Main points Flashcards
What type of category is:
(A) pedophilia
(B) sexual offending
Pedophilia is a psychological category (i.e., a paraphilic disorder). In other words, a psychological disorder which causes psychological distress and disruption to their life due to their deviant sexual preferences.
Sexual Offending is a legal category (i.e., a form of offense type classification).
Not a good psychological category! and therefore can not generate predictions. Not useful for being treatment targets.
Is a paraphiliac disorder (i.e., deviant sexual preference) needed for someone to engage in sexual offending?
No.
Are pedophilic interests needed for someone to sexually offend against a child?
No.
Are paraphilic disorders common in sexual offenders?
Paraphiliac disorders are not common in sexual offenders. Most people who sexually offend do not have a paraphiliac disorder.
Is recidivism common in sexual offending?
Is sexual or non-sexual recidivism more common?
No.
Untreated sexual recidivism rates are approx. 10-15%. Meaning that most sexual offenders do NOT sexually offend.
Sexual offending recidivism rates have a low base rate relative to other offence types (i.e., 10-15% vs. 50-60% for violent offending).
When sexual offenders do offend it is more common for it to be a non-sexual offence rather than a sexual offence.
Can treatment still be effective if the offender:
(A) denies that a crime
occurred.
(B) is not motivated to
complete treatment.
(C) does not feel empathy for
the victim.Yes.
Social learning occurs when the offender can learn that sexual offending is wrong….
Is victim empathy an empirically supported risk factor?
Why is it in almost every sexual offending treatment?
No. Empathy is not an empirically supported risk factor of sexual offending recidivism.
It is still in treatment because although it can not be directly linked to recidivism be able to empathize is an important skill that may be tied to motivational, cognitive distortions that lead to offending but is also important to help the offender live a meaningful life.
what makes better treatment targets: psychological or legal categories?
psychological (i.e., paraphilia categories or other motivational categories).
Is sexual offending specific or generalized?
what are specialists?
It’s common for sexual offenders to be criminally versatile (i.e., non-paraphilic with sexual offense just one of many offenses).
Specialists on the other hand are a small sub-group of sexual offenders who ONLY commit sexual offenses, have very sophisticated grooming strategies, are respected members of society, and read psychology journals about sexual offending to adjust their strategies and evade detection.
Does the presence of cognitive distortions (i.e., risk factors) or paraphilic disorder (i.e., deviant sexual interests) mean that sexual offending will occur?
No.
Having risk factors does not guarantee that sexual offending will occur. You can have all of the risk factors and never commit a sexual offense.
Most sexual offenders do NOT have a paraphilic disorder.
Tony has worked with people who have deviant sexual interests and seek help before they commit an offense.
what is the most effective treatment for sexual offending?
CBT.
At this stage, CBT is the treatment with the most empirical support.
Important to remember that whilst it has the most consistent positive effects on recidivism, the effects are mixed, and still relatively small.
GLM is preferred by practitioner and client but has yet to be rigorously empirically supported.
30% of sexual offending treatment effectiveness is due to ___
Treatment Alliance:
the relationship between therapist and client.
more respect, dignity, individualization of treatment, empowerment, less treatment drop-out, etc.
why do recidivism outcome lengths have to be (5+) years?
because the base rate is so low there need to be 5+ years on the outcome measure to gain enough statistical power to find meaningful differences between groups.
do people who complete sexual offending treatment re-offend?
what does this tell us?
yes.
tells us that treatment is more effective for some people than others.
which RNR principle is the GLM better at meeting?
responsitivity principle.
offenders are more likely to engage with treatment and complete it than other CBT models.
