Beauty and the Eye of the Beholder: Gender and Attractiveness Affect Judgments in Teacher Sex Offense Cases.

The present study investigated the effects of gender and attractiveness on judgments of bail requirements, incarceration, and sex offender registration lengths, and attitudes toward offenders and victims in a teacher-student sexual perpetration scenario. Researchers presented 432 undergraduate students at a large southwestern university with one of four vignettes detailing a sexual relationship between a 35-year-old teacher and a 14-year-old student. Vignettes varied by both attractiveness and gender of the offender (using heterosexual offender-victim dyads). Results indicate that both gender and attractiveness affect judgments of sex offenders; specifically, female sexual offenders were viewed more leniently and judged less punitively than male sexual offenders. Although attractive female sexual offenders were given particularly lenient treatment, attractiveness did not affect judgments toward male sex offenders. In addition, although male and female participants tended to rate male offenders similarly, male participants were more lenient toward female offenders than were female participants. Finally, post hoc analyses revealed that, for many variables, unattractive female sexual offenders may not be viewed differently from male sexual offenders. These results have serious implications for the legal system, sex offender management, and societal views regarding male and female sexual offenders and their victims.

Treatment Progress and Behavior Following 2 Years of Inpatient Sex Offender Treatment.

Emerging research highlights the role of self-regulation in the treatment of sexual offenders. Safe Offender Strategies (SOS) is a manualized sex offender treatment program that emphasizes the role of self-regulation and self-regulatory skills development in sex offender treatment, particularly for offenders with serious mental illness and intellectual/developmental disabilities. The current study involves 156 adult male sexual offenders in an inpatient psychiatric setting who received SOS treatment for a period ranging from 6 months to 1 year. Participants' baseline and treatment data were obtained from archival medical records describing 1 year pre-treatment and up to 2 years of treatment participation. Dependent variables included monthly count rates of verbal and physical aggression and contact and noncontact sexual offending, as well as sexual deviancy attitudes, self-regulatory ability, and cooperation with treatment and supervision, as measured by the Sex Offender Treatment Intervention and Progress Scale (SOTIPS). Data were examined via paired-samples t tests, regression, and multilevel modeling, examining the impact of overall percentage of SOS groups attended over time, comparing participants' baseline measures to data from 2 years of treatment. The impact of predicted risk was also evaluated. Significant treatment dose effects were identified for improvements in aggression, sexual offending, and indicators of treatment compliance and change. These findings suggest that the skills-based, self-regulation approach utilized in SOS may be effective in improving clients' aggressive and sexual behaviors, attitudes toward their offenses and treatment, and self-regulatory ability over time. Implications for further research and treatment generalizability are discussed.

Posthospitalization Outcomes for Psychiatric Sex Offenders: Comparing Two Treatment Protocols.

This study evaluates the effectiveness of safe offender strategies (SOS) in comparison with relapse prevention (RP) in a sample of 91 inpatient males in a secure psychiatric setting. All men evidenced a history of violent sexual offending and were diagnosed with serious psychiatric disorders and/or intellectual disabilities. Participants who received SOS (n= 58) and RP (n= 33) were followed from 6 to 36 months post release. SOS clients were significantly less likely to be arrested (0%) or rehospitalized (5.2%) than RP clients (9% arrested; 54.5% rehospitalized). In addition, SOS clients were more likely to transition continuously to less restrictive alternatives, with no returns to high security, in comparison with RP clients. The authors discuss implications for use of SOS, a treatment that facilitates skills development and affects global self-regulatory functioning, particularly in sex offenders with serious mental illness or intellectual impairment, in promoting community reintegration and limiting returns to psychiatric settings.

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

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

Assessing sexual deviance: a comparison of physiological, historical, and self-report measures.

A variety of instruments and techniques are available for assessing sexually deviant interests and arousal among those who have committed sexual offenses. These measures include those that rely on objective or physiological data, self-reported information from the offender, and historical behavior. In this study, several assessment methods from each category were examined and compared with one another to determine their similarity and their usefulness in identifying sexual interest and arousal patterns in known sexual offenders. Comparisons between these instruments and their relation to known behavior are described, as well as effective combinations of assessment tools that may be helpful in better categorizing interest and arousal patterns across different types of sex offenses.

Self-regulation and the etiology of sexual deviance: evaluating causal theory.

Recently introduced theories of sex offending, including the self-regulation model and the multimodal self-regulation theory, have implicated self-regulatory deficits as a key variable in the development of sexually inappropriate interests and behaviors. While dysregulation has been considered an important component of a variety of behavioral, emotional, and interpersonal disorders, sexual behaviors have rarely been conceptualized within this context. In this study, we have examined a number of variables linked to self-regulation and dysfunctional outcomes in a sample of 95 sex-offending men. Results of a path analysis demonstrated that self-regulatory deficits were significantly predictive of paraphilic and antisocial behaviors in this group. Implications for our understanding of the etiology of sexual deviance and future research in this area are discussed.

Emotional deficits in psychopathy and sexual sadism: implications for violent and sadistic behavior.

While both psychopaths and sexual sadists engage in acts of predatory violence, little empirical work has examined the relationship between the two disorders. This paper outlines the constructs of psychopathy and sexual sadism and reviews the literature investigating the emotional lives of individuals with these disorders, paying particular attention to how emotional deficits might facilitate instrumental violence. Specifically, it is hypothesized that the emotion recognition and emotional experience deficits found among psychopaths, and perhaps present in sexual sadists, may lead to deficits in their ability to empathize with others, resulting in an increased likelihood for perpetrating instrumental violence. The relationship between empathy and aggression in psychopaths and sexual sadists is discussed, and distinctions are drawn between the two disorders with respect to their capacities to experience cognitive and affective empathy on a global level. Gaps in the literature are identified and additional areas of inquiry are suggested.

A preliminary study on findings of psychopathy and affective disorders in adult sex offenders.

The construct of psychopathy has often been considered mutually exclusive to the presence of genuine depressive or anxiety symptomotology. This article addresses the hypothesized reasons for this dichotomous relationship. In this study, 68 civilly committed adult male sex offenders were evaluated using a variety of psychological measures to determine if psychopathic individuals in this group would demonstrate clinically significant affective symptoms. Results indicate that the men in this sample endorsed high rates of psychopathy on the PCL-R, with 42% of these expressing concurrent symptoms of depression and 26% manifesting symptoms of an anxiety disorder. Relationships between affective symptoms and PCL-R factor scores and qualitative differences between these constructs in child molesters and rapists are also discussed.

Juvenile sexual offenders: characteristics, interventions, and policy issues.

The incidence and prevalence of sexual offenses committed by juveniles are examined and current policies regarding juvenile sexual offenders are evaluated by considering the relevant psychological literature. Characteristics of juvenile sex offenders are reviewed, noting the heterogeneity of this population. Recent research on developmental pathways and typologies is presented, intervention strategies are reviewed, and recommendations for research and policy are made.

Characteristics of individuals petitioned for civil commitment.

This article explores the demographic and criminal characteristics of a group of sex offenders currently residing in a facility for civilly committed sex offenders. Legal and clinical records were used and data coded. This sample is compared to published data on a group of civilly committed sex offenders in another state. Results indicated that there were numerous similarities and some differences between the two groups. Further research needs to be conducted on civilly committed sex offenders in other states to better understand this population.

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.