Parental Involvement in Juvenile Sex Offender Treatment: Requiring a Role as Informed Supervisor

Sex offenses, particularly those against children, have always been viewed negatively in society. A large portion of these offenses are committed by children against children. Most state legislatures focus on punitive measures when dealing with juvenile sex offenses, yet few place treatment on equal ground. Treatment has been shown to be effective in reducing the rate of recidivism of juvenile sex offenders. Juvenile sex offenders that participate in treatment have shown lower recidivism rates than adult offenders or untreated juvenile sex offenders. This Note advocates that states adopt legislation based on a successful statute in Colorado that creates a sex offender management board consisting of a multidisciplinary treatment team for juvenile sex offenders' treatment while requiring parental involvement in treatment as “informed supervisors” when the team deems it appropriate.

Key Points for the Family Court Community:
• Sex offender treatment on juveniles has been successful in reducing recidivism, as juveniles are more receptive to treatment than adults.
• Supervision and treatment of juvenile sex offenders would be more effective if parents or guardians are involved in the juvenile's sex offender treatment.
• States should adopt legislation based on the Colorado model that creates a sex offender management board and multidisciplinary team to supervise the treatment of juvenile sex offenders and requires appropriate parental involvement in the treatment as “informed supervisors”.

     

Early maladaptive schemas in convicted sexual offenders: Preliminary findings

Core cognitive schemas may play a role in the vulnerability for sexual offending. Identifying these schemas could help to conceptualize sexual crimes and rehabilitate convicted sexual offenders. The aim of this preliminary study was to explore the relationship between early maladaptive schemas (EMSs) and sexual offending, as well as how rapists and child sex molesters differ in terms of these schemas. Thirty-two men convicted for rape, 33 convicted for child sexual abuse, and 30 non-offenders were evaluated using the Young Schema Questionnaire (YSQ-S3) and the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI). Results showed that participants convicted for child sexual abuse presented significantly more schemas from the disconnection/rejection, impaired autonomy/performance, other directness, and over vigilance/inhibition domains than non-offenders, whereas rapists presented more schemas from the impaired autonomy/performance domain than non-offenders. Differences between sex offenders showed that child molesters presented more schemas of pessimism than rapists. Preliminary findings suggested that EMSs may impact sex offender's perceptions about themselves and about the world. Schema-focused therapy (Young, 1990, 1999) may thus be an acceptable approach to sex offender's psychological assessment and intervention.     

The role of cognitive distortions in paedophilic offending: Internet and contact offenders compared

Abstract

Cognitive distortions are held to contribute to sexual offending against children in a number of theoretical explanations of such crimes. However, not only is there little or no direct evidence in support of the centrality of cognitive distortions in offending but recent research has questioned whether the concept has explanatory power. Cognitive distortions are variously seen as necessary for the offender to offend against children, as post-offending justifications for the offence, or as reflecting distorted patterns in the offender's upbringing. This paper explores the role of cognitive distortions in sex offending by comparing the distortions of contact sex offenders against children with Internet child pornography offenders without contact offences against children. A new cognitive distortions questionnaire was developed which was suitable for administration to Internet offenders who had no contact offences against children as well as being suitable for contact offenders. It was found that some cognitive distortions are frequently agreed with by sex offenders against children whereas others were seldom or never agreed with. Little support was found for earlier typological approaches to the cognitive schema of sex offenders against children. Contrary to the expectation that contact offenders would have more cognitive distortions, it was found that Internet offenders had more cognitive distortions that children are sexual beings. Furthermore, there were no differences in cognitive distortions justifying the offence. However, offenders with a previous history of offending were more likely to admit to cognitive distortions which justify their offending. It is accepted that cognitive distortions are readily recognized in interviews with sex offenders against children. Nevertheless, it is argued that there is a need for new research to stimulate a new understanding of the nature and role of cognitive distortions in sex offending.     

Blood Will Not Justify My Relation: Same‐Sex Couples and their Battle for Standing as De Facto Parents

A parent's right to maintain a relationship with his/her child lies within the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution; however, this right does not apply to every type of parent. Although the U.S. Supreme Court granted same‐sex couples the right to marry, they still face parental rights issues when their child(ren) are nonbiological or nonadoptive because they lack standing for custody and/or visitation as de facto parents. Moreover, the rise of nontraditional same‐sex‐couple families has been placing states in a predicament, and the lack of uniform rights for de facto parents creates great inconsistency across the United States. The creation of a uniform statute with specific elements distinguishing de facto parents from mere caretakers will grant same‐sex nonbiological parents standing and create uniformity across the United States.     

Sex offenders’ perceptions of the effectiveness and fairness of humanity,dominance, and displaying an understanding of cognitive distortions in police interviews: A vignette study

Abstract

Forty-three convicted sex offenders read each of four different offence vignettes that involved a man forcing a female victim into sex and the offender's subsequent police interview. The experimental manipulation involved giving participants each of four different scenarios concerning how the police interviewed the offender. These were interviews characterized by humanity, dominance, displaying an understanding of sex offenders’ cognitive distortions, or a neutral, control interview. Participants were required to rate the interviews on a variety of dimensions, such as the offender's likelihood of confessing, and the fairness of the interview. Where participants were told the man had been interviewed with humanity and compassion, they rated the offender as more likely to confess and rated the interview as fairer than the other conditions. In contrast, participants rated the offender interviewed with a dominant approach as less likely to confess, and for this procedure to be less fair than the other conditions. Displaying an understanding of sex offenders’ cognitive distortions appeared to have had no influence on perceived likelihood of confessions but was perceived to make the crime appear less serious.     

The relationship between psychopathy and moral development in young sex offenders

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between psychopathic traits and moral development (moral judgement and empathy) in 85 Dutch male sex offenders between 13 and 23 years of age. Questions were asked about general life situations, sexual situations with morally relevant features, and questions about the offender's own abuse victim. A weak negative association was found between psychopathy and mature moral judgement, but only when questions involved the offender's own abuse victim. Weak to moderate negative associations were found between psychopathy and cognitive and affective empathy in general and sexual situations, but not in the own abuse victim situations. Further analysis revealed moderate negative associations between psychopathy and affective empathy in the own abuse victim situations, but only when an unfamiliar victim was involved. This is the first study, to our knowledge, showing that juvenile sex offenders with high levels of psychopathy have context-specific moral deficits, and that in this group both cognitive and affective empathy are related to psychopathy.     

Incestuous victimization by Juvenile Sex offenders

Most research and clinical data dealing with child sexual abuse have focused on adult offenders (usually a parent or relative) and their child victims. More recently, however, the data are beginning to show that a sizeable number of these sexual encounters are being committed by juvenile offenders. Thus, parents and members of the helping professions are beginning to see that what had previously been labeled sexual experimentation may be more serious. Using 37 cases drawn from the files of a local Children and Family Service agency that met the study definition of a juvenile sexual offense, data are reported on the following variables: the age difference between the victim and the offender, the relationship between victim and offender, the act involved, the context in which the act occurred, the pattern of the sexual contact, problems the offender exhibited that may have resulted from the sexual encounter, and general demographic data about the offender's family.     

A review of dynamic variables and their relationship to risk prediction in sex offenders

In recent years, a good deal of attention has been paid to the question of recidivism in sex offenders, with an emphasis on the pool of identified static variables associated with risk. The paper aims to review the developing evidence-base for dynamic (changeable) variables, describing their clinical and research characteristics. It also considers the relationship between dynamic domains and apparently fixed developmental variables, such as attachment and victimization experiences. Three main models are presented, and examined in terms of their ability to enhance static prediction models. Results would suggest that there are four dynamic domains, which can predict sexual recidivism independently of static risk prediction, and that these domains should be of central consideration in the continuing development of treatment programmes.     

“I WANT MY MOMMIES”: THE CRY FOR MINI‐DOMAS TO RECOGNIZE THE BEST INTERESTS OF THE CHILDREN OF SAME‐SEX COUPLES*

In child custody cases, courts will look to the best interests of a child to maintain visitation/custody rights only with the child's biological parent, not third parties. However, with a same‐sex couple, it is inevitable that one parent will not be the biological parent. Thus, when that parent is in a mini‐DOMA state, where same‐sex couples from non‐mini‐DOMA states do not have to be recognized, that parent will be viewed as a third party and lose all visitation/custody rights if the couple separates. This note advocates that mini‐DOMAs allow both the biological and nonbiological parents of a same‐sex couple to have visitation/custody rights of their children if it would be in the best interest of the children to do so.     

A psychometric comparison of internet and non-internet sex offenders from a community treatment sample

Abstract

This paper compares psychometric test assessments of 39 men convicted of internet sex offences with 39 convicted of contact offences against a specific victim. Higher rates of socially desirable responding were identified in the internet group, as well as higher rates of emotional loneliness and under assertiveness, although the latter two findings were not statistically significant. This group also achieved lower scores measuring external locus of control, which might reflect their generally higher levels of education and employment (identified from research carried out in tandem with this work). The internet group achieved lower scores on sexualized attitudes towards children, emotional congruence with children and empathy distortions with regard to victims of child abuse. Hence, although they exhibited the kinds of general personality problems exhibited by other sex offenders, they did not support attitudes that explicitly endorse or condone the sexual abuse of children. This paper presents some hypotheses about these results and identifies further research necessary to develop understanding about this new kind of sexually abusive behaviour.     

International Crimes and the Right to Punish

What can international courts say when criminals ask, by what right do you try me? Some authors attempt to draw a connection between humanity's responsibility to call offenders to account and the harm humanity has suffered as a consequence of the offender's crimes. Others have argued that there need not be a special connection between those calling to account and the offenders, as the right to punish offenders is a general right each and every person has. Both lines of argument are ultimately unconvincing. Instead, I argue for a modified version of the second position which proposes a democratically based theory of responsibility for punishment held by international criminal law institutions.     

The community corrections perspective toward sex offender management policies and collateral consequences: does contact with sex offenders matter?

Since the 1990s, numerous policies have been enacted aimed at managing sex offenders in the community. Two of the most prominent management policies are registries for sex offenders and residence restrictions. Community corrections professionals are tasked with enforcing these policies and yet little is known about their perceptions toward sex offenders and the policies in place to manage them. Prior research has suggested that contact with sex offenders may place a significant role in shaping the attitudes of community corrections professionals toward sex offender management policies and collateral consequences. The current study investigates the effect of contact with sex offenders on the perceptions of community corrections professionals (n = 209) toward sex offender management policies and collateral consequences faced by sex offenders. Findings suggest that contact with sex offenders does not influence the attitudes of community corrections professionals, but several other significant factors were revealed including parental status, political orientation, race, tenure, sex, and age.     

Geographical profiling in a novel context: prioritising the search for New Zealand sex offfenders

The present work explores the utility and value of geographical offender profiling methodologies within a novel context, considering both theoretical and practical issues relating to their application. The effectiveness of a well-known geographical profiling system, Dragnet, was tested across 101 New Zealand sex offence series, and findings compared with those derived for an equivalent sample from the UK. Average search costs (the amount of the total offence area that needed to be searched, starting from predicted offender home location, before the offender's actual home was reached) were far greater for the New Zealand sample than their UK offending counterparts. It is argued that this is because the spatial behaviour of New Zealand offenders violates many of the assumptions that Dragnet and other similar geographical profiling systems make in predicting offenders' home locations. Calibration of the system to the specific home-crime distance patterns of the New Zealand offenders did not enhance the efficacy of predictions made to a significant extent. It is consequently argued that, in their current form, geographical profiling systems are limited in their ability to account for samples displaying very different spatial characteristics to those that they were developed from and for. The implications of these findings for the general utility of geographical profiling are discussed, and ways in which systems might be developed in order to broaden their scope and applicability are suggested.     

Toulmin's philosophy of argument and its relevance to offender profiling

This study sought to identify the extent to which claims about the probable characteristics of offenders in ‘offender profiles’ were based on substantive arguments. Because Toulmin's (1958) philosophy of argument has been demonstrated as a useful way of breaking down arguments into their constituent parts (Burleson, 1979) we examined the extent to which profiles contained grounds, warrants, backing and rebuttals to support or refute various claims about offenders. Twenty-one profiles, representing a range of ‘profiling styles’, were obtained from a variety of sources. All of these had been used in major criminal investigations either in the UK or internationally. Of the nearly 4,000 claims made, nearly 80% were unsubstantiated. That is, they contained no grounds, warrant, backing or rebuttal. Moreover, less than 31% of the claims were falsifiable. We argue that (a) this demonstrates the need for a careful, systematic evaluation of profiling advice (b) Toulmin's structure is one useful method for evaluating such material and for providing a possible framework for such advice.     

Community perceptions of a public sex offender registry introduced in Western Australia

Abstract

Publically accessible information about sex offenders through an online registry of sex offenders has been a polemic issue for governments, police and the wider community with debate largely driven by community expectations of police ensuring the safety of children and women from sexual predators. In October 2012, Western Australia became the first and currently only state or territory in Australia to allow public access to a three tiered register via the Community Protection Website (CPW) that would be monitored by West Australian Police. The introduction of this website triggered significant debate across the country. A survey was developed to capture the opinions of members of the public who had accessed the online registry to understand their views of the online tool and its purpose as a form of community safety. Findings from the survey reveal that the community lacks understanding of the prevalence of child sexual abuse and the fact that a child is more likely to experience sexual victimization within the family unit. There is also a need for greater community education and awareness about the purpose and limitations of the CPW as many believed that all sex known sex offenders are publicly registered, therefore creating a false sense of security.     

Delays in attentional processing when viewing sexual imagery: The development and comparison of two measures

Purpose. Critically important to effectively treating and managing sexual offending is the identification or validation of an offender's deviant sexual interests as the nature of their sexual interests is what demarcates repetitive sexual offenders from non‐offenders and lower risk offenders. As an alternative or verification to self‐report or phallometric measures, focus has turned to attention‐based measures. These measures assess sexual content‐induced delay (SCID), a specific form of attentional bias associated with preferred sexual content (images or text). Viewing time (VT) and choice reaction time (CRT) were developed and utilized to assess sexual interest via SCID ( Geer & Bellard, 1996 ) and examine the measures’ clinical utility via estimates of sensitivity and specificity. Method. Participants were 44 youth non‐sexual offenders, 60 university students, and 22 adult sexual offenders. Differences between groups were examined on various sub‐scores and receiver operator characteristic curves provided information on clinical utility. Results. The VT and CRT measures produced subtest scores with high reliability in all three samples. There were significant differences in VT between the adult sexual offenders and the youth non‐sexual offenders, but not between the youth non‐sexual offenders and the university students. Some of the VT subtests demonstrated good clinical utility in their ability to differentiate adult heterosexual sexual offenders from non‐sexual offenders (e.g., area under the curve (AUC) = 0.87 female mature images, 0.88 male child images). Interestingly, the VT and CRT measures provided significantly different results. Conclusion. The results of this study provide further evidence that measures of SCID are accurate and are useful as indications of sexual interest. Differences between measures suggest, however, that further work is required.     

The relationship between schemas and offence supportive attitudes in mentally disordered sexual offenders

Abstract

The study of schemas in sexual offenders is a relatively new approach in attempts to understand the deviant beliefs and attitudes of sexual offenders. Emerging findings suggest that offence supportive attitudes may be the product of an offender's underlying schemas. This study aims to establish the relationship between offence supportive attitudes and schemas in a sample of mentally disordered sexual offenders (MDSOs). Thirty-one male sexual offenders held within low through high security forensic mental health units were assessed using the Young Schema Questionnaire - Short Version 3 and the Questionnaire on Attitudes Consistent with Sex Offending. Correlational analyses suggested a pattern of relationships in which Insufficient Self-control, Entitlement and Enmeshment arose as the schemas associated with most offence supportive attitudes. This supports a relationship between schemas and offence supportive attitudes in MDSOs and is consistent with the literature to date. Implications for further research and treatment are considered.