Effect of Age-at-Release on Long Term Sexual Re-offense Rates in Civilly Committed Sexual Offenders

A cohort of 136 rapists and 115 child molesters civilly committed to a prison in Massachusetts and followed for 25 years (see Prentky, Lee, Knight, & Cerce, 1997) was examined for the effect of age at time of release on sexual recidivism. The present study (1) examined the recidivism rates for each of five age-at-release groups, separately for rapists and child molesters, (2) tested the fit of linear and quadratic models for 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25-year windows using Cox regression analysis, (3) presented the predicted failure rates for rapists (up to five years post-release) and child molesters (out 21 years post-release), and (4) provided a computational formula for estimating the sexual recidivism rate given an individual’s age and number of years post-release. For rapists, a linear model extending 5 years best captured our data (LR=5.62, p<.02). Going out any further than 5 years did not enhance the predictive efficacy of the model. By contrast, a quadratic model extending the full duration of the study (25 years) provided the best fit (LR=6.30, p<.04) for child molesters. Our data supported the general conclusion that risk of sexual recidivism diminishes as a function of increasing age at time of release for rapists. We found marked differences, however, in the re-offense patterns of rapists and child molesters, with the latter group evidencing a distinct quadratic, rather than linear, pattern. Since these findings derive from a population screened for civil commitment by virtue of their presumptive dangerousness, they may not be generalizable to samples of sex offenders drawn from the general prison population.     

Psychiatric Disorders and Recidivism in Sexual Offenders

Research on psychiatric morbidity in sexual offenders (SOs) has mostly been based on small, selected samples. We studied psychiatric disorders and their relationship with criminal recidivism in a nationwide, representative cohort of SOs. Data on ICD-9 and -10 psychiatric and neurologic morbidity diagnosed during hospital admissions 1987-1997, but prior to sexual offending, were retrieved for all adult male SOs released from Swedish prisons 1993-1997 (N = 1215). Preoffending disorder prevalence and associations between morbidity and criminal reconvictions during a 5-year postdetainment follow-up were explored. Alcohol use disorder was the most frequent diagnosis, followed by drug use disorder, personality disorder, and psychosis. Morbidity requiring admission to hospital was more common in rapists as compared to child molesters. Alcohol use disorder, drug use disorder, personality disorder, and psychosis all increased the risk for sexual recidivism whereas alcohol use disorder and personality disorder predicted violent nonsexual recidivism. Controlling for sociodemographic confounds changed the risk estimates only marginally. Because disorders were identified among only those who had been admitted to psychiatric hospitals as inpatients, underestimation of true prevalence rates was inevitable. However, our findings support psychiatric consultation for improved assessment and management of mental health needs and recidivism risk in SOs.     

Postrelease specialization and versatility in sexual offenders referred for civil commitment

Offense specialization and versatility has been explored previously in the prior criminal records of sexual offenders. The present study expanded these findings by examining offense specialization and versatility in the postrelease offending of a sample of sexual offenders referred for civil commitment and released. Criminal versatility (not limiting one's offending to sexual crime) both before and after commitment was the most commonly observed offending pattern in the sample. Specialist offenders (those for whom sexual offenses constituted more than half of their total number of previous arrests) were more likely than versatile offenders to specialize in sexual offending on release, perhaps indicating that specialization is a stable offending tendency. When compared by referral status, recidivism records indicated that offenders who were committed for treatment were more likely than observed, noncommitted offenders to specialize in sexual offending on release. When compared by offender classification, child molesters and offenders with mixed aged victims were much more likely than rapists and incest offenders to specialize in sexual offending on release.     

Psychopathy, Sexual Deviance, and Recidivism Among Sex Offenders

The relationships between psychopathy, sex offender type, sexual deviance, and recidivism were examined in 156 federally incarcerated sex offenders in a 10-year follow-up study. The rapists and mixed offenders demonstrated higher psychopathy scores than did the child molesters and incest offenders (total scores and Factor 2 scores on the Psychopathy Checklist--Revised [PCL-R]; R. D. Hare, 2003). Factor 1 scores were approximately the same in all groups. The PCL-R was a weak predictor of sexual recidivism but consistently predicted nonsexual violent recidivism and general recidivism (mainly via Factor 2). Sexual deviance measured by a structured rating scheme predicted sexual recidivism. Sexual deviance, so rated, was a stronger predictor of sexual recidivism than psychopathy but the two interacted significantly suggesting that psychopathy could potentiate sexual recidivism. Although psychopathy was a strong positive predictor of general nonsexual recidivism, sexual deviance was inversely related, and no interaction was observed between psychopathy, sexual deviance, and nonsexual recidivism.     

Prediction of Recidivism in Extrafamilial Child Molesters Based on Court-Related Assessments

One hundred ninety-two convicted extrafamilial child molesters were followed for an average of 7.8 years after their conviction. The percentage of men who had committed a sexual, a violent, or any criminal offense by the 12th year was 15.1, 20.3, and 41.6, respectively. The sexual recidivists, compared with the nonrecidivists, demonstrated more problems with alcohol and showed greater sexual arousal to assaultive stimuli involving children than to mutually consenting stimuli with children. The violent recidivists, compared with the nonrecidivists, were more likely to have a history of violence in the families in which they were raised and were rated significantly more psychopathic on the Psychopathy Checklist—Revised (PCL-R). They also showed more sexual arousal to stimuli depicting mutually consenting sexual interactions with children than to adult stimuli. In terms of any criminal recidivism, recidivists were younger, had completed fewer years of school, and were raised in psychologically more harmful family environments compared with nonrecidivists. They also reported that, before 16 years of age, they were more likely to have been physically abused and were more likely to have been removed from their homes compared to those that did not recidivate. In addition, recidivists demonstrated more general hostility on the Buss–Durkee Hostility Inventory and were rated significantly more psychopathic on the PCL-R. The phallometric assessments revealed, that the criminal recidivists, compared to the nonrecidivists, showed more sexual arousal to stimuli depicting coercive sexual activity with children than consenting sexual activities with children. In addition, they showed more sexual arousal to scenes depicting adult rape then adult mutually consenting sex. Finally, the rcidivists also had more charges or convictions for violence and any criminal acts. The small number of significant differences between recidivists and nonrecidivists in the sexual and violent categories precluded an attempt to determine which combination of factors meaningfully predicted reoffending. However, for criminal recidivism, a stepwise discriminant function analysis to assess the combination of factors that most successfully distinguished between groups in terms of criminal recidivism was significant, with subjects' age, total number of criminal convictions, and pedophile assault index being retained for optimal prediction. The procedure correctly classified 70.6% of the original group, 82.8% of the nonrecidivists, and 52.6% of the recidivists. PCL-R Total Score alone was equally successful in a similar discriminant function.     

Phallometric Assessments Designed to Detect Arousal to Children: The Responses of Rapists and Child Molesters

The phallometric responses of child molesters and rapists were assessed using two assessments of sexual arousal to children. Groups responded to both audiotaped depictions of sexual activity with children and to a set of slides of nude adults and children. Analyses revealed that the audiotaped child sexual violence assessment was as effective as the slide assessment in discriminating child molesters from rapists. It was also found that rapists displayed some degree of deviant response to both stimulus sets.     

Psychopathy and Sexual Deviance in Treated Rapists: Association with Sexual and Nonsexual Recidivism

This study examined the role of the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R; R. D. Hare, 1991) and sexual deviance scores in predicting recidivism in a sample of 94 convicted rapists involuntarily admitted to a Dutch forensic psychiatric hospital between 1975 and 1996. The predictive utility of grouping offenders based on the combination of psychopathy and sexual deviance was also investigated. Measures were coded from pre-release institutional records. Recidivism (reconviction) data were retrieved from the Judicial Documentation Register of the Ministry of Justice and were related to PCL-R and sexual deviance scores. The follow-up period after release ranged up to 23.5 years (M = 11.8 years). Base rates for sexual, violent nonsexual, violent (including sexual), and general recidivism were 34%, 47%, 55%, and 73%, respectively. For all types of offending, offenders scoring high on the PCL-R (> or = 26) were significantly more often reconvicted than other offenders. The sexual deviance score was found to be a significant predictor of sexual reconviction. Survival analyses provided considerable evidence that psychopathic sex offenders with sexual deviant preferences are at substantially greater risk of committing new sexual offenses than psychopathic offenders without deviant preferences or nonpsychopathic offenders with or without sexual deviance. The findings are discussed in terms of their practical and clinical implications.     

Sexual Arousal in Rapists as Measured by Two Stimulus Sets

Some uncertainty exists in the literature regarding the status of phallometric testing with rapists. Although Quinsey and colleagues (1981) argue that rapists can be distinguished from nonsexual offenders with appropriate phallometric tests, Marshall (in press) argues that the validity of such testing is not proved, and that findings supportive of the testing are a artifact of population differences (i.e., psychiatric vs. correctional) and not reflective of rapists overall. The current study attempts to clarify this issue by testing rapists, child molesters, and mixed offenders (those with both adult and child victims) in a prison setting with both the Barbaree and Quinsey stimulus sets. It was hypothesized that rapists would be found to have more deviant rape indices when tested with the Quinsey stimulus set than with the Barbaree set. However, neither stimulus set distinguished the three groups in terms of the rape indices, whereas the rape index calculated from the Quinsey stimulus set was slightly more deviant than the one calculated from the Barbaree set. However, only 25% of rapists were classified as deviant using a rape index cutoff of 1.0. This finding is discussed in terms of the sexual preference hypothesis.     

A Brief Screening Scale to Identify Pedophilic Interests Among Child Molesters

Among child molesters, phallometrically measured sexual interest in children is associated with having male victims, multiple victims, younger victims, and extrafamilial victims. These sexual offense history variables are also associated with risk for sexual recidivism. The present study of 1,113 child molesters was conducted to determine if these sexual offense history variables could be used as items in a brief screening scale to identify pedophilic interests (SSPI: Screening Scale for Pedophilic Interests). Using a cutoff score that classified 90% of a sample of 206 nonchild molesters as not having pedophilic interests, SSPI scores identified pedophilic interests among child molesters significantly better than did chance. In phallometric testing, individuals with the highest SSPI score were more than 5 times as likely to show pedophilic interests than individuals receiving the lowest score. The SSPI is not intended to be a substitute for phallometric testing, but it may be useful for triage and risk management when testing is difficult to conduct, or as a research instrument when phallometric data are unavailable.     

Childhood Attachment,Childhood Sexual Abuse,and Onset of Masturbation Among Adult Sexual Offenders

Written autobiographies of 48 incarcerated adult male sexual offenders (22 rapists, 13 intrafamilial child molesters, and 13 extrafamilial child molesters) were used to generate retrospective self-report measures of their childhood maternal and paternal attachment, childhood sexual abuse experiences, and onset of masturbation. Contrary to expectation, the offenders as a combined group more often reported secure than they did insecure childhood maternal and paternal attachment. There were no differences between the three offender subgroups with respect to maternal attachment; however the rapists and the intrafamilial child molesters were more likely to report insecure paternal attachment than were the extrafamilial child molesters. There were no differences between these offender subgroups in the frequency with which childhood sexual abuse was reported. However, offenders with insecure paternal attachment were more likely to report having been sexually abused than were those with secure paternal attachment. Sexually abused offenders in turn reported earlier onset of masturbation than did those who were not sexually abused. These results are consistent with contemporary attachment models linking insecure childhood attachment to childhood sexual abuse, and with traditional conditioning models linking childhood sexual abuse, early masturbation, and sexual offending.     

Some aspects of social competence in sexual offenders

Outpatient rapists and child molesters were compared with a socioeconomically similar group of nonoffenders and with a group of university students on various measures of social functioning and in terms of their judgments about actors displaying under-, over-, and appropriately assertive behavior. The child molesters did not differ from the matched community group, with both groups reporting social anxiety, underassertiveness, and low self-esteem. These two groups also judged the unassertive actor to be the most appropriate of the three actors. The rapists thought the overassertive actor was the most appropriate and they also appeared more confident, more assertive, and less anxious than the child molesters. The university students were more socially appropriate, more confident, and less anxious than the other groups, and they made judgments about the actors that were consistent with prosocial expectations. Evidently the model of social functioning that these sexual offenders accepted differed from prosocial expectations, and this, as well as their actual functioning, needs to be addressed in research and treatment.     

Age and Sexual Recidivism: A Variable Connection

Meta-analysis (R. K. Hanson & M. T. Bussière, 1998) has indicated an overall negative correlation between age and sexual recidivism, but also found that the size of this inverse relationship varies significantly between samples. The present study examined the relationship between age on release and sexual recidivism in a large (N=752), nationally representative, sample of imprisoned male sexual offenders followed up for 10 years. Sexual offenders released at a younger age tended to be more general criminals while those released at an older age tended to be sexual specialists. Consistent with C. F. Roberts, D. M. Doren, and D. Thornton (2002), age on release was found to make a significant contribution to the prediction of sexual reconviction when two aspects of criminal history (sexual deviance and general criminality) were controlled. Overall, the odds of being sexually reconvicted declined by about 0.02 with each year of increasing age. In addition to this general decline in recidivism with increasing age, there was also a cubic effect of age for the offenders who had been sentenced for sexual offenses on at least two prior occasions. This group showed an exceptionally high sexual recidivism rate when released between the ages of 18–24 (80%). For those aged between 25 and 59 their sexual reconviction rate was consistently just under 50% regardless of age. Then for the small group aged 60+ no further sexual reconvictions were found.     

Trait Empathy and Criminal Versatility in Sexual Offenders

Associations between trait empathy and criminal versatility were examined in a sample of 88 incarcerated adult sexual offenders (29 extrafamilial child molesters, 26 intrafamilial child molesters, and 33 rapists). Considerable criminal versatility was observed, with 60% of the whole sample and 88% of recidivist offenders having previous convictions for nonsexual offenses. Regression analyses showed significant associations between trait empathy and nonsexual offense convictions, but not between trait empathy and sexual offense convictions. More specifically, greater involvement in violent offending (e.g., assault, robbery) was associated with lower levels of empathic concern and higher levels of fantasy. Greater involvement in miscellaneous (e.g., traffic, drug, public order) offending was associated with lower levels of empathic concern. We argue that insufficient theoretical and empirical attention has historically been given to criminal versatility among sexual offenders, especially among child molesters. In particular, we suggest that developments in empathy training for sexual offenders may benefit from distinguishing needs of criminally versatile and non-versatile sexual offenders. More knowledge about trait empathy in sexual offenders, and about situational factors that may override otherwise normal empathic responsiveness, is needed.     

Identifying Schemas in Child Molesters,Rapists, and Violent Offenders

One focus of research concerning offending behavior has been the concept of the cognitive distortion, although the importance of the need for research into the underlying cognitive structures in offenders has been highlighted. This study examined schemas in child molesters, rapists, and violent offenders, predicting content differences in the offence-related schemas between these groups. In accordance with previous research, the prevalence of a “suspiciousness/hostility to women” schema in rapists was predicted. Twelve rapists, twelve child molesters, and twelve violent offenders incarcerated in a male maximum-security prison completed “Life Maps” (autobiographies) and the My Life questionnaire (R. E. Mann & C. R. Hollin, 2001), both designed to indicate the presence of schemas. A content analysis template containing nine schemas was constructed and applied to the Life Map data. Results showed a significant difference in the prevalence of schema type between the three groups. There was a prevalence of a “hostility/distrust of women” schema in the rapists. Analysis of the My Life questionnaire revealed a difference between violent offenders and rapists only. This study highlights the need for further research into schemas with sexual and violent offenders.     

Evaluation of the SORAG and the Static-99 on Belgian Sex Offenders Committed to a Forensic Facility

This study evaluated the convergent and predictive validity of the Sex Offender Risk Appraisal Guide (SORAG; V. L. Quinsey, G. T. Harris, M. E. Rice, & C. A. Cormier, 1998) and the Static-99 (R. K. Hanson & D. Thornton, 1999, 2000) among 147 male sex offenders committed to a high-security hospital in Belgium (Centre de Défense Sociale “Les Marronniers”). Of the sample, 63.8% were child abusers (victims under 14 years of age), 24.6% were rapists (victims aged 14 years or more), and 11.5% were mixed-victim offenders (victims less than 14 years of age and victims aged 14 years or more). After an average follow-up period of 4.2 years (SD = 3.4 years), the sexual recidivism rate was 25.2%, the violent recidivism rate was 17.1%, and the general (any) recidivism rate was 33.1%. The SORAG and the Static-99 were moderately correlated with each other (r = .55), and both showed strong predictive validity for general and violent recidivism (ROC AUC's ranging from .68 to .72 for the total sample). Both instruments showed moderate predictive validity for sexual recidivism (AUC of .64 for SORAG and .66 for Static-99).     

The Factor Structure of Static Actuarial Items: Its Relation to Prediction

Principal components analysis was conducted on items contained in actuarial instruments used with adult sex offenders, including: the Rapid Assessment of Sex Offender Risk for Recidivism (RASORR), the Static-99, the Violence Risk Appraisal Guide (VRAG), the Sex Offender Risk Appraisal Guide (SORAG), and the Minnesota Sex Offender Screening Tool-Revised (MnSOST-R). In a data set that included child molesters and rapists (N = 311), six interpretable components were identified: Antisocial Behavior, Child Sexual Abuse, Persistence, Detached Predatory Behavior, Young and Single, and Male Victim(s). The RRASOR was highly correlated with Persistence, and the VRAG and SORAG were highly correlated with Antisocial Behavior. Antisocial Behavior was a significant predictor of violent recidivism, while Persistence and Child Sexual Abuse were significant predictors of sexual recidivism.     

Prediction of Recidivism in Exhibitionists: Psychological,Phallometric, and Offense Factors

Exhibitionists have traditionally been regarded as nuisance offenders. However, empirical studies show that some offenders can be highly recidivistic and can escalate to incidents of Hands-on sexual assault. The objective of this study was to investigate predictors of recidivism in exhibitionists and clarify the differences between Hands-on and Hands-off sexual recidivists. Two hundred and twenty-one exhibitionists were assessed at a university teaching hospital between 1983 and 1996. Archival data came from medical files and police files. The Psychopathy Checklist – Revised (PCL-R) was assessed retrospectively. Results indicated that over a mean follow-up period of 6.84 years, 11.7, 16.8, and 32.7% of exhibitionists were charged with or convicted of sexual, violent, or criminal offenses, respectively. Sexual reoffending recidivists were less educated, and had more prior sexual and criminal offenses. Violent, recidivists were also less educated, had lower Derogatis Sexual Functioning Inventory (DSFI) scores, higher PCL-R Totals, and more prior sexual, violent, and criminal offenses. Criminal recidivists were younger, less educated, had lower DSFI scores, higher PCL-R scores, higher Pedophile Indices, and more prior sexual, violent, and criminal offenses. Hands-on sexual recidivists demonstrated higher PCL-R ratings, higher Pedophile and Rape indices, and more prior sexual, violent, and criminal offenses than did Hands-offcounterparts.     

Sexual abuse histories of sexual offenders

A comparison of sexual abuse histories of sexual offender and nonsexual offender inmates was undertaken. Sixty-five male subjects were interviewed and given questionnaires regarding their own sexual abuse histories and their family backgrounds. Eighteen of 29 rapists (62%), 8 of 16 child molesters (50%), and 4 of 20 nonsexual offender inmates (20%) were classified as having been sexually abused, with sexual offenders being more likely to report having been abused. A history of sexual abuse appears to be an important factor in the backgrounds of sexual offenders and it was found to be associated with other aspects of a disturbed family background.     

Homicidal and Nonhomicidal Child Molesters: Psychological,Phallometric, and Criminal Features

Seventeen extrafamilial homicidal child molesters (HCM) were compared to 35 convicted extrafamilial child molesters (CM) who had not murdered, or attempted to murder, their victims. The two groups did not differ on age, IQ, education, history of marriage, or family history, although marriage rates of both groups were well below the national average. Similarly, both groups had high rates of features representing family instability. HCM more frequently victimized strangers. The results on the self-report psychological inventories, the Derogatis Sexual Functioning Inventory (DSFI) and the Buss–Durkee Hostility Inventory (BDHI), did not distinguish between the groups, although the DSFI revealed sexual inadequacy in both groups. The BDHI did not describe the groups as pathological. The Psychopathy Checklist—Revised Total Score, Factor 1, and Factor 2 described both groups as demonstrating high levels of psychopathy, with the HCM scoring significantly higher. Factor 1 and Factor 2 scores placed the HCM group in the 93rd and 82nd percentiles, respectively, compared to published norms for forensic patients. A greater proportion of HCM suffered from antisocial personality disorders and paraphilias, especially sexual sadism. Over 53% of the HCM, and none of the CM, were comorbid for pedophilia and sexual sadism. Significantly more HCM received three or more DSM III-R diagnoses. The phallometric assessments generally supported DSM diagnoses. The HCM demonstrated significantly higher levels of deviant arousal to pedophilic and adult assault stimuli. Police files revealed that, prior to the index offense, a significantly greater proportion of HCM had been charged with, or convicted of, violent nonsexual, and sexual offenses. The HCM had been charged with, or convicted of, more than 2.5 times as many criminal charges than the CM. A discriminant function analysis revealed that two variables, Factor 1 of the PCL-R and the number of violent entries in the police records, correctly predicted 78.6% of the HCM and 97.1% of the CM. Implications for understanding homicidal child molesters and for future research are discussed.     

Sexual offenders’ perceptions of their intimate relationships

Recent theoretical and empirical research suggests that sexual offenders have intimacy skill deficits that may play a significant role in the etiology and maintenance of their dysfunctional sexual behavior. Sexual offenders have frequently been described as loners or as having few, superficial, and unsatisfying relationships. The purpose of the present study was to identify the perceptions of intimate relationships of sexual offenders and two criminal comparison groups. The participants in this study included child molesters (55), rapists (30), violent nonsexual offenders (32), and nonviolent, nonsexual offenders (30), violent nonsexual offenders (32), and nonviolent, nonsexual offenders (30). The participants were interviewed and a set of categories was developed from these data using a grounded theory analysis. In the second part of the study these categories were used to identify differences in the perceptions of adult romantic relationships between sexual offenders and the comparison groups. Relationship commitment, evaluation of the partner, self-disclosure, trust, expression of affection, sexual satisfaction, the giving and receiving of support, empathy, conflict resolution, autonomy, and sensitivity to rejection all emerged as significant aspects of sexual offenders' perceptions of their intimate relationships. Our findings also suggest that sexual offenders have a number of intimacy deficits that create difficulties in their romantic relationships. These deficits are to a large extent shared by the violent offenders and, therefore, are not specific to sexual offenders. They represent a general vulnerability factor leading to the development of a variety of offenses and life problems. The theoretical, research, and clinical implications of our findings are discussed.