Sex Offenders

Question 1

Sexually Violent Predator

Answer 1

Sex offender dxed w a “mental disorder” that makes them likely to engage in future predatory acts.
“Mental disorder” = mental dz, mental d/o, mental abnormality, sexual d/o, or personality d/o.

Question 2

Paraphilias w/greatest # of victims

Answer 2

Exhibitionism > frottage > pedophilia against boys outside the home > voyeurism

Question 3

Crossing

Answer 3

Tendency of paraphilic persons to cross over btw touching/not, family/not, male/female, and victims of various ages.
Crossing is a/w higher risk for recidivism.

Question 4

Female sex offenders

Answer 4

> 20% of child abusers.
50% same-sex victims (vs 10% for male offenders).
30% had male accomplice (vs 2% of male offenders), typically romantically involved.

Question 5

Hebephilia

Answer 5

Persistent and intense sexual interest in pubescent children (Tanner stage 2-3).
Vs pedophilia which is pre-pubescent.

Question 6

Child molesters

Answer 6

Usually heterosexual.
90% of male molesters molest children they know or are related to (10% strangers).
55% of all victims of pedophilia are girls.
Nearly all non-touching molestations (exhibitionism, voyeurism) involve F victims.
The majority of hands-on molestations have M victims.

Question 7

Which disorder most commonly seeks treatment?

Answer 7

Pedophilia

Question 8

Which paraphilia has the greatest # of victims?

Answer 8

Exhibitionistic (~100 victims before arrest)

Question 9

Which paraphilia has the highest degree of crossing?

Answer 9

Bestiality

Question 10

child pornagraphy’s relation to pedophilia

Answer 10

Child porn offending is a stronger dx indicator of pedophilia than is committing a child sex offense.
The content of porn reflects gender preference for future victimization.
Child porn only offenders had greater pedophilic interest than contact offenders, but mixed (dual) offenders were the most pedophilic.

Question 11

risk factors for child porn offenders crossing over to a contact offense

Answer 11

high levels of pedophilia
high levels of antisociality
access to children
few psychological barriers to acting

Question 12

Specht v Patterson

Answer 12

USSC 1967
Francis Specht convicted of a sex offense, detained under Colorado Sex Offenders Act in place of being sentenced for his crime. He filed a habeus corpus petition, challenging this potentially indefinite hospital commitment, arguing that he was not given notice or a hearing.
USSC held 14A was violated, and that Specht had right to counsel, notice, a hearing, to confront the evidence against him, to cross-examine witnesses, and to offer his own evidence.

Question 13

Allen v Illinois

Answer 13

USSC 1986
5A does not apply to proceedings under the Sexually Dangerous Persons Act bc they’re not criminal, as the aim is tx not punishment.
The fact that some procedural safeguards are present does not turn it into a criminal proceeding.

Terry Allen was charged with sex crimes but not tried. Illinois petitioned him to be declared SDP. Trial court ordered 2 psych exams over his protest, during which he admitted to the AO. He was declared SDP.

Question 14

common legal challenges to the commitment of sex offenders

Answer 14

14A Due Process
14A Equal Protection
5A Double Jeopardy
Ex Post Facto

Question 15

MDSO

Answer 15

mentally disordered sex offender status. Commitment laws enacted in most states by 1976 that allowed people charged with certain sex offenses to be committed to secure RTPs for indeterminate length of time.

Question 16

Community Protection Act (1990), Washington State

Answer 16

represented an alternate civil commitment scheme for sex offenders AFTER their prison sentence. Prompted by case of Earl Shriner, who was denied for civil commitment 2/2 no recent act to establish dangerousness, despite him telling peers of his plans after release. He then raped a 7yo, cut off his penis, and left him to die. The statute targeted individuals “who do not have a mental dz/defect that renders them appropriate for the existing invol tx act.” SVP = person charge/convicted of sex offense and “suffers from a mental abnormality or personality disorder which makes the person likely to engage in predatory acts of sexual violence.”

Question 17

Hendricks v Kansas

Answer 17

USSC 1997
Leroy Hendricks, a serial pedophilic offender, was committed under Kansas’ new SVP Act allowing commitment of ppl due to a “mental abnormality” (“a congenital or acquired condition affecting the emotional or volitional capacity”) or “personality disorder.” He argued it violated substantive DP, double jeopardy, and ex post facto.
USSC held statute was not unconstitutional:
- 14A substantive DP not violated bc state legislatures can use whatever nomenclature they want.
- double jeopardy and ex post facto not violated because the act is not punitive; it is civil not criminal.
- failure to offer tx does not mean the act is punitive.

Question 18

Kansas v Crane

Answer 18

USSC 2002
Michael Crane pleaded guilty to sex offense, diagnosed with exhibitionism and ASPD, committed as a SVP under Kansas SVP Act.
Kansas Supreme Court reversed arguing that USSC decision in Hendricks required the State prove he had a lack of control and that he have a volitional disorder.
USSC vacated and remanded, holding that in Hendricks they did not require a finding of complete lack of control, and they had not distinguished between emotional and volitional disorders.

Question 19

McKune v Lile

Answer 19

USSC 2017
Robert Lile convicted of sex offense. Prison officials ordered him to participate in SATP requiring admission of responsibility for the crime and disclose a complete sexual hx. He refused to participate based on 5A.
USSC held that SATP serves a vital penalogical purpose and that offering incentives to participate does not amount to compelled self-incrimination.

Question 20

Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act, 1994

Answer 20

In all states, sex offenders are required to register for at least 10 years, and SVPs are required to register for life.
Requires the sentencing court to determine whether a person is or is no longer a SVP.

Question 21

Megan’s Law

Answer 21

Mandatory community notification when a sex offender is released into the community.
Upheld in 2 USSC cases:
- Connecticut Dept of Public Safety vs Doe (14A challenge)
- Smith v Doe (ex post facto challenge)

Question 22

Adam Walsh Child Protection Act of 2006 (“Child Protection Act”)

Answer 22

enhanced penalties for offenses against children, expanded internet investigations and prosecution for child porn, and created a nat’l sex offender registry

Question 23

Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA)

Answer 23

Provision of Adam Walsh “Child Protection Act” requiring sex offenders register before prison release or w/in 3 days of a non-imprisonment sentence. Applies RETROACTIVELY. requires juvenile offenders to register. permits federal gov’t to civilly commit any SDP into the custody of the Bureau of Prisons.

Question 24

United States v Comstock

Answer 24

USSC 2010
Graydon Comstock, at the end of his sentence for a federal child porn crime, was classified as a SDP under 18 USC 4248. He argued Congress had exceeded its legislative powers under the Necessary and Proper Clause in enacting 18 USC 4248. USSC disagreed.

Question 25

castration laws

Answer 25

numerous states have recently passed laws that require sex offenders to accept either hormonal therapy or an orchiectomy as a condition of probation

Question 26

Packingham v North Carolina

Answer 26

USSC 2017
Held that a North Carolina statute that made it a felony for a sex offender to access social networking sites violated 1A.

Question 27

What is the best validated measure of sexual interest in children?

Answer 27

visual time measures
Can be used in males and females, as young as 12, and using nonnude stimuli.

Question 28

most severe side effects of medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA, Depo Provera)

Answer 28

pulmonary embolism
black box warning for weakened bone tissue due to Depo-Provera

Question 29

when are long-acting analogues of GnRH recommended?

Answer 29

when other alternatives have been ruled out or when there is a high risk of sexual violence related to paraphilia