NCJ Number
195534
Journal
Aggression and Violent Behavior Volume: 7 Issue: 3 Dated: May-June 2002 Pages: 251-270
Date Published
June 2002
Length
20 pages
Annotation
This paper reviews and integrates literature examining the relationship of various socio-cognitive factors to empathic deficits in sexual offenders.
Abstract
The inability to establish and maintain a close interpersonal relationship with another, females in particular, has been considered a key factor in sexual offending. This deficiency has led to a considerable amount of research examining the social competence of sexual offenders. The assertion that empathic deficits play a significant role in the disinhibition of sexually assaultive behavior has prompted widespread use of empathy training, usually as a component of a Relapse Prevention model, in treating sex offenders. The paper calls for research that examines how empathic deficits emerge. There is some evidence that development of empathy in children is influenced by supportive parenting, particularly a caregiver's "communication of concern" and "altruistic administration." Children who are abused or neglected may have limited experience with this type of empathic responding, and therefore do not have the opportunity to learn to recognize and experience a variety of emotional states and expressional cues in others. This paper claims that establishing the reasons that sex offenders lack empathy may dictate important new avenues of treatment and evaluation. References