NCJ Number
173362
Journal
Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment Volume: 9 Issue: 1 Dated: January 1997 Pages: 7-27
Date Published
1997
Length
21 pages
Annotation
Data from 113 rapists and 269 child molesters in Canada were used to verify whether static factors (criminal history, age, relationship status) and dynamic factors (deviance index based on phallometric data, score on psychometric testing) allow the prediction of recidivism in sex offenders.
Abstract
The participants all had an official record of at least one sex offense and were assessed between 1978 and 1991 at the Institut Philippe Pinel de Montreal, Canada, a maximum-security psychiatric hospital, or at the hospital's outpatient clinic. Study data came from police and clinical reports. The analysis focused on three types of recidivism: sexual, violent, and criminal. The participants were studied over an average follow-up period of 64.5 months. The sexual reconviction rate was 21.2 percent in rapists and 13 percent in child molesters. Reconvicted rapists were younger and had more previous convictions than did those who were not reconvicted. The child molesters who were reconvicted for a sexual offenses had higher pedophilic indexes, had more previous sexual charges, were younger more often had male victims, more often had extrafamilial victims and were more likely to be living alone than were those who were not reconvicted. Psychometric data did not predict recidivism in either rapists or child molesters. Findings indicated that both static and dynamic factors predict recidivism in sexual aggressors and may therefore be useful for the development of actuarial instruments for the prediction of sexual recidivism. Tables and 55 references (Author abstract modified)