Background: The resources used in treatment for sex offenders with intellectual disabilities have had much research attention, but less has been written about how participants are expected to respond (programme mechanisms). Methods: A realist evaluation of seven programmes from the UK, Canada, USA, Switzerland and Germany was conducted. In…

Criterion-referenced measures, such as those used in the assessment of crime and violence, prioritize predictive accuracy (discrimination) at the expense of construct validity. In this article, we compared the discrimination and incremental validity of three commonly used criterion-referenced measures for sex offenders (Rapid Risk Assessment for…

There has been relatively little research on the degree to which measures of lifetime history of substance abuse add to the prediction of risk based on actuarial measures alone among sexual offenders. This issue is of relevance in that a history of substance abuse is related to relapse to substance using behavior. Furthermore, substance use has…

The treatment outcome of a high-intensity inpatient sex offender treatment program was evaluated by comparing the sexual recidivism rates of 472 treated and 282 untreated sex offenders. The program is designed for moderate- to high-risk sex offenders and follows the principles of effective correctional treatment. The current investigation is an…

The authors examined the therapeutic responses of psychopathic sex offenders (greater than or equal to 25 Psychopathy Checklist-Revised; PCL-R) in terms of treatment dropout and therapeutic change, as well as sexual and violent recidivism over a 10-year follow-up among 156 federally incarcerated sex offenders treated in a high-intensity inpatient…

Background: Various explanations of sexual offending in men with intellectual disability (ID) have stressed sexual deviance and a lack of developmental socio-sexual knowledge. Method: Using the normative dataset of people with ID from the development of the "Socio-Sexual Knowledge and Attitudes Assessment Tool--Revised" (SSKAAT-R:…

Concept mapping (a combined qualitative/quantitative approach) was used to clarify the domain, composition, and underlying structure of 82 Canadian professionals' experiences of reward in their work with sex offenders. Seven thematic clusters were identified: Protection of Potential Victims, Socially Meaningful Curiosity, Enjoyment of Counselling,…

The Personality Assessment Inventory's (PAI's) ability to predict psychopathic personality features, as assessed by the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R), was examined. To investigate whether the PAI Antisocial Features (ANT) Scale and subscales possessed incremental validity beyond other theoretically relevant PAI scales, optimized regression…

Investigated sensitivity/specificity of phallometric test for pedophilia and hebephilia. Total samples were 154 men accused of sexual offenses against minors and 56 men accused of sexual offenses against adult women. Concluded that sensitivity of test in detecting pedophilia or hebephilia in complete nonadmitters is probably greater than or equal…

Of 483 inmates who were referred to a sex offender treatment program and followed for an average of 44 months of opportunity to reoffend, 38% were arrested for new violent or sexual offenses. After statistically controlling for the static variables that predicted reoffending, the treatment program was associated with a higher rate of sexual…

Investigated effects of gender of victim and offender, age of victim, and initiator of interaction on general public's perceptions of cases of child sexual abuse. In two studies (total n=282), manipulation of identity of initiating party was found to have strongest and most consistent effects. (Author/NB)

The present study investigated 154 consecutive admissions to the Regional Treatment Center (Ontario) Sex Offender Treatment Program with reference to psychopathy and outcome. Ratings of treatment behavior, as well as clinical judgments as to whether risk was reduced, were coded based on treatment reports. With reference to Psychopathy…

Compared 19 sexual offenders, 22 batterers, 10 violent community comparison subjects, and 21 community comparison subjects on demographic, personality, and attitudinal variables. Discriminating variables correctly classified 75 percent of participants. Hostility toward women and depression were two best discriminating variables, suggesting that…

A study was conducted which examined records from the Ontario Court of Appeal to investigate the factors contributing to child molestation by teachers in the classroom. Data were analyzed using Finkelhor's model of emotional congruence. For the offenders against prepubescent children, the chain of causation was found to lead outside the classroom.…

Notes that clinical work with clients who are both victims and sexual abusers is complex. Describes a session of treatment of 14-year-old victim/offender. Approach described combines story-telling technique of Gardner and fantasy work of Oaklander. Sees methods as particularly useful for overcoming resistance. Notes that, as counseling continues,…