Chapter 5

Question 1

What is the Static-99R?

Answer 1

10-item actuarial assessment instrument for use with adult male sexual offenders (18+ at time of release)
3 types of infos needed: demographic data, official criminal record, victim information
self-reported info only under extremely limited circumstances
all items should be scored
at least one type A category offense

Question 2

What are the criteria for deciding if age are close and relationship consensual?

Answer 2

victim states sexual relation is consensual + never stated otherwise
offender had no pre-existing power relationship
age differens no greater than 3 (mentally underdeveloped offender 5) years

Question 3

What is the Stable-2007?

Answer 3

related to sexual self-regulation. general self-regulation, social relationships and cooperation with supervision
important addition to STATIC-99R
–> provides dynamic risk factors (criminogenic needs)
–> can only then be used as a risk assessment tool
–> improves predicitive accuarcy
scored based on interview with offender

Total score: attained by summing individual items
0-3 low; 4-11 moderate, 12+ high

low/high score on Stable-2007 can increase/decrease score on STATIC-99R by one category

Question 4

What is the Acute-2007?

Answer 4

assesses dynamic risk factors for sexual recidivism that are highly changable (weeks, days, or even hours)
used to aid treatment priority
consists of 2 parts (7 items)
–> sexual or violent recidivism
–> general recidvism
can be added to STATIC-99R and Stable-2007

Total Score: items 1-4 = sexual (1 = moderate, 2+ = high); 1-7 general (1-2 = moderate, 3+ = high)

short term only can be added and influence scores of other two measures

Question 5

Why were the STATIC-99R, Acute-2007, and Stable-2007 combined, and what is the advantage?

Answer 5

all three designed as actuarial tools for aggressive or sexual recidivism
together the most validated instruments for sex offenders
assess risk + guide decision making

each have own focus –> combination has greater perspective
STATIC-99R -> unchangable factors
STABLE-2007 -> changeable, yet stable, items
ACUTE-2007 -> current states and circumstances

Question 6

What categories are there of criminogenic needs?

Answer 6

general criminality (e.g., negative peer associations, low self-control, substance abuse)
sex crime specific criminality (e.g., devian sexual interests, sexual preoccupations, emotional congruence with children)

Question 7

What is the Sexual Violence Risk -20?

Answer 7

the SVR-20 was earliest structured risk scale for sexual offenders
20 risk factors relevant to case management
overall assessment (categorical)
aimed at forensic mental health practitioners

Question 8

What is Thornton’s Structured Risk Assessment (SRA)?

Answer 8

sctructured risk assessment
not idealy suited in context of community supervision (largely determined by life history and relatively insensitive to change)

Question 9

Violence Risk Scale-Sexual Offender version (VRS-SO)

Answer 9

combines static and dynamic risk factors –> recidivism rate estimates
dynamic factors: sexual deviance, criminality, treatment responsiveness
only measure with adjustements to initial risk ratings –> change sensitive
unclear if applicable to untreated offenders

Question 10

Sex Offender Treatment Intervention and Progress Scale (SOTIPS)

Answer 10

sexual deviance, criminality, social stability and support

16 items

Question 11

What are the two categories of offences?

Answer 11

Category A: contact + non-contact

• -> sex offences, involve identifiable child or non-consenting adult victim
• -> e.g., attempted rape, incest, sexual assault, sexual homicide, sodomy

Category B:

• -> sexual behaviour is ilegal, but parties are consenting, or no specific victim is involved
• -> no sexual motive
• –> e.g., sex in public places, possession of child pornography, indecent behaviour

Question 12

Are supervision officers able to assess criminogenic needs of adult male sexual offenders using STABLE-2007?

Answer 12

STABLE-2007 provided incremental information over Static-99R
related to conscientiousness
sexual crime specific items largest difference in accuracy
mechanical risk tools outperformed professional judgement when number of relevant variables large, effect of any particular variable is small, do not receive rapid feedback concerning accuracy of decisions
no intuitive expertise for offender risk assessment

Question 13

What two tools are now combined as the Static-99?

Answer 13

RRASOR (prior sexual offenses, unrelated victims in sexual offenses, male victims in sexual offenses, age less than 25 years at release)

SACJ (sexual deviance and criminality, sepwise approach –> total score, further 8 items, 2+ risk factors of second step raise risk level by one category, variables related to current behaviour + treatment completion)
–> SACJ-Min = first two steps are minimum necessary for risk assessment

Question 14

Validation of Static-99?

Answer 14

excellent levels of reliability
predicitve accuracy greater than previous two tools
validated for large and diverse samples (prisons, community samples, forensic hospitals, developmentally delayed offenders)

Question 15

Why was the STATIC-99 revised?

Answer 15

advancing age at release underestimated –> predictions not accurate for higher age groups at release

-> 18-34.9 (1 point), etc. based on age at release now included in Static-99R

Question 16

How valid is Static-99R?

Answer 16

nominally more accurate than og Static-99
predicted probabilities = observed rates
new contemporary norms for 4 separate groups based on level of preselection: routine norms (correctional samples), preselected for treatment norms (offenders judged as requiring treatment), high-risk/high-need norms (rare interventions needed), nonroutine norms (some degree of preselection)