An Actuarial Procedure for Assessing Risk with Juvenile Sex Offenders

Assessments of juvenile sexual offenders that are intended to aid in dispositional decisions occur at a multitude of decision points within the juvenile justice system. Despite the ubiquity of decisions that include considerations of risk, relatively little empirical work has been done on the development and validation of a risk assessment procedure for these young offenders. In this article, we discuss our initial efforts in developing and validating an actuarial risk assessment protocol for juvenile sex offenders using a sample of 96 adolescents that had been admitted, treated, and discharged from the Joseph J. Peters Institute. We conclude with a critical discussion of problems associated with evaluating risk in this population, and of deficiencies and revision requirements in the present protocol.     

Juvenile Sex Offenders: A Case Against the Legal and Clinical Status Quo

The past two decades have seen a movement toward harsher legal sanctions and lengthy, restrictive treatment programs for sex offenders. This has not only been the case for adults, but also for juveniles who commit sex offenses. The increased length and severity of legal and clinical interventions for juvenile sex offenders appear to have resulted from three false assumptions: (1) there is an epidemic of juvenile offending, including juvenile sex offending; (2) juvenile sex offenders have more in common with adult sex offenders than with other juvenile delinquents; and (3) in the absence of sex offender-specific treatment, juvenile sex offenders are at exceptionally high risk of reoffending. The available data do not support any of the above assumptions; however, these assumptions continue to influence the treatment and legal interventions applied to juvenile sex offenders and contributed to the application of adult interventions to juvenile sex offending. In so doing, these legal and clinical interventions fail to consider the unique developmental factors that characterize adolescence, and thus may be ineffective or worse. Fortunately, a paradigm shift that acknowledges these developmental factors appears to be emerging in clinical areas of intervention, although this trend does not appear as prevalent in legal sanctions.     

Predictors of Recidivism in Australian Juvenile Sex Offenders: Implications for Treatment

Juvenile sex offenders charged with their first sexual offence were compared with recidivist juvenile sex offenders who had been charged with more than one sexual offence on a number of factors related to sexual offending. Participants were 70 male juvenile sex offenders, aged 13–21 years who were awaiting court disposition. Negative family history, negative family characteristics, school and learning problems, social skill deficits, deviant sexual experiences, deviant sexual fantasies, and cognitive distortions were assessed for their direct and mediating roles in recidivism. Path analysis indicated that poor social skills, learning problems, and deviant sexual experiences were causally related to recidivism of sexual offending. Poor social skills were directly related to recidivism, whereas cognitive distortions and deviant sexual fantasies mediated the role of learning problems and deviant sexual experiences. There was a significant association between deviant sexual experience and learning problems. The findings support the role of cognitive distortions and deviant sexual fantasies in recidivist sexual offending for this sample. The causal role identified for poor social skills and learning problems in recidivism for sexual offending has implications for treatment and therefore deserves further attention.     

An Exploration of Factors Related to Deviant Sexual Arousal Among Juvenile Sex Offenders

To date, there has been limited literature on the measurement of sexual arousal in adolescent sex offenders. The data that exist have been somewhat mixed in terms of factors related to deviant sexual arousal in this group. The present study, with 71 adolescent sex offenders, investigates the relationship between offender and offense characteristics, including gender of victim, history of sexual abuse, history of physical abuse, race, and interactions between these factors in the prediction of physiologically measured sexual arousal to deviant and nondeviant stimulus categories. A number of variables significantly predicted sexual arousal. The most consistent predictors were gender of victim, race, the interaction of race and gender of victim, and to some extent the interaction of offender abuse history and gender of victim. Caucasian subjects tended to respond more than African American subjects did, and this has not been reported previously in the literature. The data are discussed in terms of consistency with other literature, suggesting that those juvenile offenders who target male victims and have been abused themselves may be a high risk group. Limitations of this study are also addressed.     

Multimodal Assessment of Dissociation in Adolescents: Inpatients and Juvenile Sex Offenders

Two samples of adolescents were studied to assess the validity of several measures of dissociation. The first sample included 70 males from a residential treatment program for adolescent sex offenders (ASO). The second were 47 psychiatric inpatients. The measures included the DSM-IV field trial questionnaire for Dissociative Disorders of Childhood, Child Dissociative Checklist, Adolescent-Dissociative Experiences Schedule, Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children, and the Dissociation Research scale. Ten of the 70 adolescent sex offender subjects (14.3%) were identified as meeting DSM-IV criteria for a Dissociation-spectrum disorder diagnosis and two (4.2%) of the psychiatric patients. Between-groups analyses with the ASO revealed significant differences on the Child Dissociative Checklist and the Dissociation Research Scale. Cumulative trauma did not differ significantly between the dissociative and nondissociative groups of ASO, but physical abuse was related to a diagnosis of dissociation in this sample. The dissociation measures were highly intercorrelated for both groups, and suggest that they measure a similar construct.     

Brief Report: Dimensions of Burnout in Professionals Working with Sex Offenders

This report describes a brief questionnaire to investigate burnout potential in professionals working with sex offenders in clinical, forensic, and human services settings. The Professional Impact Questionnaire, a 31-item inventory with subscales assessing professional performance, coping strategies, and emotional reactions was tested initially with 17 clinicians who provide sex offender evaluations. In an altered format, the questionnaire was administered to 70 clinicians, jurists, and frontline caseworkers and their supervisors. The satisfactory psychometric properties of the original questionnaire were retained in the modified version with this new sample of respondents. Caseworkers reported significantly greater emotional distress than attorneys and judges. For all participants, negative emotional reactions were associated with a sense of impaired work performance. Using positive coping strategies was correlated with reporting relatively few adverse effects on professional functioning.     

Principles and Techniques for Maximizing the Effectiveness of Group Therapy with Sex Offenders

Group-based interventions are widely used as the preferred method for the treatment of sexual offenders. However, little attention has been given to the vital interpersonal processes within groups, which contribute to their therapeutic effect. This paper describes specific principles and techniques of group therapy that will help sex offender treatment practitioners take full advantage of this unique modality and thereby maximize the positive impact of treatment. In contrast to an individual-focused style that characterizes many sex offender treatment groups, group-focused interventions involve all group members and use the social/relational energy that is essential to the group modality.     

Typology of Female Sex Offenders: A Test of Vandiver and Kercher

Using all 390 female sex offenders registered in New York State, this study attempted to test the analyses and findings of Vandiver and Kercher (2004). Although the current sample varied geographically from Vandiver and Kercher's sample, they were remarkably similar on key demographic variables (e.g., offender age and race, victim age), allowing for close comparison of the findings. Results of the hierarchical loglinear modeling analysis reinforced the importance of variables such as victim and offender ages to categorizing offenders. The present cluster analysis indicated the existence of six distinct types of female sex offender (with the clusters themselves differing substantially from those found by Vandiver and Kercher), supporting the view that female sex offenders are a heterogeneous group.     

Comparison of Perpetration Characteristics Between Male Juvenile and Adult Sexual Offenders: Preliminary Results

This study investigated the characteristics of the sexual abuse perpetrated by 16 juvenile (JSO) and 19 adult sexual offenders (ASO). Data were collected from a randomly selected group of males who received psychotherapy services at a community agency. The results revealed significant differences between the JSOs and the ASOs on the number of committed offenses, length of sexual relationships maintained with victims, quality of these relationships, nature of the sexual acts committed, and presence of force during abuse incidents. The results show similarities and differences in the sexual abuse characteristics perpetrated by juveniles and adults.     

Sex As a Coping Strategy and Its Relationship to Juvenile Sexual History and Intimacy in Sexual Offenders

The current research examined the hypothesis that sexual activity functions as a coping strategy for sexual offenders. A 16-item scale, the Coping Using Sex Inventory (CUSI), was developed to assess the presence of and the degree to which sex was used to deal with problematic situations. Sexual offenders consistently reported, using sexual activities, both consenting and nonconsenting, as a coping strategy to deal with stressful and problematic situations. In the first study, when compared to nonsexual violent offenders, sexual offenders showed evidence of sexual preoccupation during adolescence, and this preoccupation was related to the latter use of sex as a coping strategy. In the second study, intimacy deficits and loneliness were related to greater use of sexual activity as a coping mechanism. The third study examined the psychometric properties of the CUSI. A factor analysis revealed 3 factors in the CUSI corresponding to consenting sexual themes, rape themes, and child sexual abuse themes. Sexual offenders reported higher use of each type of sexual activity to cope with stressful and difficult situations as compared to nonsexual offenders. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed here.     

Factors Associated with Treatment Compliance in a Population of Juvenile Sexual Offenders

Structural equation modeling was utilized to assess predictors of outcomes in a sample of 204 juvenile male sexual offenders participating in community-based treatment programming. Lower levels of client denial at intake predicted successful program compliance. Higher levels of denial were found in nonadjudicated youths. Although program attrition was high (50% in the first year), relatively few youths were expelled for sexual (4.9%) or nonsexual delinquency (6.6%) over a 12- to 24-month period. Program failure during years 1 and 2 was attributable largely to expulsion for failure to comply with attendance requirements and/or therapeutic directives. Youths failing to comply were found to have higher overall levels of measured sexual maladjustment and may be at greater long-term risk for sexual recidivism. Implications of the findings for clinical risk assessment, and directions for future research, are discussed.     

Response Patterns on the Questionnaire on Attitudes Consistent with Sexual Offending in Groups of Sex Offenders with Intellectual Disabilities

Background This report employs a recently developed assessment on attitudes consistent with sexual offending [Questionnaire on Attitudes Consistent with Sexual Offences (QACSO)] to compare different groups of sex offenders with intellectual disability. Method Two studies are reported each from a different region and each conducted by different individuals. Study 1 compared 12 sex offenders against adults with 12 offenders against children. The six‐scale version of the QACSO was administered including rape and attitudes to women, voyeurism, exhibitionism, dating abuse, homosexual assault and offences against children. Study 2 employed three groups of 10 participants each: offenders against adults, exhibitionists and offenders against children. The seven scale version of the QACSO (stalking added) was used. All questionnaires were administered individually. Results In both studies, the offenders against adults reported higher levels of attitudes consistent with sexual offending in the area of rape and attitudes to women with medium to large effect sizes and a significant difference in study 1. In both studies, offenders against children reported significantly higher levels of cognitive distortions (large effect sizes) in the area of offences against children. Both differences were in the predicted direction and there were no other significant differences on other sections. In general, all three groups reported higher levels of cognitive distortions than non‐offenders. Conclusions There would appear to be some specificity particularly for the rape and attitudes to women scale, and the offenders against children scale. The same specificity does not emerge from other scales of the QACSO. The study also lends support to the inclusion of techniques which explore and challenge attitudes consistent with offending both generally and in relation to specific offences.     

Juvenile Sex Offenders: Toward the Development of a Typology

Adolescent males who sexually offended against prepubescent children were contrasted with those who targeted pubescent and postpubescent females. As hypothesized, path analyses revealed that the former group had greater deficits in psychosocial functioning, used less aggression in their sexual offending, and were more likely to offend against relatives. Theorized relationships between developmental risk factors, personality mediators, and sexual and nonsexual offense characteristics were assessed in both groups of juvenile sex offenders. Deficits in psychosocial functioning were found to mediate the influence of childhood exposure to violence against females on adolescent perpetration of sexual and nonsexual offenses. Additional univariate analyses were conducted to further explore some associations among early risk factors, personality mediators, and outcomes. Childhood physical abuse by a father or stepfather and exposure to violence against females were found to be associated with higher levels of comorbid anxiety and depression. Noncoercive childhood sexual victimization by a male nonrelative was found to be associated with sexual offending against a male child. Clinical and theoretical implications of the findings are discussed.     

Examining the Substance Use Patterns and Treatment Needs of Incarcerated Sex Offenders

Using data from a Bureau of Justice Statistics' national prison inmate survey, this paper analyzes alcohol and drug use and abuse patterns among men incarcerated in state prison for sex crimes. Of the 13,986 inmates in the sample, 11.5% were incarcerated for a sex offense. Two thirds were substance-involved, meaning that they were under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of their crime, had committed a crime to get money for drugs, had histories of regular illegal drug use, had received treatment for alcoholism, or shared some combination of these characteristics. The level and type of substance-involvement was related to age and race, to history of victimization, and to victim characteristics. We discuss the implications of these findings for correctional program interventions, including assessing drug and alcohol problems, availability of substance abuse treatment for sex offenders, and the conjunction of such treatment with other programs.     

Therapeutic Jurisprudence and Sex Offenders: A Psycho-Legal Approach to Protection

Societal response to sex offenders is marked by uncertainty about whether punishment or treatment should occur. The distinction between punishment, prevention, and protection is useful to determine how best to assess, treat, and manage sex offenders within the criminal justice system. Once convicted, both law and psychology are concerned with sex offenders changing their behavior in order to protect the community. Therapeutic jurisprudence is a legal theory that aims to maximize therapeutic effects of the law and minimize anti-therapeutic consequences of the law. Therapeutic jurisprudence provides a framework to combine legal and psychological processes to balance prevention and protection. Legal and correctional practitioners can work together to address both community protection and offender protection concerns.     

A Comparison of Anxiety and Depression in Sex Offenders with Intellectual Disability and a Control Group with Intellectual Disability

The aims of this study were to employ modified versions of the 21-item Beck Anxiety and Depression Inventories with a group of 16 sex offenders with mild intellectual disability and borderline intelligence and 16 control participants with similar levels of intellectual disability. Test-retest correlations found high reliability for both assessments across all participants. There was a significant difference between the scores of the 2 groups with the sex offenders reporting significantly lower levels of anxiety and depression than the control participants. The results are discussed by presenting hypotheses on the emotional stability in each group.     

Should Actuarial Risk Assessments be Used with Sex Offenders who are Intellectually Disabled?

Background Objective actuarial assessments are critical for making risk decisions, determining the necessary level of supervision and intensity of treatment ( Andrews & Bonta 2003 ). This paper reviews the history of organized risk assessment and discusses some issues in current attitudes towards sexual offenders with intellectual disabilities. Method We present two risk assessment tools (RRASOR and STABLE‐2000) that appear to have practical utility with this population. Data are presented from a community sample of 81 sexual offenders who are intellectually disabled suggesting that the RRASOR may provide a useful metric of risk for this population. Dynamic risk is assessed using the STABLE‐2000. This tool, based on 16 areas empirically associated with sexual recidivism, samples the individuals’ current behaviour, skill deficits and personality factors. Change in these factors serves to flag the supervisor to changing risk levels. Conclusions In addressing the question of whether we should seek special risk measures normed on people with intellectually disabilities, given the current lack of alternative tools, we conclude that it is reasonable to make use of the risk assessments that have been validated on the general sex offender population.     

Assessment of Juvenile Sexual Offenders: Reliability and Validity of the Abel Assessment for Interest in Paraphilias

Empirical tests of the reliability and validity of the Abel Assessment for Interest in Paraphilias (AAIP) as used with juvenile sexual offenders were performed. Test–retest reliability, screening validity, and diagnostic validity were assessed using several analytical approaches. The temporal stability, sensitivity, and specificity of the AAIP as used with adolescents in residential and day treatment were not demonstrated. The results indicate the need for further refinement of the AAIP.