NCJ Number
184025
Journal
Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment Volume: 12 Issue: 3 Dated: July 2000 Pages: 203-221
Date Published
July 2000
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This study monitored 192 convicted extrafamilial child molesters for an average of 7.8 years after their conviction to determine patterns of recidivism.
Abstract
The percentage of men who had committed a sexual, a violent, or any criminal offense by the 12th year was 15.1, 20.3, and 41.6, respectively. The sexual recidivists, compared with the nonrecidivists, had more problems with alcohol and showed greater sexual arousal to assaultive stimuli that involved children than to mutually consenting stimuli with children. The violent recidivists, compared with the nonrecidivists, were more likely to have a history of violence in the families in which they were raised and were rated significantly more psychopathic on the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). They also showed more sexual arousal to stimuli that depicted mutually consenting sexual interactions with children than to adult stimuli. In terms of any criminal recidivism, recidivists were younger, and completed fewer years of school, and were raised in psychologically more harmful family environments compared with nonrecidivists. They also reported that, before 16 years of age, they were more likely to have been physically abused and were more likely to have been removed from their homes compared to those that did not recidivate. In addition, recidivists showed more general hostility on the Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory and were rated significantly more psychopathic on the PCL-R. The phallometric assessments revealed that the criminal recidivists, compared to the nonrecidivists, had more sexual arousal to stimuli that depicted coercive sexual activity with children than consenting sexual activities with children. In addition, they showed more sexual arousal to scenes that depicted adult rape than adult mutually consenting sex. Finally, the recidivists also had more charges or convictions for violence and any criminal acts. Subjects' age, total number of criminal convictions, and pedophile assault index were significant for the optimal prediction of recidivism. The developed procedure correctly classified 70.6 percent of the original group, 82.8 percent of the nonrecidivists, and 52.6 percent of the recidivists. PCL-R Total Score alone was equally successful in a similar discriminant function. 1 figure, 3 tables, and 61 references