Evaluation of the assessment and treatment of a child sex offender: A case study

Abstract

There is indisputable necessity for engaging child sex offenders in effective therapy to reduce recidivist rates. However, it is becoming increasingly recognised that, to do this, more contemporary psychological methods of treatment are being utilised instead of, or as well as, imprisonment.

To establish what constitutes effective therapy requires the constant search for new and successful treatments. To achieve this, it is advantageous to follow preexisting successful methods of treatment but to acknowledge that therapy must be adapted according to an individual's unique presenting difficulties and therapeutic needs.

This paper details assessment techniques, evaluation of psychological dysfunctions, the therapy plan and treatment outcome of a convicted child sex offender. Specifically, Mr X's background history, psychological dysfunctions and progress, using a functional analysis approach, are examined in detail with critical review of the therapeutic intervention.     

Application of the clinical polygraph examination to the assessment,treatment and monitoring of sex offenders

Abstract

Post Conviction Clinical Polygraph Examination Testing (Lie Detector Testing) offers significant opportunities for assessing, treating and monitoring sex offenders. This article briefly reviews the historical development of polygraph techniques including the physiological measures employed, the administration of the polygraph and the interpretation of data collected. Criticisms of polygraphy are explored and information concerning the scientific acceptability of these procedures is given. The current influence of polygraphy in sex offender work is reviewed. Evidence is given of the utility of polygraphy in reducing denial, improving treatment outcomes and more effectively supervising sex offenders on probation or license. Cost benefit considerations are examined, as well as the need for further controlled research and future regulation of the polygraph, if it is to be introduced in Britain. Planned UK Trials are described.     

A comparison of the neuropsychological profiles of adult male sex offenders and non-offenders with a learning disability

Abstract

The present study compared the neumpsychologlcal pmfiles of a group of adult male sex offenden with a laming disability (n-42) with a group of adult male non-offenders with a learning disability (n-42) using the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale - Revised (1986). The groups wen matched for full-scale IQ. Thc study found that the non-offender group had significantly higher Verbal 1Q scorn than the sex offender group. No significant differences wen found for Performance IQ. The non-ofinder group was also found to have significantly hlgher scores on the Vocabulary sub-test than the sex offender group and the sex offender group was found to have significantly higher scores on the ObJecr Assembly subtest than the non-ofinder group. Finally. the sex offender group was found to have a significantly lower Verbal IQ than Performance IQ. No significant Verbal-Performance discrepancy was found for the non-offender group. Possible implications of these findings are dlscusscd.     

Child sex tourism: extending the borders of sexual offender legislation

Child sex tourism, the act of traveling to engage in sexual acts with minors, plagues developing nations worldwide. Several laws have been passed internationally in recent years designed to curtail this practice. Government entities and human rights organizations have driven these efforts. United States citizens represent a significant proportion of participants in child sex tourism. The PROTECT Act of 2003 prohibits United States citizens from participating in sexual acts with minors while traveling, and establishes extraterritorial jurisdiction. The case of Michael Lewis Clark, the first United States citizen convicted under this legislation, is highlighted. Child sex tourism poses unique issues to courts that will require ongoing clarification as challenges arise. This article discusses potential future challenges, describes strategies to address this problem, and relates this issue to psychiatry. Mental health providers may have the role of evaluating both the victims and perpetrators of child sex tourism. The authors propose a classification system for offenses and an initial list of topics to discuss with victims. The authors also describe the proper mechanism for reporting United States citizens suspected of participating in child sex tourism.     

International sex offender registration laws: research and evaluation issues based on a review of current scientific literature

In many jurisdictions, anyone convicted of a sexual offense is required to register with police, often for life. Nine different countries have now implemented sex offender registries in an attempt to protect the public from the perceived threat posed by sexual offenders. Yet such laws have been criticized as being overly inclusive, tying up limited law enforcement resources to track many offenders who pose little risk of sexual reoffending. This paper considers the available research evidence relevant to the effectiveness of such laws for the deterrence of sexual offending and the investigation of sex crimes. It is concluded that significant gaps persist in our knowledge of whether existing laws effectively reduce sexual offending or reoffending and that large-scale, well-designed studies of the impact of sex offender registration on rates of offending, the collateral consequences to offenders and their families, and the costs of such laws are needed.     

Sexual offenders with serious mental illness: prevention, risk, and clinical concerns

Individuals with serious and persistent mental illness who have also engaged in illegal sexual behavior present a unique challenge for our legal and clinical systems. Frequently, these individuals may engage in problematic sexual behaviors which result in hospitalization rather than incarceration, and an overburdened and resource-deficient public community mental health system is ill-equipped to address the seriousness of these sexual behaviors. We have a rather limited understanding of how prevention programs, intervention strategies, and risk assessment would work with this population. Here we evaluate data from a sample of 245 inpatient psychiatric sexual offenders in a forensic mental health setting and compare these with what information has already been presented in some of the literature. Through an examination of seriously mentally ill sexual offenders and their clinical presentation, legal history, and risk management concerns, we illustrate a variety of tertiary prevention needs. Future directions in the area of prevention and risk management for seriously mentally ill sexual offenders are also discussed.     

The stop and think group: Changing sexually aggressive behaviour in young children

Abstract

Until recently, relatively little attention has been paid to young children who are sexually aggressive to other children. In this paper, cognitive-behavioural group techniques which have been used in the treatment of aggressive, impulsive behaviour in young children were applied in a small group setting to the sexually aggressive behaviour of pre-pubescent boys. The boys initially learned a ‘Stop and Think” model for general interpersonal problem-solving, which was then used to work on their difficulties with verbal and physical sexual aggression. Observation of the children's behaviour, reports from carers, school staff and social workers indicated that the group programme increased the children's ability to inhibit impulsive, aggressive behaviour. In the nine months after the group finished there were no known incidents of sexual aggression. In the context of certain limitations discussed in the paper, this positive outcome suggests that these methods have potential for reducing the likelihood of sexually aggressive behaviour becoming habitual.     

美国性犯罪者登记制度的实证研究及反思

对性犯罪者进行登记是美国等西方国家普遍采用的用于遏制性犯罪的做法。但不少研究表明,性犯罪立法在控制性犯罪和减少再逮捕率方面并没有起明显作用,相反,性犯罪者登记制度给相当一部分性犯罪分子带来了诸多负面影响。关于性犯罪者登记制度需要进一步的研究,研究内容包括性犯罪者登记法是否能够减少性犯罪行为,谁来对登记程序进行监管,该制度对性犯罪者及其家庭的影响,以及实施登记法律的成本。     

Stereotypes and attitudes about child sexual abusers: A comparison of experienced and inexperienced professionals in sex offender treatment

Purpose . The danger of stereotyping child sex offenders is that such stereotypes allow suspected abusers to avoid detection. The current study investigated whether professionals involved in the treatment of sex offenders endorsed less stereotypes of sex offenders than an ‘inexperienced’ group of teachers. Method . Sixty professionals involved with sex offenders and 71 school teachers completed three questionnaires: the Stereotypes of Sex Offenders Questionnaire; Attitudes Towards Sex Offenders Scale ( Hogue, 1993 ) and Knowledge of Child Abuse Questionnaire (created for the present study). Mediation analyses were then conducted on the relationships between the scores. Results . Experienced professionals endorsed negative stereotypes less, had more positive attitudes towards sex offenders and expressed more knowledge of child abuse than the inexperienced group. Further, attitudes towards child sexual offenders were significantly mediated by the effect of knowledge of child abuse on group (experienced, inexperienced). However, there was no significant mediation for the effect of knowledge on child abuse on the relationship between group (experienced, inexperienced) and stereotype consistent scores. Conclusions . The less knowledge of child abuse, the more stereotypical one may be about potential child sex offenders. Thus, it may be useful to increase knowledge on child abuse in inexperienced groups to counter stereotyping and allow greater detection of offenders.     

The impact of pre-treatment responsivity and treatment participation on violent recidivism in a violent offender sample

This study assessed whether pre-treatment responsivity (psychopathy, motivation to attend treatment, denial and minimisation of offending behaviour, and feelings of guilt or shame) predicted violent recidivism and/or moderated the effectiveness of a violence intervention programme. Participants were 114 male violent offenders who were referred to a structured violent offender group treatment programme; 84 offenders commenced the programme. Results showed that treatment completion did not have a significant main effect on recidivism but that psychopathy scores moderated the effects of treatment. Offenders with high scores on the Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version (PCL:SV) who were rated as having good engagement with treatment, or who completed treatment, had similar violent recidivism rates compared to offenders with low PCL:SV scores. In contrast, offenders with high PCL:SV scores who dropped out of treatment or were poorly engaged had significantly higher rates of violent recidivism. These findings indicate that treatment effectiveness could be enhanced, and greater reductions in recidivism achieved, if programmes find ways to engage and maintain psychopathic offenders in treatment.     

Crime and arrests: An autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) approach

Various theoretical perspectives suggest that marginal changes in the quantity of crime and arrests are related to one another. Unfortunately, they provide little guidance as to the amount of time that is required for these effects to be realized. In this paper, autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) time-series modeling techniques, which necessitate making minima! assumptions concerning the lag structure one expects to find, are utilized to examine the crime-arrest relationship. The bivariate ARIMA analyses of monthly crime and arrest data for Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Oklahoma, for robbery, burglary, larceny, and auto theft reveal little evidence of a lagged crime-arrest relationship.     

Victims and Offenders in Two Crime Statistics Programs: A Comparison of the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) and the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)

The National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) overcomes a basiclimitation of the traditional summary Uniform Crime Reporting program (UCR)by collecting victim information. Using this new victim information tocompare National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) and NIBRS results, wefind some similarities as well as some differences in the characteristics ofvictims and offenders suggested by the two programs. Similarities appear inthe proportions of men and women involved as victims and offenders forrobbery and assault. Comparisons are more difficult and the proportions lesssimilar for property offenses. Nevertheless, the results suggest that whenthe NIBRS is fully developed, it will be an important source of informationon the characteristics of both victims and offenders. Even before theredesigned program is fully implemented, one of the most important featuresof NIBRS reports will be their ability to provide local area victimizationinformation. In addition, the NIBRS will provide much more information onarrests and the characteristic of offenders than any existing program.     

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.     

Using recidivism data to evaluate project 12-ways: An ecobehavioral approach to the treatment and prevention of child abuse and neglect

Many programs and projects have been remiss at looking at outcome variables such as recidivistic child abuse and neglect. Presented here are program evaluation data which examine recidivism data over 5 years across more than 700 families. Families receiving services from Project 12-Ways, a multifaceted in-home ecobehavioral approach, were compared with families indicated in the same region who received child protective services other than those offered by Project 12-Ways. Families who receive services from Project 12-Ways are less likely to reinjure or neglect their children again.     

A re-examination of cremains weight: sex and age variation in a Northern California sample

The reduction of modern commercially cremated remains into a fine powder negates the use of traditional methods of skeletal analysis. The literature on the use of cremains weight for estimating aspects of the biologic profile is limited, often with conflicting results. This study re-evaluates the value of weight in the assessment of biologic parameters from modern cremated remains. A sample of adults was collected in northern California (n = 756), with a cremains weight averaging 2737.1 g. Males were significantly heavier than females (mean = 3233.2 g versus mean = 2238.3 g, respectively; p<0.001). Comparison of this sample with other previously reported samples from southern California, Florida, and Tennessee indicates a consistent sex difference, with the most similar mean values to the Tennessee study. Although cremains weight decreases with age as expected, the relationship is weak; thus, cremains weight cannot accurately predict age-at-death. While sex estimation shows considerable accuracy (86.3% for males and 80.9% for females), sectioning points may be population specific.