Sexual Violence Risk Assessment

Actuarial Risk Assessment of Sexual Offenders

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 Relationships Between the Dark Triad, the Moral Judgment Level, and the Students’ Disciplinary Choice

Abstract. The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationships between the personality traits of the Dark Triad, the moral judgment level, and the students’ disciplinary choice. It was hypothesized that students who major in higher business and management education show higher levels of the Dark Triad and lower levels of moral judgment competence (self-selection hypothesis). According to the indoctrination hypothesis it was assumed that the differences between business and management students and other students would be higher in advanced semesters. The findings suggest that business and management students show higher levels of the Dark Triad but not of moral judgment compete…

Predictors of Sexual Satisfaction in Women: A Systematic Review.

Abstract Introduction The increasing research interest in sexual satisfaction corresponds to a large amount of studies which focus on different singular determinants without establishing a common model for its explanation. Objectives The purpose of this review is to systematically identify and evaluate the structure and results of the current research about sexual satisfaction in heterosexual women in a long-term relationship. Methods A systematic literature search using Web of Knowledge, ProQuest and PSYNDEX was conducted from January 2004 to October 2019. In total, 1,649 studies published in the last 15 years were extracted from the databases with a systematic keyword search. Through a mu…

The practice of violence risk assessment in Spain

Antecedentes. La valoración del riesgo de violencia es un requisito fundamental en la toma de decisiones profesionales que implican prevenir, intervenir o informar sobre la conducta de las personas. El uso de herramientas estructuradas de evaluación del riesgo de violencia ha mostrado mejoría en la precisión de las evaluaciones basadas exclusivamente en el juicio clínico o en la pericia de un experto en contextos psiquiátricos, penitenciarios y jurídicos.Objetivo. Este estudio presenta los resultados de la primera encuesta sobre las prácticas profesionales asociadas al uso de herramientas de evaluación del riesgo de violencia en España.Materiales y métodos. La información fue recogida media…

Eine Validierungsstudie der deutschen Version des Hypersexual Behavior Inventory (HBI)

Hypersexuelles Erleben und Verhalten umfasst gemas der aktuell diskutierten diagnostischen Kriterien wiederkehrende und intensive sexuelle Fantasien, sexuelles Verlangen oder sexuelle Verhaltensweisen, die zu klinisch relevantem personlichen Leidensdruck oder Funktionseinbusen im sozialen oder beruflichen Umfeld oder in anderen wichtigen Bereichen fuhren konnen. Das Hypersexual Behavior Inventory (HBI, Reid et al., 2011) dient der Erfassung hypersexuellen Erlebens und Verhaltens anhand von 3 Faktoren (Coping, Kontrolle und Konsequenzen). Die vorliegende Studie diente der Uberprufung der psychometrischen Eigenschaften der deutschen Version des HBI. Im Rahmen einer Online-Studie wurde die deu…

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 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…

Neuropsychological functioning in child sexual abusers: A systematic review

Abstract Impairments in neuropsychological functioning are emphasized among the core components in etiological models about sexual offending against children. In order to distinguish those neuropsychological deficits that can specifically be found in child sexual abusers, the present systematic review summarizes all studies published between 1980 and 2019 comparing neuropsychological functions of child sexual abusers with different control groups. The databases PubMed, Google scholar, and PsycInfo were used to find relevant studies. After applying certain inclusion criteria (e.g., at least one comparison group), 25 studies were identified as being relevant for the present review. Most evide…

Belastungserleben und sekundäre Viktimisierung durch Missbrauch und Misshandlung in kirchlichen Institutionen

Zusammenfassung Das Bekanntwerden von Missbrauchsvorfällen in pädagogischen Institutionen, auch der katholischen Kirche, löste 2010 eine bundesweite öffentliche Debatte über die Gefahren sexualisierter Gewalt und körperlicher Misshandlungen im institutionellen Kontext aus. Vor diesem Hintergrund befasst sich der vorliegende Beitrag mit der psychologischen Betrachtung von Belastungserleben und dem Prozess der sekundären Viktimisierung bei Fällen des Missbrauchs im institutionellen Kontext. Am Beispiel einer Querschnittsstudie mit 21 ehemaligen Internatsschülern der Regensburger Domspatzen werden die Schwere der traumatischen Kindheitserfahrung, der Zusammenhang mit akuten psychischen Belastu…

Prävalenz und Vorhersage von intramuralem Fehlverhalten und Lockerungsmissbräuchen in der Sozialtherapie

DeutschDie Prognose von intramuralem Fehlverhalten und Lockerungsmissbrauchen ist ein wichtiger Bestandteil der Vollzugsplanung und in der Regel eine Voraussetzung fur die Gewahrung von Lockerungen und weiteren freiheitsbezogenen Masnahmen. Derzeit existierende Ruckfallprognoseinstrumente wurden bislang kaum dahingehend untersucht, ob sie sich auch fur diese Form der Prognose eignen. In der vorliegenden Studie wurden unterschiedliche aktuarische Prognoseinstrumente (Static-99, SVG-5 und OGRS 3) bei 129 Straftatern, die in den Jahren 2013 bis 2018 aus der Sozialtherapeutischen Anstalt in Ludwigshafen entlassen wurden, angewendet und ihre Prognoseleistung gepruft. Zusatzlich wurden zwei ansta…

Self‐Reported Indicators of Hypersexuality and Its Correlates in a Female Online Sample

Abstract Introduction Hypersexual behavior has been a controversial and much disputed issue in the field of sexual medicine. However, only little attention has been paid to hypersexual behavior in women. Therefore, to date there is limited knowledge on the behavioral patterns of hypersexuality in women. Aims The purpose of the present study was to examine which sexual behavioral patterns are associated with self‐reported indicators of hypersexuality in a female online sample. The second aim was to evaluate the association between hypersexuality and sexual risk behavior in women. Methods In total, 988 women participated in an online survey. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to exami…

Risk Assessment for Sexual Offenders

The Construct of Sexual Openness for Females in Steady Intimate Relationships

The analysis of open-minded attitudes towards sexuality in general requires a construct based on attitudinal dimensions. Although several existing studies involve sexual attitudes, they differ substantially and standardized conceptual work is missing. Thus, the authors introduce the latent variable sexual openness to develop a construct based on self-oriented attitudes towards different sexual topics. Available survey data of female German students in a steady relationship allowed providing a first empirical test for the applicability of this construct. Five subdimensions are acknowledged central for sexual openness: sexual practices, masturbation, bisexuality, permissiveness, and pornograp…

Imprisoned But Innocent: Wrongful Convictions and Imprisonments in Germany, 1990-2016

Although in the United States wrongful convictions and imprisonments are a major public and scientific concern, this topic has been largely ignored in Germany for decades. The present article offers for the first time an overview of all accessible German cases of successful retrials involving convicted persons who served a prison sentence since 1990. The data refer to 31 wrongfully convicted persons in 29 independent cases. Although the largest group consists of cases of false allegations, some of the wrongly convicted were considered not guilty by reason of insanity, and a few wrongful convictions occurred because of eyewitness misidentification and false confessions. In addition, incorre…

Pharmacological treatment of sexual offenders in German outpatient treatment centers

In Germany, depending on a sexual offender's culpability and the severity of the offence, he/she can be placed either in the forensic-psychiatric or the correctional system. Numbers related to the pharmacological treatment of sexual offenders for the correctional system are missing so far. In sexual offenders, the pharmacological treatment of paraphilic disorders is of special importance. The present study aimed at assessing the prevalence of pharmacological sexual offender treatment in German outpatient treatment centers supervising mainly clients from the correctional sector. An online questionnaire was sent to 112 outpatient treatment centers and 21 provided data relevant for the present…

Das Duale Kontrollmodell

Der vorliegende Beitrag stellt das Duale Kontrollmodell vor, das von John Bancroft und Erick Janssen zusammen mit anderen Kolleg/-innen am Kinsey-Institut der Universitat von Indiana (Bloomington, USA) entwickelt wurde. Das Duale Kontrollmodell postuliert das Vorliegen zweier voneinander relativ unabhangiger neurophysiologischer Systeme, deren jeweilige Auspragung fur die interindividuelle Variabilitat im menschlichen sexuellen Erleben und Verhalten von zentraler Bedeutung ist: ein System der sexuellen Erregung (orig.: Sexual Excitation) und ein System sexueller Hemmung (orig.: Sexual Inhibition). Der vorliegende Beitrag liefert in Form einer narrativen Ubersichtsarbeit eine Beschreibung de…

Risk Assessment in Individuals Convicted of Sexual Offenses

Further Support for a Convergent Approach to Sex Offender Risk Assessment

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…

International survey of violence risk assessment practices

International audience; Objective Mental health professionals are routinely called upon to assess the violence risk presented by their patients, frequently aided by structured instruments. Though surveys of risk assessment and management have been conducted, these efforts have been largely circumscribed to individual countries and have not compared the practices of members of different professional disciplines. Method A web-based survey was developed to examine the international use of structured instruments in the violence risk assessment process across five continents and to compare the perceived utility of such instruments by psychologists, psychiatrists, and nurses. The survey was trans…

Die Wirksamkeit psychotherapeutischer Behandlung von Sexualstraftätern nach Entlassung aus dem Strafvollzug

Zusammenfassung. Hintergrund: Das zentrale Wirkkriterium forensischer Psychotherapie besteht in der Verringerung des Rückfallrisikos hinsichtlich neuerlicher Straftaten. In der vorliegenden Studie wurde die in Hessen dezentral organisierte psychotherapeutische Versorgung von Personen, die aufgrund sexuell motivierter Straftaten verurteilt wurden, evaluiert. Methoden: Hierfür wurden psychotherapeutisch behandelte Probanden (n = 134) mit psychotherapeutisch nicht behandelten Probanden (n = 134) hinsichtlich der Rückfälligkeit verglichen, wobei die Vergleichbarkeit beider Gruppen mittels eines Matching-Verfahrens bezüglich rückfallrisikorelevanter Merkmale sichergestellt wurde. Der Behandlung…

Die Einschätzung des Rückfallrisikos bei sexuell auffälligen Kindern und Jugendlichen anhand standardisierter Prognoseinstrumente

In der vorliegenden Untersuchung wurde überprüft, ob standardisierte Prognoseinstrumente in der Lage sind, erneute Auffälligkeiten in einer Stichprobe von sexuell auffällig gewordenen Kindern und Jugendlichen (N = 80; als Einschlusskriterium musste keine Verurteilung erfolgt sein) vorherzusagen. Eingesetzt wurden die international als etabliert geltenden Verfahren Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth (SAVRY), Estimate of Risk of Adolescent Sexual Offense Recidivism (ERASOR) und Juvenile Sex Offender Assessment Protocol-II (J-SOAP-II). Die Ergebnisse der vorliegenden Studie zeigen, dass die ursprünglich für junge bzw. jugendliche Sexualstraftäter entwickelten Instrumente auch bei…

International Perspectives on the Practical Application of Violence Risk Assessment: A Global Survey of 44 Countries.

Mental health professionals are routinely called upon to assess the risk of violence presented by their patients. Prior surveys of risk assessment methods have been largely circumscribed to individual countries and have not compared the practices of different professional disciplines. Therefore, a Web-based survey was developed to examine methods of violence risk assessment across six continents, and to compare the perceived utility of these methods by psychologists, psychiatrists, and nurses. The survey was translated into nine languages and distributed to members of 59 national and international organizations. Surveys were completed by 2135 respondents from 44 countries. Respondents in al…

The Relevance of Sexual Biographies in Individuals Convicted of Child Sexual Abuse Offenses for the Development of Pedosexual Interests and Sexual Recidivism

In the literature concerning the etiology of pedosexual interests, the potential role of early sexual experiences in childhood and adolescence has been discussed. Several studies demonstrated a link between own sexually abusive experiences in childhood and sexual offending later in life which tends to be even stronger for pedosexual offenders. Furthermore, some findings indicate associations between other developmental factors and deviant sexual interests in adulthood. For the present study, sexual biographical data of N = 223 imprisoned men convicted of sexual offenses against children from Austria was analyzed to retrospectively examine whether own sexually abusive experiences and non-abu…

A Brief History of Sexual Offender Risk Assessment

The assessment of risk of further offending behavior by adult sexual perpetrators has come a long way since the early 1900s. From risk estimations based on clinical observation and environmental changes in the 1920s, anthropological and longitudinal studies of juvenile offenders in the 1930s, the examination of psychoneurotic patients in the 1940s to the application of actuarial prediction to clinical assessment in the 1950s, researchers and practitioners have sought to identify valid and reliable measures of recidivism risk in sexual offenders. The emphasis in risk prediction slowly changed following Meehl’s (1954) seminal contributions to the clinical-statistical debate which introduced t…

Testosterone-Lowering Medication and Its Association With Recidivism Risk in Individuals Convicted of Sexual Offenses

For a particular subgroup of individuals with severe paraphilic disorders and a high risk of sexual recidivism, the combination of sex drive–reducing medications and psychotherapy is a promising treatment approach. The present quasi-experimental study aims at comparing differences in clinical characteristics and dynamic risk factors between persons receiving (+TLM, n = 38) versus not receiving (−TLM, n = 22) testosterone-lowering medications (TLMs). Individuals receiving TLM were more frequently diagnosed with paraphilic disorders. Neither the criminal history nor average risk scores differed between the two groups. In the +TLM, Stable-2007 scores showed a stronger decrease after TLM treat…

Test–Retest Reliability and Temporal Agreement of Direct and Indirect Sexual Interest Measures

The Explicit and Implicit Sexual Interest Profile (EISIP) is a multimethod measure of sexual interest in children and adults. It combines indirect latency-based measures such as the Implicit Association Test (IAT), Viewing Time (VT), and explicit self-report measures. This study examined test–retest reliability and absolute temporal agreement of the EISIP over a 2-week interval in persons who were convicted of sexual offenses against children ( n = 33) and nonoffending controls ( n = 48). Test–retest reliability of the aggregated EISIP measures was high across the whole sample ( rtt = .90, intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC] = .90) with the IAT yielding the lowest retest correlations …

Neurobiological Considerations on the Etiological Approach to Sexual Offender Assessment