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Deficits in cognitive empathy (CE) have been associated with a child sexual offense (CSO) history in paedophilia. However, these results have been obtained in cross-sectional comparison. There are ...

In this study we investigate the intersecting impacts of perpetrators’ gender, sexuality, and age on perceptions of teacher sexual misconduct. When the teacher was a woman, respondents perceived the relationship to be less detrimental to the student, the student to be more mature and responsible, and the relationship as more acceptable. Heterosexual pairings were perceived as more acceptable than same-sex pairings, with the student perceived as more mature and responsible. Lastly, when the teacher was older respondents perceived them as more responsible and the student as having psychological issues contributing to the relationship.

A man in his thirties was suspected of committing a sexual offense against a young girl. A video on his mobile telephone provided the only evidence. Photographs obtained from the video showed male genitalia in two views, with the penis in both views exhibiting unique pigmentation. We appraised this case with the cooperation of dermatologists, who diagnosed the pigmentation as male genital melanosis, a relatively rare disease, which matched that on the suspected perpetrator’s penis. Photographs obtained from the video were thus decisive evidence of sexual offense and identified the perpetrator.

Polygraph examinations are commonly used to monitor individuals following conviction for a sexual offense. The objective of polygraph use is to elicit risk-relevant disclosures to inform and improve management of people who have offended sexually, with the ultimate aim of reducing the likelihood of reoffending. However, by synthesizing and evaluating the existing recidivism literature relating to post-conviction sexual offense-related testing (PCSOT), this narrative analysis demonstrates that use of PCSOT lacks robust empirical support beyond the fact that examinations facilitate increased disclosures and can be used as a surveillance tool. This review proposes mechanisms through which polygraphs would be expected to impact offending behavior and explores potential explanations for why PCSOT has not been found to reduce recidivism. It is suggested that polygraphs may undermine a trusting relationship and may be over-relied upon as a tool to tackle denial or determine risk categorization, instead of translating disclosures into individualized management. It is clear from this review that there is an urgent need for more rigorous research to assess the effectiveness of PCSOT in terms of treatment and recidivism outcomes, to inform policies that facilitate empirically driven clinical practice.

This study attempts to examine whether there is a long-run relationship existing between crime rates and unemployment in Nigeria for the period 2004 to 2016. The autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach was used to determine the cointegration between unemployment and crime rates. The results show that unemployment and crime (murder, armed robbery, robbery, assaults, sexual offense, and cultism) are cointegrated. The empirical findings show that the unemployment rate and violent crime, such as; armed robbery, robbery-murder, assaults, sex violence, and cultism are all cointegrated. The long-run coefficients results indicated that the unemployment rate has a positive and significant effect on murder, sex violence, assaults, and cultism

Empathy has an important role in promoting proper societal functions. Those who violate societal functions, such as those convicted of having committed a criminal offense, are theorized to possess deficits in their empathic capacity. This assumption has been adopted by many criminological models, including for individuals convicted of a sexual offense (ICSO). However, contradictory research results have resulted in conflicting theories regarding the level of empathy within ICSO. This meta-analysis compiled available data to provide empirical clarity in a divided theoretical field. Results of the meta-analysis indicate that ICSO have lower levels of cognitive (Hedges’s g = −.303, p = .007) and general empathy (Hedges’s g = −.188, p = .020) than those in the general population but do not have significantly lower levels of affective empathy (Hedges’s g = .023, p = .849). Several moderator analyses were conducted, including type of sexual offense, assessment instrument used, and age at conviction.

The objective of the article is to describe the relationship between the style of attachment and the mentalization in convicted of sexual crimes that are confined in the Penitentiary and Prison Establishment of the city of Monteria- ordoba, Colombia. A total of 96 convicted of sexual crimes participated in this quantitative, descriptive correlational and cross-sectional study. The sample consisted of 50 men divided into 6 categories according to the type of sexual offense, with an average age of 45. Sociodemographic data, attachment styles with the CaMir-R and mentalization with the 8-item RFQ were evaluated. The majority of subjects presented a greater proportion of "insecure attachment" and difficulties in mentalization. The dimension "Autonomy and resentment against parents", belonging to the type of insecure attachment, was the only one that correlated positively with mentalization.

The Brazilian policy to combat sexual violence emphasizes the importance of protecting victims, as well as accounting for and taking care of the perpetrator. The aim of this paper is to describe one strategy that is being used to address difficult issues – such as the processes of offenders’ own victimization itself, the expression of sexuality and sexual desire for children – in the context of psychosocial interventions for adult sexual offenders against children and adolescents. The strategies adopted are based on psychodrama techniques, which facilitate the overcoming of emotional obstacles to these issues, creating a playful environment during the intervention, providing conditions for reflection, expression of feelings, decreased tension, and which contribute to integration and group engagement in the tasks. This option avoids a confrontational position and favours the development of empathy.

Given that questions of consent are central to Butler’s Dawn, the first novel of Butler’s Xenogenesis trilogy, Burnett is surprised that most of the scholarship on the novel or on the trilogy does not directly broach the question of consent. Burnett seeks to address that critical absence by reading Dawn as a text that offers us critical and troubling questions about the nature of consent that were addressed by Antioch College’s Sexual Offense Prevention Policy, known colloquially as the “Antioch rules.” Burnett wants us to examine the complex relationship between consent and desire that Butler weaves in Dawn because the novel can be read as a parable for the need for affirmative consent in sexual encounters, a need championed by the Antioch rules.

Despite no definitive relationship between pornography and sexual offenses, there exists an assumption that use plays a role in the commission of sexual crimes and may increase risk of recidivism. This has led to the development of post-release restrictions on adult media for those convicted of a sexual offense. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 101 incarcerated individuals convicted of a sexual offense to explore the central research questions: (1) What are the common themes among individual’s experiences regarding pornography and how do they construct the role of pornography in their offending? (2) How do they frame pornography use post-release and understand pornography use as related to risk of re-offense? A qualitative analysis revealed common themes regarding how individuals constructed pornography use and notions of risk. Strategic and targeted monitoring and supervision of those who perceive their pornography use as consuming and facilitating may be a more effective practice than abstinence-only blanket restrictions.

There is little known about sexual offenders hospitalized under forensic commitment statutes such as not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI). We conducted a chart review to delineate the demographic, clinical, and legal characteristics of NGRI sexual offenders (n = 68) committed to the California Department of State Hospitals-Napa, including 41 found NGRI for a sexual offense and 27 found NGRI for a nonsexual offense. The two groups did not differ significantly in their demographics, psychiatric diagnoses, victim characteristics, or recidivism risk as measured by the Static-99R. Those found NGRI for a sexual offense were older at the time of their first criminal and first violent offense, younger at the time of their committing offense, and had fewer prior total convictions and sexual offense convictions. These findings may indicate that sexual offenders found NGRI for a sexual offense are less antisocial than those found NGRI for a nonsexual offense.

Sexual offenders are among those most feared by society. This perception often results in removing such individuals from the community. Few studies have examined the outcomes of interventions that incorporate a comprehensive, collaborative approach between treatment and supervision providers. The current project examined the impact that efforts to manage youth adjudicated for a sexual offense (N = 400) in the community had on public safety. Results revealed that youth supervised under a more comprehensive community-based model had a significantly lower rate of felony recidivism than youth supervised under a traditional approach. Implications for treatment and supervision are discussed.

This article concerns the ideal legal arrangement with respect to cross-examining complainants in sexual assault cases regarding their sexual history. The article examines the question of under what circumstances the complainant’s sexual history could be seen as as logically relevant. It also deals with finding the balance between, on the one hand, the interests of protecting the defendant and pursuing truth, which require cross-examination regarding the complainant’s sexual history, and on the other hand, the interest of protecting the complainant’s dignity and welfare.

Within both the United States and the United Kingdom, laws have been implemented that govern the behavior of individuals convicted of certain sexually based offenses. Thus, research has naturally gravitated toward examining the public perceptions of these laws. Although both the United States and United Kingdom have laws regarding convicted sex offenders, and although these laws vary, research into the perceptions of these laws has largely been concentrated within the United States. The current study seeks to fill this gap through a survey of U.K. residents that assesses their perceptions of the implementation of Sarah’s Law. Respondents were gathered through convenience sampling methods in both Bristol and London, England ( n = 140). Overall, respondents were fairly supportive of Sarah’s Law and its current implementation. However, as opposed to respondents in the United States, U.K. respondents were also open to the idea of providing a degree of privacy to convicted sex offenders and were more tolerant of sexual offenders living near them. Finally, age, race, and parental status of the respondents were found to be statistically significant predictors among four identified dependent variables testing support of the law. Implications from these results are discussed, and a direction for future comparative research is highlighted.

This article focuses on the narratives and underlying ideologies that enable the persistence of girls’ sexual exploitation in the region of the Triple Border among Argentina, Brasil and Paraguay, where field work was conducted. We argue that the persistence of colonial practices has contributed to the reproduction of subalternity positions for girls and women – especially from impoverished sectors – enforced by the conservative and patriarchal discourse present in many countries of the region. This scenario enables the persistence and naturalization of certain practices that became “invisible” or even accepted and justified as being “cultural”. In this sense, we propose that human rights narrative, although being a Eurocentric construction, can comprise a platform for raising issues on gender inequality and all forms of violence and exploitation taking place in the peripheral regions of the world.

The overall prospect of restricting civil liberties for those individuals who have served their sentence for a sexual offense is not without controversy. A number of states developed strategies to find a balance between the protection of the public and the rights of those convicted. However, the bulk of those strategies do little to consider cultural variables that may inaccurately assess the risk of an individual to reoffend for a sexual offense. This chapter discusses the current state of the field in light of the lack of data, including the identification of studies that do evaluate cultural variables, and finally makes recommendations for practitioners in the field.

This article focuses on the rationalization of perpetrators of sexual offense against women, in a form of re-analysis of data gathered from one police resort in Greater Jakarta. The article presents the data of 9 (nine) suspects who were reported to the police by their girlfriends or the family of their girlfriends. Sexual offense toward women could not be separated from the lower bargaining position of women, as well as the views of sexuality which cornering women. Marrying the victim to the perpetrator is one practice that is still popular to solve the problem, which makes the situation worse for the victim. This also spread the socialization and practices of mean and irresponsible behavior by perpetrator or potential perpetrator. Double standard views on sexuality lead to the vulnerable situation of women, and make it more difficult to fight for justice on the issue of sexual offense. The double standard is also dominating the mind of the general public and even the public official. Therefore, the Law needs to view sexuality and sexual violence in a comprehensive understanding, with gender justice perspectives which also protect children.

Este artigo analisa o processo de responsabilização jurídica de adolescentes que cometeram ofensa sexual. Trata-se de pesquisa documental, contendo 223 processos judiciais de adolescentes denunciados formalmente por cometerem ofensa sexual, entre 2013 e 2015, no Distrito Federal. As informações foram organizadas num banco de dados e as análises estatísticas de frequência efetuadas pelo programa estatístico IBM SPSS Statistics, versão 24. Identificou-se que 40,3% dos adolescentes envolvidos tiveram processos arquivados ou extintos, seguidos de 21,3% que receberam a remissão. Quanto à responsabilização, 35,3% dos adolescentes receberam medida socioeducativa, sendo priorizadas as medidas de meio aberto. Destes, 67,5% conseguiram cumprir a medida socioeducativa. De um lado, a pesquisa confirmou a morosidade e ampla margem de discricionariedade dos juízes em relação à responsabilização do adolescente ofensor sexual. De outro, a prevalência das medidas de meio aberto traz a possibilidade de uma responsabilização potencialmente mais educativa.

Background. The results of scientific research conducted within the framework of the doctoral thesis "Forensic psychiatric evaluation of persons who have committed sexual criminal offenses". Purpose. The research aimed to develop criteria for a forensic psychiatric assessment of individuals (suspects, accused persons), who have committed sexual assault, with the selection of the group with "limited sanity". It was based on the study of clinical and pathopsychological, socio-demographic patterns of mental disorders, using the method of situational analysis. Materials. For this study the author analyzed 286 cases of forensic psychiatric examinations regarding the subject, those committed the sexual offense and were at the forensic psychiatric examination in Kyiv city center forensic psychiatric examination from 2000 to 2016 (16 years). Objective. To determine the relationship between the degree of opportunities, to realize their actions and manage the solutions and expert author on the group - "responsibility" - was empirically selected group - "limited responsibility", which was formed artificially, based on the national concept of "limited responsibility". Results. To determine the connection between the degree of the ability to realize one’s actions and to govern them and the decision of expert questions, all the observations were divided into two comparison groups. Diagnostics of paraphilia, determination of its forms and types were carried out according to the criteria for the diagnostics used in ICD-10, as well as definitions adopted in Ukrainian psychiatry. Sexual deviation and various forms of unusual sexual interests from generally accepted as part of the ethnic-cultural forms of sexual behavior. Conclusions. Results revealed that the identified socio-demographic and clinical data in this scientific research can be determined by the criteria "limited responsibility" in forensic psychiatric examinations of persons who have committed sexual offenses. Consequently, these groups are heterogeneous whether examinee was intoxicated during the SDA or not the "limited sanity" of sexual assault is warranted.

This paper presents a qualitative analysis of the accounts offered by individuals (n = 7) convicted of a sexual offense who describe themselves as Buddhists. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews within a custodial environment and analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). This paper presents the two superordinate themes that emerged from the data: (i) Better as a Buddhist and (ii) Ebb and Flow. Reflections and analysis from the Buddhist prison chaplain are integrated within the analysis of prisoner-participant data. Implications of the analysis are discussed with reference to interventions that use Buddhist principles, factors that underpin factors that help reduce reoffending and those that fit with the formation of a desistance narrative for religious individuals who have committed sexual offenses

This article offers an introductory overview of the topic of crime and punishment in the Hittite kingdom. I offer general background to the topic and focus on one case-study: crimes related to sexual behavior. Even within this narrower topic, the discussion is limited to one main example, incest prohibitions and the regulation of kin relations, which have not previously been studied as a distinct topic.

Persons with potentially harmful sexual interests such as attraction to minors are unlikely to seek or receive treatment before a sexual offense has been committed. The current study explored barriers to help-seeking in a sample of 372 individuals in treatment for sexual offending. Results revealed that the shame and secrecy resulting from stigma associated with pedophilic interests often prevented our respondents from seeking professional counseling, and only about 20% tried to talk to anyone about their sexual interests prior to their arrest. Barriers to seeking and receiving psychological services included concerns about confidentiality, fears of social and legal consequences, personal shame or confusion about the problem, affordability, and challenges finding competent therapists who were adequately equipped to help them. Understanding and ultimately reducing obstacles to help-seeking can improve the quality of life for people with harmful sexual interests and potentially prevent sexual abuse of children or other vulnerable individuals.

The men who characterized their desistance process in terms of recovery did so in two distinct ways: through “rehabilitation” and through “resilience.” The men who followed a rehabilitative path were profoundly and positively impacted by their experience of therapy and treatment and were especially keen to proselytize about that successful transformation. As per the dictionary definition, they had restored themselves to some degree of normal life through appropriate training. They appeared to have achieved some level of cognitive transformation (albeit with the stigmatizing label of “at-risk sexual predator” still firmly attached). A strong hallmark of this strategy was that many of the “rehabilitated” men also mentored other men with sexual offense convictions and were motivated to help others and give back. The “resilient” men demonstrated a similarly commanding confidence to live offense-free lives, but the change was more subtle and internal. They were equally certain of their total recovery, but were insistent that their transformation had occurred largely independently of group treatment and psychotherapy.

PurposeIn 1994, Dutton questioned whether there is an ecological fallacy within the feminist views of wife assault. To address this concern, he examined the literature regarding dyadic family power and violence. The main goal in this paper is to re‐evaluate the results of the Dutton paper on the basis of new literature.Design/methodology/approachIn this paper, post‐1994 evidence is presented against the feminist paradigm of patriarchy, which can lead directly to this ecological fallacy. The assertions of this feminist paradigm positing that domestic violence is often linked to patriarchal values and is mainly caused by males, whereas female violence is primarily defensive and reactive, are well‐founded criticized.FindingsThe data analysed in this paper support Dutton's conclusions in the context of female perpetrated violence within heterosexual intimate partnerships, female sexual offense, child abuse and bullying, violence in female same‐sex relationships, and gender stereotypes.Originality/valueAn accurate overview of the post‐1994 literature the topics discussed in this paper is offered.

The chapter will discuss the attitudes the State of Israel maintains toward New Religious Movements (NRMs) through the actions of the legislative, executive and judicial branches. It will show that, governmental attempts to control the activity of NRMs notwithstanding, under the current legal framework NRMs are not seen as a threatening phenomenon that is worthy of the state's special treatment.

In the United States, the civil commitment of recidivist sexual offenders concerns the indeterminate detention for the purpose of public safety (to reduce or prevent future sexual offending) of a small, select subset of sexual offenders (those deemed at particularly higher risk by virtue of certain psychological and/or psychiatric (“mental” or “personality”) characteristics). Almost all such sexual offenders are persons who have completed one or more incarcerations in the criminal justice system, typically with their most recent crime being a sexual offense. Such action necessarily involves the balancing of liberty interests or freedom of those select recidivist sexual offenders with public safety concerns about their potential for persisting dangerousness, specifically the likelihood of future sexual offending. Managing sexual offenders who have committed multiple and/or extreme sexual offenses as the result of some sets of psychological or psychiatric conditions has long been a concern for Western society. Over the past 100 years, in the United States, public policy has shifted among different approaches to dealing with recidivistic sexual offenders perceived as still at elevated risk for sexual offending, sometimes emphasizing enhanced criminal commitment sanctions, sometimes opting to offer a hypothesized therapeutic approach via civil commitment, and sometimes utilizing both increased criminal and civil commitments. The purpose of this chapter is to consider the current civil commitment of recidivistic, the characteristics of sexual offenders, typically referred to as sexually violent offenders or “predators” (CCSVP). In doing so, an overview is provided of the key elements of so-called sexually violent predator (SVP) statutes, the assessment components of evaluations of those sexual offenders selected for consideration under such statutes, characteristics of sexual offender currently the assessment and evaluation practices committed under these statutes and aspects of the civil commitment programs for such individuals.

Punishment (PUN) and rehabilitation (REH) attitudes toward sex offenders/offenses (SO) and nonsexual offenders/offenses (NSO) were compared in a sample of 355 undergraduates, in response to brief vignettes depicting a sexual and nonsexual offense, conceptually matched for seriousness and severity. Participants assigned higher PUN scores to individuals who committed sexual offenses, whether the offenders were children, adolescents, or adults. REH attitudes showed the reverse pattern—sexual offenders were assigned lower REH scores than nonsexual offenders—with the exception of child offenders, for whom REH attitudes did not differ between sexual and nonsexual offenses. PUN attitudes increased monotonically with offender age, regardless of offender type. Offender age had the opposite effect on participants' REH attitudes for nonsexual offenders, and there was no effect of offender age on REH ratings for sex offenders. Results are discussed in the context of sexual abuse as a potential “moral panic” and recen...

Purpose This study aimed to explore the process of change in the sexual views and attitudes of sexual offenders, in light of their experiences. Methods Data were collected from six sexual offenders who were accused of sexual offenses. All collected data by in-depth and direct observation were analyzed by Corbin and Strauss’ Ground theory methodology. Results Participants were sexually aroused as a result of their distorted knowledge of sex. They were stimulated by easy access to sex and surrendered to it. Their intervening conditions were legal regulation, voice of conscience and social support. Participants were responding to the problem through strategies. These strategies were: reflecting self, distracting one’s attention, and building a stable relationship with a woman. They resulted in stigma of being a sexual offender, alteration in sexual views, confidence and futility. The core variable revealing the essence of the sexual offenders’ experiences was reconstructing sound sex values. Conclusion The results of the study can provide school nurses and sex educators with useful knowledge grounded in actual sexual offense cases, not only to refine the interventions for sexual offenders but also to prevent future sexual offenses. [Asian Nursing Research 2007;1(2):95–105]

We examined the relationship of gender, forgiveness, and spirituality to restoration attitudes expressed toward pastors who committed a transgression. In Study 1, participants’ restoration responses favored the opposite gender. In Study 2, men and women responded differently depending on the offense. Dispositional forgiveness was significantly associated with pastoral restoration following offenses of infidelity, anger, child abuse, and substance abuse. Measures of spirituality were primarily associated with forgiveness but explained little of the variance in restoration attitudes.

This article critically reviews the evidence on sex offender treatment and subsequently provides new estimates on short-term recidivism among sexual offenders released from prison in New Jersey. The sample of male sex offenders is drawn from the Adult Diagnostic Treatment Center (ADTC), New Jersey’s only sex-offender-specific prison, and the general population of nine prisons within the state of New Jersey. The ADTC sample receives treatment while incarcerated ( n = 495), whereas no treatment is provided to the offenders in the general population sample ( n = 223). Overall, 33% of the total sample ( N = 718) commits a new offense. Of the total sample, 14% commits a new sexual offense and 24% commits a new nonsexual offense. Significant differences exist between the ADTC and the general population samples with respect to nonsexual reoffending only. In the final analysis, treatment appears to matter in terms of a reduction in recidivism but not in conventionally expected ways.

We studied the restoration beliefs of conservative protestant pastors using an experimental design. We varied pastor offense (romance, affair) and offender age (young, middle age) in narratives presented in an online study and at a ministerial retreat. Both groups rated restoration potential highest for the younger pastor in the affair condition but there was no difference in the romance condition. In addition, the participants believed a younger pastor would fare better in his marriage. We discussed our findings in terms of research on forgiveness and reconciliation.

Sexual contact with animals–frequently referred to as bestiality or zoophilia–is a scarcely investigated subject. Even though the phenomenon has been prevalent throughout history, addressing the subject often seems to evoke prejudices and emotional reactions rather than objective reflection. A large part of the information on bestiality stems from criminological reports. Thus, usually violence and psychiatric disorders are prevalent in those cases. Only a few more recent studies of zoophilia have collected data from voluntary, community samples on the variety of behaviors, motivation, development, and personality involved and have provided new information, in particular on aspects like emotional involvement and the possibility of a zoosexual orientation. In addition to an overview of both the older and more recent literature and research, some implications for practitioners will be provided.

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.

For those convicted of a sexual offense, life on the registry is not an easy one. There is a great deal of stigma associated with these offenders despite the fact they served their sentences and were released back into society. Current research examines what life is like for female sex offenders whose information is listed on the Florida Sex Offender Registry. Using Robert Agnew’s General Strain Theory as a lens to examine the registry, this article will show the stress present in the lives of the registrants. Specifically, the article will address coping mechanisms, anger, and several unintended consequences of the registry, such as unemployment, housing problems, and experiencing harassing behaviors, all of which are a result of the participants’ registry status. Research findings, policy implications, and limitations are discussed.

Some juvenile sex offenders admit that they committed their offenses. Some categorically deny that they did anything wrong at all, while others partially admit to their crimes. This complex state of affairs raises two questions: (1) what exactly does admitting or denying (regarding some sexual offense) mean?; and (2) does this denial/admission dimension matter (e.g. does denying one’s involvement in a sex offense have implications for therapy or risk for future offenses)? This chapter will address these issues and provide a model for overcoming denial in juvenile sexual offenders.

Denial is a major obstacle that stands in the way of successfully treating child molesters. This article describes the FoSOD (an acronym for Facets of Sexual Offender Denial), a psychometrically sound measure of the multifaceted construct of denial. Evidence is provided to support and clarify existing denial taxonomies, with the identification of six distinct facets of denial pertaining to the sexual offense itself (including victim harm), extent of behavior, intent, perceived victim desire, planning, and risk of relapse (including sexually deviant preferences). Results demonstrate the reliability and validity of the FoSOD and its subscales for measuring denial in child molesters. Results also suggest how each of the measured facets of denial in contrast with related measures can be used to monitor treatment progress and to better understand the child molester. The FoSOD captures child molesters' attitudes toward their offense and their commitment to changing sexually abusive behavior patterns.

A psychometric battery of measures, assessing a range of problem areas, was completed by 140 convicted untreated child abusers. Measures were adjusted for social desirability. Cluster analysis of the data identified men on the basis of deviancy (levels of pro-offending attitudes and social inadequacy) and denial (self-reported levels of offending behaviors). Examination of offense histories found that high-deviancy men, compared to low-deviancy men, were more likely to have been convicted of a previous sexual offense; to have committed offenses against boys, or both boys and girls; to have committed extrafamilial, or both extra-and intrafamilial, offenses; and to have had many victims. A method of identifying deviancy, which showed good cross-validation, also was derived. Although low-deviancy men were much more likely to be incest offenders than were high-deviancy men, nearly 40% of high-deviancy men were found to be intrafamilial offenders, suggesting that identifying deviancy level may be a useful adjunct to any risk assessment.

The offender who feigns a psychotic disorder represents a significant challenge in forensic practice with serious implications if misdiag-nosis or mismanagement occur. The present study focuses on gathering empirical data regarding the presentation of offenders who fake auditory hallucinations and other psychotic symptoms. The objective is to provide clinically useful indicators derived from examining the patterns of characteristics reported by simulating and genuine patients, which may aid the clinician needing to distinguish authentic from feigned presentations of auditory hallucinations.

The State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI) was administered to 137 male sexual offenders. The sample was heterogeneous regarding the type of sexual offense. With the exception of slightly higher-state anger at the time of testing, scores of this group were very similar to those of "normal" men. T-score conversions for the raw scores of male sexual offenders were tabulated. The STAXI can be used to identify offenders with higher levels of anger and aggression. This may provide a useful screening instrument in that prior research has shown that offenders with higher anger also show greater psychopathology.

Though empathy training is routinely utilized in the treatment of adolescent sexual offenders, there has been little research to support the link between a lack of empathy and sexual offending. Alternatively, self-esteem building is not as frequently incorporated into treatment. This paper reports our exploration of these two variables as predictors of sexual offense. Offenders' (N = 84) scores on a general measure of empathy were no lower than the scores of nonoffenders (N = 113), although their self-esteem scores were significantly lower. Correlation and regression analyses of empathy and self-esteem with relevant background variables tended to support our findings and the validity of our measures. Ambiguities in the conceptualization of empathy may retard our understanding of its usefulness as a treatment and its power as a predictor of sexual offense. Although limitations in study design point to the need for additional sophisticated research, low self-esteem may be a contributor to adolescent sexual offending and may serve as a target for treatment of these youthful offenders.

A sexual code occupies an uneasy position at the intersection of the public and private, the communal and intimate, the codifiable and spontaneous, the articulate and ineffable. And sexual conduct is located at the troubling interface of pleasure and offense; passion and power; freedom and submission; desire as an individual drive and desire as the epiphany of mutuality-the desiring of the other’s desire. How do we regulate sexual conduct? How can any code legislate sexual desire or successfully thwart abusive sexuality? Here the wise say that only fools do tread. Since Antioch announced its Sexual Offense Policy, Antioch has, in the eyes of the media and some retro (and not so retro) feminists and academics, worn a dunce cap. Is it well-deserved? After a clear, and seemingly sympathetic, discussion of the code that includes much of the motivation for the policy, Alan Sable weighs in with the wise. On three grounds: pleasure, body talk, and consent? Upon first learning of the Sexual Oflmse Policy, my romantic heart declared this was a silly, foolish code-though my feminist mind urged a more cautious judgment. To have to verbally consent to each level (and just what is a level anyway?) of sexual intimacy? each time? even with a partner with whom one had been intimate many times before? Many of us lose the capacity of articulate speech at these moments. Are we to be deprived of our hearts’ desire since, unlike Molly Bloom, we don’t utter an ecstatic “Yes! yes! yes!’’ at the appropriate moment? Xeadhg the harrowing accounts of date rapes recounted by Robin Warshaw? I kept wondering if a code such as Antioch’s would help in any of these cases. And if it would not, what was the point? Being on sabbatical, I was unable to canvas my classes for the student point of view. Fortunately, I had some private college-aged informants, my twenty-year-old son, his girlfriend (whom I questioned separately), and their friends. I also queried colleagues who had discussed the code with their students. There seemed to be a rather interesting response that came up again and again: “The code is silly, but I wouldn’t mind it being there. It would be a way of opening up discussion on these issues.” Only one young man I spoke to said it would encourage him to only have sex with himself-he always

This paper discusses four parallel processes in a sex offenders' counsellors training and supervision group. Two of them, feelings of isolation and proclamations of boredom, were similar responses to similar stimuli: the first, to the stigma that adheres both to the sexual offense and to the professional work with the offenders, the second to anxieties that derived from a similar technique used in both groups. The other two involve the counsellors' displacement of feelings they had in and about the offenders' groups to their own training and supervisory groups. Both of these involved issues-responsibility and self-control that are particularly salient in work with sex offenders. The discussion suggests that parallel processes emerge with great frequency in work with sex offenders because of the stresses of the work and the issues that are highlighted in it.

It was February 2005, and I faced an important decision.1 Four years after leaving my position as a staff attorney with the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia (PDS), I was three years into my job as the executive director of the Ohio Justice & Policy Center (OJPC). The decision—whether or not to challenge Ohio’s ban on “sex offenders”2 living within 1,000 feet of schools—could repel funders and shutter the struggling organization I led. The timing could not have been worse. That month a convicted sex offender abducted Jessica Lunsford, a nine-year-old Florida girl, and buried her alive. The murder of young Jessica generated national headlines, igniting a backlash against sex offenders everywhere. I felt torn between my public defender instincts, which urged challenging the residency restriction, and the fear, expressed by some OJPC board members, that taking such a controversial case could be organizational suicide.

Research attempting to distinguish various types of sexual offenders in terms of their responses on the MMPI are reviewed. The results generally display inconsistency across studies, but two common features that emerge are heterogeneity of responses among each type of sexual offender and considerable overlap in response profiles between sexual offenders and other subjects. It is concluded that these results deny the value of using the MMPI to assist courts in the determination of the guilt or innocence of a person accused of committing a sexual offense.

espanolEn Estados Unidos de Norteamerica la ley describe la pornografia infantil como una forma de abuso y explotacion sexual en que la imagen del nino envuelve una conducta sexual explicita y una seria amenaza para la salud fisica, mental, la seguridad y el bienestar de la infancia. Las imagenes reales (en oposicion a las imagenes generadas digitalmente, asi como las ilustraciones) de pornografia infantil son vistas como un registro permanente de un abuso sexual causado a la victima, y su creacion y distribucion se considera un delito grave en el Codigo Federal de los Estados Unidos. La posibilidad de que sea usado con fines de acoso (grooming), se utiliza como justificacion para la penalizacion de la pornografia infantil, asi como para la criminalizacion de la creacion, realizacion, distribucion y posesion de pseudoimagenes elaboradas por computadora. De hecho, en los ultimos anos existe una gran atencion publica en relacion a los delincuentes poseedores de pornografia infantil, especialmente, con la aparicion de Internet y la variedad de contenidos pornograficos que se encuentran disponibles. Un asunto importante es determinar si los poseedores de pornografia infantil son propensos a cometer un delito sexual que involucre contacto con un nino. Este articulo describe la evolucion legislativa en los Estados Unidos y la literatura actual mas importante que se conoce sobre el riesgo que un individuo que utilice Internet pueda cometer un delito de abuso o contacto sexual con menores. EnglishIn the United States of America, child pornography is described in the law as a form of sexual abuse and exploitation in which the depiction of children engaging in sexually explicit conducts poses a serious threat to the physical and mental health, safety and well being of children. Real images (as opposed to computer generated images and drawings) of child pornography are seen as a permanent record of the victim�s abuse, and its creation and distribution is considered a serious crime in the United States Federal Code. The possibility of such use for grooming purposes is often used as a justification for the criminalization of possession of child pornography as well as for the criminalization of the creation, execution, distribution and possession of computer generated pseudo-photographs. In fact, there has been a great deal of public attention to child pornography offenders in recent years, particularly with the emergence of the Internet and pornographic content that it has made available. A particularly salient question is whether child pornography offenders are likely to commit a sexual offense involving contact with a child. This paper describes the legislative development in the United States and most important current literature on what is known about the risk of individuals using the Internet to commit felonies of sexual abuse or sexual contact with minors.

Parole officers who supervise sex offenders need to know if parolees continue to be a risk for child molestation after their incarceration. One hundred and twenty convicted child molesters under Parole Supervision were asked to participate in two interviews about their sexual offenses: first by a parolee officer in the parole office and then in a non-parole, psychologic setting by a psychologist. Seventy-four subjects agreed to participate in the parole setting, and 18 of those 74 agreed to participate in the psychologic setting. Hypotheses tested included whether perceived confidentiality affects reports of past child molestation or current urges to molest children or whether it improves the consistency between the offender's reports of their sex crimes and their arrest records. Results indicated that as confidentiality increased, reports of prior sex offenses and current urges to molest increased. The relevance of this finding to our current system of parole supervision is discussed.

Data from a sexual offender treatment program operated by the Correctional Service of Canada at the Regional Psychiatric Center (Saskatoon) supported the conclusion that cognitive behavioral treatment can reduce sexual offense recidivism. The study compared 296 treated and 283 untreated offenders followed for a mean of 6 years after their release. An untreated comparison subject was located for each treated offender on three dimensions: (a) age at index offense, (b) date of index offense, and (c) prior criminal history. Data were analyzed using tests of proportion, survival analysis, and analysis of offender Criminal Career Profiles. Over a mean follow-up period of almost 6 years, convictions for new sexual offenses among treated offenders were 14.5% versus 33.2% for untreated offenders. During the follow-up period, 48% of treated offenders remained out of prison compared to 28.3% of untreated offenders. Time series comparisons of treated and comparison samples also showed that treated men reoffended at significantly lower rates after 10 years. A Criminal Career Profile (CCP) was constructed by taking the Age at First Conviction and plotting the offender's successive lengths of time free against time incarcerated. Pre- and posttreatment slopes of the CCP were lower for both groups posttreatment; however, the degree of change was significantly greater for the treated group, indicating a greater reduction in criminal activity among these offenders. Taken together, the results of all three analytic techniques supported the efficacy of appropriate correctional treatment for effective reduction of recidivism.

Perhaps one the murkiest and most contentious questions concerns the frequency of sexual violence. More than any other type of criminal conduct, sexual offenses, in their extraordinary diversity, are likely to fade into the unfathomable abyss of human experience, never to be known by the criminal justice system. The innumerable problems that plague investigators who have estimated the frequency (or incidence) of rape and child molestation were reviewed by Quinsey (1986). Essentially, those same problems remain unsolved today.

The present chapter will describe the treatment programs for incarcerated sexual offenders sponsored by the correctional services of Canada (CSC) in the Ontario regional penitentiaries. The chapter will describe sexual offender treatment in Ontario penitentiaries in general terms and then it will focus on two programs in particular: the Warkworth Sexual Behaviour Clinic and the Bath Institution Sex Offenders’ Program.