Lecture 14: The nature of sex offenders

What proportion of crime is sexual offenders?

Represent the minority of cases - 4% - 2% of these tend to result in a sentence - unlike other types of offenses - less than half of those who are accused are found guilty. Almost all finalised sexual assault defendents are male. 2 x more likely to have the case to be withdrawn.

What are re-offending rates of sexual offenders in Australia?

10% of those who have been convicted, will go on to re-offender with any other type. 1.8% will reoffend again in the sexual offence.

Describe issues with official crime data?

There are 27,000 victims reporting a sexual crime, a significant portion of these reports are delayed. Conviction records are likely to underestimate true sexual offending rates as complex factors interact for victims to be less likely to offend

What are the characteristics of sexual offenders?

Heterogeneous group. Varied offences & demographics (age, gender, sex orientation, SES).

Describe what the continuum of intrusiveness is?

The range of non-contact to contact.
Non-contact - xxhibitionism, voyeurism, child abuse material, upskirting and online grooming - note that the lack of consent make these an offense.
Contact - sexual touching, groping, child molestation, sexual assault, rape and bestiality.

How do you characterise sexual offenders?

Rapist - tend to offend against adults, typically know female victim, angry and violent offenses
Child offenders - divided into two subtypes
Sexual preference - paedophilia , aroused by children with unknown victims
Opportunistics - regressed known victims - offend against children because they do not have access to adults - more responsive to treatment .
Note that these have heterogeneity and cross overs

Another way of characterise sexual offenders based on age?

Pre/Adolescent - 25-40%, mostly generalist, non-sexual recidivism - high rate of victimisation themself 50-70%
Female - less than 2% - often against adolescent, mostly with male co-offenders, higher rates of psychopathology
Male - most common, biggest victim range, 4-6 x higher intellectual disability, most targeted for treatment.

Describe Finklehor’s precondition theory?

States that there are 4 barriers/conditioned to overcome for sexual offending to occur - needs to be
Motivation to offender - sexual urge, fantasy - develops from arousal, unmet emotional need
Overcome internal barrier - cognition that prevent acting on urges, can be overcome with substance use, stress and cognitive distortions
Over external barriers - overcome by seeking opportunities to gain victim access, getting the victim alone
Overcome victim resistance - overcome by physical force, grooming and coercion
Note designed for child sex offending, but has general explanative power. Can be used to guide treatment

What are the note about Finkelhor Precondition theory? 

This theory can be used to target interventions to create barriers against other places.

What are static risk factors for sexual recidivism? 

• Male risk factors, early age of onset of sexual offending, adverse childhood environment or victimisation, early age of onset, diverse victim.

• Actually predicting sexual offenders is really hard despite static factors.

What to note about cognitive distortion around sex offending?

 Note the factor that these cognitive distortions can vary widely depending on offender typologies.

What are dynamic risk factors for sexual recidivism? 

• Sexual deviance - very strong predictor - excessive sexual sexual preoccupation

• Intimacy deficits 

• Mental Health/emotional dysregulation.

• Attitudes

• Antisocial attitudes. 

• SVR can be used to assess these risk factors

How to treat and what are the causes of sexual deviance? 

• : complex interaction between adverse childhood experiences, abnormal development, social and emotional difficulties can cause sexual deviance

• Treatment → antilibidinals to limit sexual drive, individual or group programs targeting dynamic risk factors, risk management practices like supervision or legal orders. ;

Describe attachment styles associated with intimacy deficits? 

Child Sex Offences - preoccupied - positive attitude of others, a negative to self, low self-worth, sexualise security & affective need 

Rape Offenders - Dimissive - sceptical of close relationships, independence to avoid vulnerability, cold & aloof in relationship. ;

Describe emotional dysregulation as a cause? 

• Emotional dysregulation leads to problems with dealing with negative emotions → sexual offending as a coping mechanism 

• In Rape Offence types - characterised by anger and hostility 

• In Internet Offence types - characterised to avoid reality and gain pleasure. ;

What are the implicit theories and antisocial attitudes associated with sexual offending? 

• : Child sex abuse/internet - child as sexual being who seek our sex with adults, harmless if no physical abuse, they are entitled to use inferiors 

• Rape offences - women as sexual beings, females are unknowable, women are deceptive and evil. ;

What works to treat sex offending?

• : Earlier studies like Furby et al, 1989 or Quinsey et al 1993 say it does not work – however, looking deeper suggests unethical practices and that conclusions are based on poor quality studies. 

• Hason et al (2002) → treatment reduced sexual offending - with CBT/systemic most effective - (note that CBT is easier to research)

• Losel & Schmucker (2005) - meta-analysis - treatment reduce recidivism.

  • CBT is MOST supported

What are limitations of knowledge around sexual offending? 

• Don’t know what drives within-treatment changes 

• Treatment effects can be confounded with other circumstances 

• There is sig heterogeneity in results across studies - e.g in eligibility criteria in studies, dropout rates or non-equivalent follow up periods (Harrison et al, 2020) . ; 

What are some acute dynamic risk factors 

•  these are factors which may if suddenly changes, can be a red flag signalling immediate sexual abuse

• Victim access, hostility, attitudes, mental state, social adjustment, substance abuse.