Risk Profiling of Juvenile Sexual Offenders: Predicting Outcome in a Community-Based Treatment Program, Final Report

• NCJ Number: 225007
• Author(s): John A. Hunter Jr., Ph.D.; Aurelio Jose Figueredo
• Date Published: April 1997
• Length: 89 pages
• Grant Number(s): 95-JN-CX-0018
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Justice (NIJ)
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/NCJRS; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined the utility of risk profiling for juvenile sexual offenders in order to predict their response to community-based treatment programming.

Abstract

The study found that attitudes of openness and accountability were reliable predictors of both amenability to treatment and a positive treatment outcome. Such acceptance of accountability and compliance with treatment protocols were not related to overall psychopathology or sexual deviancy per see; however, they did appear to be linked to the youth’s legal status at the time of evaluation; i.e., youth whose sexual behaviors had brought them into contact with the justice system were more willing to admit their problem and comply with treatment requirements. These findings suggest that clinical assessment and risk profiling efforts may be misguided in overemphasizing the importance of the nature of sexual deviance as a construct for explaining juvenile sexual offending and predicting response to treatment. Most juvenile sex offenders who do not complete treatment do not apparently fail because of engagement in either sexual or nonsexual delinquency. Instead, they fail due to a lack of willingness and/or ability to comply with attendance requirements and/or therapeutic directives. Whether or not these youths are at greater long-term risk for sexual or nonsexual delinquency could not be determined from the current data, although other studies have suggested that they may be. This study recommends that future research focus on variables, both situational and personal, that influence acceptance of responsibility for one’s behavior and a willingness to seek positive change through compliance with treatment protocols. Study participants were 204 youths referred for community-based juvenile sex offender treatment between 1991 and 1995. Data on the youth and their response to treatment were obtained from the Regional Juvenile Sex Offender Program operated by the Pines Treatment Center in Portsmouth, VA. 14 tables, 83 references, and appended intake data form