offences upon release  Arousal to rape and non-sexual violence are negatively related to EMPATHY measures, positively related to PSYCHOPATHY measure

 Measures peripheral arousal, not sexual desire (brain wave measures show promise as measures of desire)  problem of non-responders (20%)  Problem of faking: people can inhibit sexual arousal to deviant stimuli and enhance response to non-deviant stimuli  Most importantly……..

Deviant sexual arousal is not equivalent to sexually aggressive behaviour. Many sexually aggressive individuals do not exhibit deviant patterns of sexual arousal…whereas many individuals who are NOT known to be sexually aggressive DO show such patterns

 Useful because-  Provides collateral for other sources  Enables the generation of hypotheses to be investigated during clinical interview  Files contain unique information not available by other means that is useful for risk assessment

 Useful for assessing interpersonal style in terms of interpersonal circumplex  Provide information regarding offender’s social functioning and communication skills  Comparison of pre- and post- treatment behavioural evaluations help determine: # whether treatment has had a positive impact # readiness for release

 Sole source of information regarding: # Acceptance of responsibility for offence # Level of empathy for victim # Sincere willingness to seek treatment  Covers following areas: # Social/criminal history # Sexual development # Psychological characteristics # Sexual arousal patterns

 E.g. spouse/partner, other family members, criminal justice personnel etc.  Interviews with collateral contacts should be performed wherever possible - few individuals are skilled at observing their own behaviour.

 9 sub-types on the basis of their inferred motivation for raping and their social competence

 commit sexual assaults on impulse:  unplanned, predatory acts.  Motivated by immediate sexual gratification.  Nil anger: aggression is instrumental  Sub-divided according to social competence - high vs low

 Motivated by anger, but rage is not sexualised  Often use gratuitous violence, even without victim resistance  Difficulty controlling aggression  Poor impulse control in multiple domains

 Women are a central, exclusive focus of anger  Cause physical harm to victim  Degrade and humiliate victim  Anger restricted to female victims  Low level of impulsivity  Subgrouped according to social competence: high vs low

 Motivated by sexual/sadistic fantasies  Enduring sexual preoccupation, fused with aggression/ feelings of inadequacy  2 Sub-types: sadistic (“overt”: low social competence) vs “muted” (high social competence) versus  non-sadistic : show less interpersonal aggression in all domains: sexual arousal, distorted ‘male’ cognitions about women & sex, feelings of inadequacy about sexuality and self- image

 Major goal: Reduction of sexual recidivism  High (8-9 months), medium (up to 5 months) & low intensity (2-4 months) institutional programs (e.g. Kia Marama, NZ)  Community-based relapse prevention programs: maintain therapeutic gain and prosocial behaviour  Individual counselling  Community-based self-help groups

 Marshall et al: YES!  Only one methodologically-sound longitudinal study: Marques at al. 1994: offers promising results in terms of treatment effectiveness

 Treatment: Hall’s (1995) metaanalysis:  Recidivism rate for untreated sex offenders: 27% ; for treated sex offenders: 19%. No difference between CBM & drug therapy  Deviant sexual arousal )  Psychopathy /Lifestyle Imp* )  Age at release  substance/alcohol abuse  unemployment  unstable living arrangements/marital status  *Prentky et al (1991):High Imp rapists show rate of 40% cf. Low Imp rapists’ 15% N.B. These are correlated!

 Type of offender  Rapists reoffend (sexually and non- sexually) more often than child molesters  Child molesters with male victims have highest recidivism rates  Child molesters with unrelated female victims have next highest rates  Incest offenders have the lowest rates

So is Mr WK likely to re- offend? He would probably rate as high-risk for re- offending on account of: His antisocial personality/?psychopathy His violent sexual offending ??????