Lecture 5: Sex Offenders Flashcards

1
Q

How prevalent is child sexual abuse for boys and girls?

A

Child sexual abuse (CSA) experienced by:

  • 10-25% of girls worldwide
  • 5-25% of boys worldwide
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2
Q

How prevalent is adult sexual abuse for men and women?

A

Adult sexual abuse (ASA) experienced by :

  • 8 to 24% of women
  • 0.6 to 7% for men
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3
Q

What groups are more at risk for sexual abuse?

A
Some groups are more at risk:
-Persons with disabilities 
-Sex workers
-Foster care 
-LGBTQ2
-Homelessness
Prevalence differ across countries
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4
Q

What are the official rates in Canada?

A
  • Between 2009 and 2014: 117,238 police-reported sexual assault incidents in Canada
  • Since 1999, the rates of victimization for sexual assault have remained stable
  • When an accused is identified, 69% resulted in a charge being laid (physical assault = 65%)
  • 12% sexual assaults reported by police led to a criminal conviction (physical assault = 23%)
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5
Q

Is sexual abuse increasing or declining?

A

Self-report victimization surveys and official sources show decreases in sexual victimization in the 1990s
Why?
- Aging population
- Obesity and other health-related issues
- Economic prosperity in 1990s
- Better sex offender management and treatment
- Cultural and Societal Changes (End of sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll, Awareness: children supervised differently,
Consent and sex education)

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6
Q

What is the relationship between consent and alcohol abuse?

A
  • Research has suggested that half of all victims and perpetrators had been drinking beforehand.
  • Role of sex education.
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7
Q

SA victimization increases risk for long-lasting deleterious effects on…

A
  • Mental and physical health
  • Behavioral health
  • Revictimization (sexual and physical)
  • Sexual and nonsexual criminal offending
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8
Q

What is the cost of SA victimization?

A
  • USA: Estimated annual economic burden of CSA is approximately $11 billion
  • Estimated average lifetime cost = $323,736 US per female victim of nonfatal CSA
  • Lacked data to estimate the cost for male victims of nonfatal CSA
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9
Q

what is the focus on for sexual offenders?

A
  • Focus is on punishment and social control
  • lengthy sentences
  • Indeterminate sentences (Dangerous Offender, Civil commitment)
  • registration & notification
  • residence, employment & education restrictions
  • Intensive supervision
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10
Q

What is the typical profile of a sex offender in Canada?

A

Most offenders are young - based on official rates (12-17 years old = 90 per 100 000, 18-34 years old = 55 per 100 000)
- Majority (69.1%) are Caucasian (23% Aboriginal)
-Most offenders who victimize children are known
1/3 by family members
-Remaining are acquaintances
-Few are stranger (7%-15% for kids, 15%-25% for women)
(Stranger: did not know the assailant 24 hours before the assault )
-Most offenders are males (90-97%)

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11
Q

What is the heterogeneity among sex offenders?

A
  • Offender Age (young, elderly)
  • Victim Type (age, gender)
  • Victim Relationship (stranger, related)
  • Competence (cognitive impaired, socially skilled)
  • Work history (unemployed, professionals)
  • Date of offence (historical, recent)
  • Degree of Violence (touching, torture)
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12
Q

What are the types of sex offenders?

A
  • Sexual offenders against adults (rapists)
  • Extrafamilial sex offenders against children: unrelated children
  • Intrafamilial sex offenders against children : related children (Incest offenders)
  • Online sexual offenders (e.g., child pornography)
  • Offline non-contact sex offenders: exhibitionists, voyeurs
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13
Q

What is different about intrafamilial offenders?

A
  • Fewer criminogenic needs than sex offenders against unrelated children
  • lower on measures of antisocial tendencies
  • less sexual arousal to children and less sexual self-regulation problems
  • Given they are typically lower risk, most incest offender require minimal intervention
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14
Q

What are the challenges in this field?

A
  • A number of studies examining risk factors for the onset of violence
  • Much less on the onset sexual offending
  • Studies suggest possible testable risk factors, but their research design precludes conclusions about causality
  • Convenience samples, pre-selected, small, self-report or interview
  • A lot more is known on factors that predict reoffending (Maintenance, next section)
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15
Q

What are the risk factors for onset?

A

-Socioecological model: individual, relationships (peers, siblings, parents), community, social
-Individual level: Sexual criminality (Atypical sexual interest
Pedophilia: exclusive vs. nonexclusive). Sexual preoccupation (Antisocial tendencies. Psychopathy, attitude tolerant of crime, norm violations, etc.)

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16
Q

What is sexual criminality?

A

-Sexual preoccupation
-Any atypical sexual interest: Sexual interest in children,
Sexualized violence, Having multiple paraphilias

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17
Q

Does paraphilia equal behaviour?

A
  • About half are pedophilic (Seto, 2008)
  • Not all pedophiles commit a sexual offence
    • Hard to estimate (1-5% of the population, Dunkelfeld: 52% of those seeking anonymous help for pedophilia committed a sexual offence) Likely overestimate
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18
Q

if not pedophilia then why?

A

-Most child victims are 13-15 year (Has secondary sex characteristics)
-Sexual preoccupation
Emotional congruence with children (for sex offenders against children)
- general criminality

19
Q

What asepcts of general criminality increase the likelihood of sexual offending?

A
  • these factors apply within general criminality but are applicable to sexual risk as well
    Offence-supportive attitudes
    Lifestyle impulsivity (poor self-regulation, impulsive/reckless, unstable work history)
    Poor cognitive problem-solving
    Grievance/hostility
    Negative social influences
    Resistance to rules/supervision (childhood behaviour problems, non-compliance with supervision, violation of conditional release)
    Attitudes tolerant of sexual offences
    Lack of emotionally intimate relationships with adults (e.g., never married, conflict with intimate relationships- child offender)
    Hostility towards women (rapists)
20
Q

What kind of relationship increases likelihood to commit a sex offence?

A

Having a family member who is convicted of a sex offence increases your risk of committing a sex offence

21
Q

Is sex offending genetic or environmental?

A
  • there is an important genetic predisposition (moreso in sex offending against children [46%] than sex offending against adults [19%])
  • however the majority of it is due to nonshared environment and error
22
Q

What are the parental and perinatal risk factors for sexual offending?

A
  • Young parents (< 25)
  • Older parents (>40-45)
  • Parents with lower education, violent criminal convictions, psychiatric diagnoses, and suicide attempts
  • Indicator of in utero experiences (small birth weight, small head circumference, being small for gestational age)
23
Q

What are the recidivism rates for sex offenders?

A
  • From 27 to 84 studies with mean follow-up of 5 to 6 years (Hanson & Morton-Bourgon, 2004)
  • Sexual = 13.7%
  • Non-sexual violent = 14%
  • Any violent (including sexual) = 25%
  • Any = 36.9%
  • extrafamilial offenders who assault stranger male victims have the highest likelihood to reoffend in the next 5 years
24
Q

What are the two strongest predictors of sexual recidivism?

A

Atypical sexual interest

Antisocial tendencies

25
Q

What factors are not criminogenic needs?

A
  • Denial
  • Poor victim empathy
  • Low self-esteem
  • Poor social skills
  • Lack of motivation for treatment, low motivation at intake
  • Major mental illness and symptoms of major mental illness (with the Exception of Antisocial personality disorder, Atypical sexual interests [pedophilia, hebephilia], psychosis and mania (hostile thoughts and command hallucinations associated with violence may be risk-relevant.)
26
Q

What types of risk assessments are used for sexual offenders?

A
  • We can predict with good accuracy an offender’s probability of committing a new offence
  • Many instruments, e.g.: Static-99/Static-99R, Static-2002/Static-2002R, Rapid Risk Assessment for Sexual Offender Recidivism (RRASOR), Sex Offender Risk Appraisal Guide (SORAG), Risk for Sexual Violence Protocol (RSVP), Violence Risk Scale: Sex Offender version (VRS:SO), Stable-2007/Acute-2007
  • All very similar in terms of accuracy
  • STATIC scales most often use across the world
27
Q

What is the Static-99?

A

it is the most commonly used static scale for offenders in north america (risk levels: low risk, below average, average, above average, well above average. Each of hich predict likelihood of reoffending in the next 5 years)
-you cant get a lower score over time on the static 99 because its static, there needs to be a way that it can account for time crime free. Time offence free matters.

28
Q

Does offender type matter for risk assessment?

A

-Yes and no
-Tools validated on individuals with contact sexual offence
Intrafamilial/extrafamilial, adult/child victim
-What about CSEM (CP) offenders?
-If there is a contact sexual offence (i.e., mixed), can use regular tool
-If not: CPORT or STABLE-2007

29
Q

What is the field moving towards?

A

Success in the community as a way to improve/change your risk profile

30
Q

What is the CPORT?

A
  • it is a scale that is used for child porn offenders (Age range is quite a bit broader, Looking at age and gender of victims)
  • predict fairly well for exclusively child porn offenders but not as well for those who were CP offenders and committed an offence
  • 3/7 items address CP content and 3/7 require a prior criminal involvement
31
Q

What are the 3 different treatment approaches?

A

-Pharmacological
Behavioural
-Cognitive- behavioural

32
Q

What is the pharmacological approach?

A
  • Reduce sex drive
  • E.g., antiandrogens that reduce or block testosterone, such as medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) (a.k.a. depo-Provera)
  • Antidepressants (reduces compulsivity)
33
Q

What is the behavioural treatment approach?

A
  • Attempt to reduce deviant sexual interest and/or increase non-deviant sexual interest
  • E.g., Aversion, masturbatory satiation, directed masturbation
34
Q

What is the cognitive behavioural treatment approach?

A
  • it is most common and is almost always supplemented with behavioural or pharmacological
  • Attempt to change cognitions that mediate behaviour
  • Cognitive restructuring
  • Relapse prevention
  • Focus primarily on avoiding sex offending
  • Not so useful for offenders who do not want to stop
  • Self-regulation model (offence pathways; Ward & Hudson, 1998). Focus more on approaching alternatives to sex offending
35
Q

Is there a way to adapt treatment interventions for CP offenders?

A

-Expect about half to be low-risk = few to no treatment sessions
-Can adapt contact sex offender programs, but: Intensity
& Treatment targets
-Separate track for CPOs

36
Q

What are the challenges with treatment?

A
  • low recidivism rates
  • small sample size
  • lack of suitable comparison group
  • dropouts
  • not all treatment is created equal
37
Q

What did Hanson et al. find about the effectiveness of treatment programs?

A

127 studies identified and rated according to Collaborative Outcome Data Committee (2007) study quality guidelines
-104 rejected
-18 weak
-5 good
-None rated as strong
However treatment does work, they found a 10.9 reicidvism rate in those who were treated and a 19.2% recidivism rate in untreated

38
Q

Is treatment necessary for change?

A

-No, some offenders desist (i.e., cease)

39
Q

Why do some individuals desist?

A
Effective psychological interventions:
- Regulating risk relevant propensities
Aging:
-Physical decline
-Increased psychological maturity
Increasing rewards from prosocial life:
-Success in work 
-Rewarding leisure activities
-Decent friends
-Caring intimate partner
-Increased dependence
40
Q

Myth or Fact: the majority will continue to engage in sexually abusive behaviour

A

MYTH: most do not reoffend. the rate of reoffending is about 5-10%. Reoffending rates are extremely low for youth.

41
Q

Myth or Fact: strangers are more likely to commit sexual offences

A

sex crimes are overwhelmingly perpetrated by someone known to the victim (85-97%)

42
Q

Myth or Fact: everyone who commits a sexual offence against children is a pedophile and every pedophile will reoffend

A

Pedophilia is not a necessary or sufficient condition for sexual offence against children. ONly about half of men who commit sexual offences against children are pedophiles. Not all pedophiles offend against children.

43
Q

Myth or fact: treatment does not work on them

A

treatment, done right, can reduce reoffending rates

44
Q

Myth or Fact: they are all the same and pose the same risk upon release

A

individuals who commit sexual offences are diverse and like other offender types, vary in their needs and reoffending risk