Absence of malice: Constructing the female sex offender

It could be argued that all crimes have a general moral basis, condemned as ‘wrong’ or ‘bad’ in the society in which they are proscribed, however, there are a specific group of offences in modern democratic nations which bear the brunt of the label, crimes against morality. Included within this group are offences related to prostitution and pornography, homosexuality and incest, as well as child sexual abuse. While the places where sex and morality meet have shifted over time, these two concepts continue to form the basis of much criminal legislation and associated criminal justice responses. Offenders of sexual mores are positioned as the reviled corruptors of innocent children, the purveyors of disease, an indictment on the breakdown of the family and/or the secularisation of society, and a corruptive force (Davidson 2008, Kincaid 1998). Other types of offending may divide public and political opinion, but the consensus on sex crimes appears constant.

Sex Offender Registration: Some Observations on ‘Megan’s Law’ and the Sex Offenders Act 1997

“Megan’s Law” in the United States and Part 1 of the Sex Offenders Act 1997 in the United Kingdom, make provision for the creation of a register which will record the names and addresses of all persons convicted or cautioned for a sexual offence. Arguments expounded in favour of the legislation include the supposedly high recidivism among sex offenders, the inadequacy of supervision provisions, and the resulting need to ‘track’ the dangerous offender for public protection. In practice, however, there are a plethora of obstacles, such as cost and inadequate policing resources, which may impede its effectiveness in aiding law enforcement and reduce it to symbolic significance only. In addition, there are an array of ethical objections to the legislation, such as it breaches civil liberties and constitutes ‘double jeopardy’, which may prevent meaningful imposition.

Sex Offender Registration: Implications and Difficulties for Ireland

The aim of this paper is to explore the implications and difficulties of a system of sex offender registration for Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. From the orthodox perspective, registration appears justified. Sexual offending has increased and this is used by the media to generate a ‘moral panic’. However, sexual offenders in the community have also been socially constructed in Ireland, as a problem requiring specific action, through Blumer’s (1971) developmental perspective. It is this perspective which most adequately explains the formulation of the legislation. Arguments expounded in favour of registration include the supposedly high recidivism among sex offenders, the inadequacy of supervision provisions and the resulting need to ‘track’ the offender for public protection. Yet, in practice there are a plethora of obstacles such as cost and inadequate policing resources, not considered at the time the legislation was being formulated, which may impede its effectiveness in aiding law enforcement and reduce it to symbolic significance only. Given these difficulties, it is argued that registration is not an appropriate response to the problem of released sexual offenders in Ireland. Rather, from the social constructionist perspective, it is suggested that it is better to ‘treat’ the sex offender through less formal and stringent means in the community away from the criminal justice process.

'Grooming' and the Sexual Abuse of Children: Implications for Sex Offender Assessment, Treatment and Management

'Grooming' has been termed 'a ubiquitous feature of the sexual abuse of children' (Thornton, 2003: 144). Despite the prominence of the term in contemporary discourses on sexual offending against children, it is a term that is insufficiently understood in the psychological, sociological, criminological or legal literature. Most recently, the term has been used in two primary offending contexts - on-line grooming and abuse by strangers, and institutional grooming and abuse by those in positions of trust. This article argues, however, that grooming and its role in child sexual abuse is a multi-faceted phenomenon and much more complex than has been highlighted previously. While there are a number of typologies of grooming, this article concentrates on those which may be most relevant for treatment and management contexts - 'peer-to-peer grooming' and 'institutional grooming.' Drawing on extensive fieldwork with professionals who work in the fields of child protection or victim support, and sex offender assessment, treatment or management across the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, the aim of this article is two-fold: (i) to deconstruct the term grooming and examine its actual role in the onset of sexual offending against children; and (ii) to draw out the implications of these complexities for policy and practice, chiefly in terms of treatment and prevention.

Assessment and case conceptualization in sex offender treatment

The assessment of sexual offenders consists of the systematic collection of clinically relevant information in order to detect clinical phenomena or problems and to provide clear treatment targets. The result of this process is a conceptual model, or case formulation, representing the client’s various problems, the hypothesized underlying mechanisms, and their interrelationships. The focus of this article is on the importance of psychological assessment and case formulation in the rehabilitation and management of individuals convicted of sexual offences. First, we make a number of general points about the importance of evidence based assessment and clinical reasoning in case formulation. Second, we review key elements of contemporary sexual offender theory that highlights the heterogeneity evident among sex offenders and the implications for case formulation and treatment planning. Third, we discuss the role of case formulation for risk assessment and management. Finally, we illustrate our major points with a brief case study and conclude with a brief consideration of the value of case formulations.

Sex offender risk assessment : consideration of human rights in community protection legislation

ObjectivesRisk assessments provided to judicial decision makers as a part of the current generation of legislation for protecting the public from sexual offenders can have a profound impact on the rights of individual offenders. This article will identify some of the human rights issues inherent in using the current assessment procedures to formulate and communicate risk as a forensic expert in cases involving civil commitment, preventive detention, extended supervision, or special conditions of parole. MethodBased on the current professional literature and applied experience in legal proceedings under community protection laws in the United States and New Zealand, potential threats to the rights of offenders are identified. Central to these considerations are issues of the accuracy of current risk assessment measures, communicating the findings of risk assessment appropriately to the court, and the availability of competent forensic mental health professionals in carrying out these functions. The role of the forensic expert is discussed in light of the competing demands of protecting individual human rights and community protection. ConclusionActuarial risk assessment represents the best practice for informing judicial decision makers in cases involving sex offenders, yet these measures currently demonstrate substantial limitations in predictive accuracy when applied to individual offenders. These limitations must be clearly articulated when reporting risk assessment findings. Sufficient risk assessment expertise should be available to provide a balanced application of community protection laws.

Ethical practice in sex offender assessment : consideration of actuarial and polygraph methods

The current generation of community protection laws represents a shift in priorities that may see the individual rights of sex offenders compromised for the goal of public safety. At the center of many judicial decisions under these laws are the risk assessment reports provided by mental health practitioners. The widespread enactment of laws allowing for additional sanctions for sex offenders, and a burgeoning research literature regarding the methods used to assess risk have served to heighten rather than resolve the ethical concerns associated with professional practice in this area. This article examines ethical issues inherent in the use of two assessment methods commonly used with sex offenders in the correctional context, focusing on actuarial measures and polygraph tests. Properly conducted and adequately reported actuarial findings are considered to provide useful information of sufficient accuracy to inform rather than mislead judicial decision makers, although careful consideration must be given to the limitations of current measures in each individual case. Despite its increasing use, polygraph testing is considered controversial, with little consensus regarding its accuracy or appropriate applications. On the basis of the current state of the professional literature regarding the polygraph, its use with sex offenders raises unresolved ethical concerns.

Recent research (N=9,305) underscores the importance of using age-stratified actuarial tables in sex offender risk assessments

A useful understanding of the relationship between age, actuarial scores, and sexual recidivism can be obtained by comparing the entries in equivalent cells from “agestratified” actuarial tables. This article reports the compilation of the first multisample age-stratified table of sexual recidivism rates, referred to as the “multisample age-stratified table of sexual recidivism rates (MATS-1),” from recent research on Static-99 and another actuarial known as the Automated Sexual Recidivism Scale. The MATS-1 validates the “age invariance effect” that the risk of sexual recidivism declines with advancing age and shows that age-restricted tables underestimate risk for younger offenders and overestimate risk for older offenders. Based on data from more than 9,000 sex offenders, our conclusion is that evaluators should report recidivism estimates from age-stratified tables when they are assessing sexual recidivism risk, particularly when evaluating the aging sex offender.

On a clear day you can see forever : integrating values and skills in sex offender treatment

The topic of sex offender rehabilitation frequently evokes fierce reactions, ranging from strident demands for harsher sentences contrasted with calls for more imaginative and compassionate sentencing options. There seems to be a polarization of positions centred on the question of offenders' moral standing: are they moral strangers or fellow travellers? This fundamental disagreement about offenders' moral status is at the core of a number of independent, although related current practice and research issues confronting the field, namely: (1) risk management versus strength-based treatment approaches; (2) the utility of utilizing individually tailored versus manual-based programmes for offenders; (3) focusing on the technical aspects or therapy as opposed to relationship and therapist factors (what has been called process issues); and (4) the conflict between protecting the community versus promoting the interests of offenders. In this paper I suggest that an approach to sex offender treatment based on a combination of human rights theory (an ethical resource) and strengths-based approaches can help us navigate our way through the above dilemmas in a way that addressees both the needs of offenders and those of the community.