Chapter 22: Adult Male Contact Sexual Offenders: Challenges in Classification and Theoretical Perspectives

Offender Characteristics — Men who Offend Against Adults

• “rapist”

• history of antisocial behaviour

  • criteria for ASPD

• criminal history

• alcohol abuse

• poorer education

• low SES

• childhood maltreatment

Offender Characteristics — Men who Offend Against Children

• “child sexual abuser”

• often older

• externalizing behaviours

• poor social and emotional skills

• low social competence

• childhood sexual victimization is relatively common

• diagnosis of Pedophilic disorder

Pedophilic Disorder: DSM-5

• over a period of at least 6 months recurrent, intense sexually arousing fantasies, sexual urges, or behaviours involving sexual activity with prepubescent child or children (13 or younger)

• the individual is at least 16, and at least 5 years older than the child

• fantasies or uges have to cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social occupational, or other functioning areas, or the person has to have acted on these urges

• 40-50% of child sexual abusers are diagnosed

Assessment Criteria

• practicality and user friendliness

  • is the theory or category clear?

  • is it easy to use and understand?

• accounts for the hererogeneity of sexual offender population

  • does it explain, account for, and validate differences between sexual offenders?

• helpfulness in treatment

  • does it provide value to the clinical field and treatment?

• predicting recidivism

  • can they help predict reoffending?

Offender Characteristics — Child Sexual Abusers

• degree of sexual preference and fixation

  • pedophilic disorder

  • fixated or situational

• intra- and extra-familiar victim

• multi-level classification

Child Sexual Abusers — Intra-Familiar Victim

• low antisocial behaviour

• sexual deviance

• offense supportive belief

• high history of childhood difficulties

Child Sexual Abusers — Extra-Familiar Victim

• younger

• high denial/minimization

• risk for reoffending

Multi-Level Classification — Massachusetts Treatment Centre Child Molester Classification System

• axis I: degree of fixation on children and level of social competence (4)

• axis II: amount of contact, relationship with victims, injury conflicted, sadistic interest (6)

Offender Characteristics — Rapists

• relationship with victim

  • stranger vs. acquaintance

Offender Typologies — Rapists

• motivation and amount of aggression used…

  • motivation and amount of aggression

    • power assertive type

    • power reassurance

    • anger retaliation

    • anger excitation or sadistic

    • opportunistic rapist

  • multi-level classification

    • Massachusetts Treatment Center Rape Classification System

Power Assertive Type

antisocial rapist

• impulsive

• sexual offense to confirm virility and dominance by using aggressive methods

Power Reassurance

• overcome insecurity concerning women and poor social skills by displaying dominate behaviour

Anger Retaliation

aggressive aim rapist

• revenge

• power

Anger Excitation or Sadistic

• expressed planned eroticized sadistic aggression

Opportunistic Rapist

• abused due to opportunity while committing another offense

Massachusetts Treatment Center Rape Classification System

• primary motivation including 9 types

• opportunistic: high or low SC

  • pervasively angry, sexual, and sadistic (overt or muted)

• vindictive: high or low SC

• vary in…

  • impulsivity

  • social competence

  • gratification seeking

  • anger

  • prolonged sexual and sadistic fantasies

  • aggression

  • women-focused anger

Hebephilia

• sexual attraction toward early pubertal child

Strengths of Offender Typologies

• practical

• user friendly

Criticisms of Offender Typologies

• crossover between categories

• legal definitions differ between states and countries

  • statutory rape

  • age of consent

  • consent

  • minimum age of criminal responsibility

  • same sex exclusion

• diagnostic boundaries can be controversial

  • some don’t think hebephilia should be included

• limited treatment relevance and predictive ability

Risk and Dynamic Factors

• Actuarial Risk Assessment

• Structured Professional Judgement

Actuarial Risk Assessment

• STATIC-99 (10 primarily static risk factors)

  • age at release

  • criminal history

  • victim characteristics

Structured Professional Judgement

• SVR-20

  • sexual deviance

  • escalation in sexual offending

  • extreme minimization or denial

• connection to risk-need-responsivity principle

Strengths of Risk and Dynamic Factors

• practical and user friendly in clinical field

• treatment intensity

• supervision and risk management

• supported by research on factors associated with recidivism

Criticisms of Risk and Dynamic Factors

• who is more likely to offend but not why?

• what needs to change to reduce risk?

• does not recognize individual difference

  • categories are broad — 1 risk factor can combine several differences

Multifactorial Models

• Finkelhor — Preconditions Model

• Ward & Siegert — Pathways Model

• Malamuth et al. — Confluence Model

• Marshall and Barbaree — Integrated Theory

• Hall and Hirschman — Quadripartite Model

• Seto — Motivation-Facilitation Model

• Ward & Beech — Integrated Theory

Finkelhor — Preconditions Model (Multifactorial Models)

• 4 conditions

  • motivation

  • overcoming internal inhibition

  • external barriers

  • child’s resistance

Ward & Siegert — Pathways Model (Multifactorial Models)

• 5 pathways: varying combinations

  • intimacy/social deficits

  • deviant sexual scripts

  • emotional dysregulation

  • antisocial cognition

Malamuth et al. — Confluence Model (Multifactorial Model)

• results from interaction of sexual promiscuity or impersonal sex and hostile masculinity, alongside situational and developmental factors

Marshall and Barabee — Integrated Theory (Multifactorial Model)

• early adverse experiences: relationships/self-regulation difficulties → vulnerabilities in adolescence → disturbed sexual development

  • can interact with situational disinhibitions

Hall and Hirschman — Quadripartite Model (Multifactorial Model)

• 4 motivational precursors

  • sexual arousal

  • cognitive distortions

  • affective regulation

  • developmental or personality problems

• situations can activate these factors

Seto — Motivation-Facilitation Model (Multifactorial Model)

• offending requires motivation

  • paraphilia

  • high sex drive

  • mating

• plus facilitating factors

  • disinhibition/antisociality

• and opportunity/situation

Ward & Beech — Integrated Theory (Multifactorial Model)

• biological, ecological, and neuroopsychological factors interact to produce clinical problems

Strengths of Multifactorial Models

• recognizes no single factor causes offending

• accounts for heterogeneity

• informs treatment with causal and risk factors

  • incorporates factors relevant to risk assessment

Criticisms of Multifactorial Models

• complexity leading to difficulty in clinical practice

• focus on motivation over antisocial offending

• predicting recidivism

Future Steps and Research

• developmental life-course (DLC) approach to classification and theory

  • current perspectives: between person differences

  • DLC: between person differences and ability to change behaviour

• onset and duration of offending, turning points, life events, time of moving away from offending

• Moffit, 1993 (chapter 2): 2 pathways of offending

  • life course persistent offending

  • adolescence limited offending

• longitudinal patterns of an individuals criminal behaviour

• lowers crossover effects and making treatment uses more specific to needs