Sex Offender Risk Assessment and Management

Contact sex offenders with adult and minor victims: Psychopathological and criminological differences

BACKGROUND

Effective classification of individuals who commit sexual offences is important for their assessment, treatment, and risk management. Victim age has often been used as a distinguishing factor between perpetrators.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to analyse the distinctive psychopathological and criminological characteristics of contact sexual offenders with adult and minor victims.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

The study involved 97 adult males who were serving a prison sentence in Spain for at least one contact sexual offence against an adult or a minor.

METHODS

Researchers gathered data on criminological variables concerning the offender, victim, and modus operandi from prison records and interviews. Participants completed the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III (MCMI-III) in a second session, and between-group differences were analysed.

RESULTS

Sex offenders with minor victims (SOMV) had significantly lower scores than sex offenders with adult victims (SOAV) on the Antisocial (r = -0.283, p = .005) and Sadistic (r = -0.209, p = .04) personality subscales, and on the Alcohol (r = -0.426, p < .001) and Drug dependence (r = -0.332, p = .001) syndrome subscales. SOAV were also more likely to use violence and/or intimidation, use a weapon, offend against female victims, offend against an intimate partner, commit their offences in public places, serve other ongoing prison sentences, and report a history of alcohol and substance abuse. SOMV were older and more likely to offend against family members.

CONCLUSIONS

These results suggest that there are key differences between SOAV and SOMV that should be considered in tailored prevention programmes for each subgroup of offenders.

Police Officers' Perceptions of a Sex Offender Registration Scheme: Identifying and Responding to Risk

This article reports on interviews with 17 participants responsible for managing sex offenders on a sex offender register scheme. Semi-structured interviews were conducted that covered the topics of the participants' policing experience and their thoughts on the register and risk assessment. Nine themes were identified as being particularly important: the purpose of the register; concerns about community perceptions; a lack of resources; recognition that risk assessment is essential but limited; a desire to tailor interventions to individual offenders; the need for more training despite staff competency; the inadequate sharing of information; concerns about how well the legislation captures the sex offending space; and confusion about how to interpret online offending. This research provides first-hand views on how the register can be improved and how police would like a register to look when executing the essential and challenging job of monitoring convicted sex offenders upon their release back into the community.