Aggressivität, Assertivität und sexuelle Devianz: Eine empirisch-quantitative Prüfung der Stoller’schen Perversionstheorie

Aggressiveness, assertiveness, and sexual deviance: An empirical-quantitative examination of Stoller's perversion theoryObjectives: The main aim of the present study was to empirically examinate the psychodynamic-founded perversion theory of Robert D. Stoller (1979), particularly his assumption of a transformation of aggressive impulses into sexual deviant fantasies due to traumatic experiences. Methods: In the present study different aspects of the theory were examined by using a sample (N = 954) of individuals convicted of sexually motivated offenses who had been clinically and forensically assessed between 2002 and 2018 at the Federal Evaluation Centre for Violent and Sexual Offenders (F…

The prevalence of mental disorders in incarcerated contact sexual offenders

OBJECTIVE Mental disorders in sexual offenders are relevant in terms of risk assessment and psychotherapeutic and pharmacological treatment. METHODS The present cross-sectional study was conducted between 2001 and 2017 and included 1511 sexual offenders who were assessed at the Federal Evaluation Center for Sexual and Violent Offenders in the Austrian Prison System. All sexual offenders were assessed with the Structured Clinical Interview for Axis I (SCID I) and Axis II disorders (SCID II). RESULTS N = 1250 (92.9%) sexual offenders were diagnosed with a mental disorder, whereby the great majority received multiple diagnoses. The most frequently found disorders were alcohol misuse (40.0%), p…

The Predictive Properties of Psychiatric Diagnoses, Dynamic Risk and Dynamic Risk Change Assessed by the VRS-SO in Forensically Admitted and Released Sexual Offenders.

Psychiatric diagnoses, static risk factors and criminogenic needs at time of admission and release were examined in a mentally ill sample of psychiatrically detained sexual offenders. Although clinically found to be at low or even very low risk at discharge, 12% reoffended sexually over an average follow up of 7 years. Psychotic disorders were present in only 5% of offenders, whereas 93% had a personality disorder diagnosis and 76%, a paraphilic disorder diagnosis. Only exhibitionism and alcohol misuse were associated with relapse. Static risk factors captured by the Static-99 also did not significantly predict recidivism; however, the VRS-SO – a structured risk assessment tool that assesse…

The Cumulation and Dissemination of Knowledge as Preconditions for Effective Crime Prevention Strategies in Forensic Sciences and Sex Research

Dynamic Risk Assessment of Sexual Offenders: Validity and Dimensional Structure of the Stable-2007.

In this study, the predictive and incremental validity of the Stable-2007 beyond the Static-99 was evaluated in an updated sample of N = 638 adult male sexual offenders followed-up for an average of M = 8.2 years. Data were collected at the Federal Evaluation Center for Violent and Sexual Offenders (FECVSO) in Austria within a prospective-longitudinal research design. Scores and risk categories of the Static-99 (AUC = .721; p < .001) and of the Stable-2007 (AUC = .623, p = .005) were found to be significantly related to sexual recidivism. The Stable-2007 risk categories contributed incrementally to the prediction of sexual recidivism beyond the Static-99. Analyzing the dimensional struct…

The predictive and incremental validity of the German adaptation of the Static-2002 in a sexual offender sample released from the prison system

Purpose The aim of this study was to examine the predictive validity of the German adaptation of the Static-2002 and to compare it with the results of the Static-99. Method The predictive validity of Static-2002 was investigated in a sample of n = 452 sexual offenders released from the Austrian Prison System. The instrument was coded retrospectively using file information. Afterwards, the predictive estimates of the Static-2002 were related to officially documented reconviction data. Results The Static-2002 was found to have large effect sizes for predicting sexual, violent, and general recidivism (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve [AUC] = .78, .75, .75, respectively) f…

Cross-Validation of the Revised Version of the Violence Risk Appraisal Guide (VRAG-R) in a Sample of Individuals Convicted of Sexual Offenses.

The aim of the present study was to examine the psychometric properties of the German version of the revised Violence Risk Appraisal Guide (VRAG), the VRAG-R. Therefore, VRAG-R ratings were made retrospectively in an Austrian sample of 534 individuals convicted of a sexual offense who were followed up with an average of 7.62 years. The VRAG-R showed large effect sizes for the predictive accuracy of violent (AUC = .75) and general recidivism (AUC = .78) and significant but rather small effect sizes (AUC = .63 and .61, respectively) in predicting any sexual and sexual contact recidivism. Furthermore, for the prediction of violent recidivism but not for sexual recidivism the VRAG-R was increm…