Risk Assessment - Mitigation Aide

Intellectual Disabilities and Sexual Recidivism

Dr. Jennifer Weeks — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Table of Contents
Overview
Summary
Implications for Mitigation
Reference

Overview

Does the Static-99R or the MnSOST-R accurately predict recidivism in individuals with Intellectual Disabilities or Borderline Intellectual Functioning?

Summary

Nearly 20% of all incarcerated offenders have been identified as having an intellectual disability (IDD) or borderline intellectual functioning (BIF).

Despite this relatively high number of individuals with IDD who are incarcerated, there is limited research on the effectiveness of actuarial risk assessments on this population.

This study aimed to compare the predictive accuracy of the Static-99, Static -99R and the MnSOST-R for individuals

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Related Research

Intellectual Disabilities and Sexual Recidivism

Does the Static-99R or the MnSOST-R accurately predict recidivism in individuals with Intellectual Disabilities or Borderline Intellectual Functioning?
Comparing the Static-99R and CPORT

There is a prevalence of Child Sexual Abuse Materials cases and no fully validated risk assessment measure for these cases. Looking at the Static-99R and CPORT.
What Risk Assessment Tools Can You Use for CSEM Cases?

CSAM cases continue to proliferate, the question remains: What risk assessment measures can be used for cases without co-occuring contact offending behaviors?

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Comparing the Static-99R and CPORT

Dr. Jennifer Weeks — Tue, 18 Feb 2025 13:00:00 +0000

Table of Contents
Overview
Summary
Implications for Mitigation
Reference

Overview

There is a prevalence of Child Sexual Abuse Materials (CSAM) cases, and, at present, there is no fully validated risk assessment measure for these cases. In this study summary we’ll look at the Static-99R and CPORT for these purposes.

Summary

Courts are looking for a risk assessment and all an evaluator can truly provide is the goodness of fit of the client to the type of CSAM offenders known in the research literature and those estimates of recidivism.

CPORT is the only static risk measure specifically developed for use with these cases.

While it is a helpful tool, it continues to require validation studies and often, in the United States, evaluators are not provided all of the forensic materials necessary to use the full measure.

Therefore, studies assessing the usefulness of other risk assessment measures for CSAM cases can be helpful.

Details of the Static-99R CPORT Study

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Continue exploring Mitigation Aide for the information on mental health necessary to ensure your clients are treated fairly in the criminal justice system.

Related Research

Volitional Impairment in Sexually Violent Predator Cases

Survey of SVP evaluators finds wide disagreement on volitional impairment. Calls for structured, evidence-based methods and clearer reporting.
CSAM Offending: A New Meta-Analysis

CSAM Offending meta-analysis (2025) updates recidivism rates: low official reoffense, higher self-report, and key CSAM-only vs mixed differences.
Comparing the Static-99R and CPORT

There is a prevalence of Child Sexual Abuse Materials cases and no fully validated risk assessment measure for these cases. Looking at the Static-99R and CPORT.

The post Comparing the Static-99R and CPORT first appeared on Mitigation Aide.

Forensic Recidivism Tools for Women

Dr. Jennifer Weeks — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 13:00:00 +0000

Table of Contents
Overview
Summary
Implications for Mitigation
Reference

Overview

Research on recidivism tools for women lags significantly behind that on men. Additionally, what little research there is on the risk assessment of women is often limited and does not specifically address mental health issues.

Summary

This study specifically looked at 525 German women who were admitted to a German Psychiatric Hospital at the request of the courts.

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Continue exploring Mitigation Aide for the information on mental health necessary to ensure your clients are treated fairly in the criminal justice system.

Related Research

Can you use the Static-99R with Female Sexual Offenders?

Does the male dominated Static-99R apply satisfactorily to female sexual offenders? If not, what validated actuarial risk assessments exist for this population?
The Role of Victimization and Life Stress in Female Offending

Exploring the nature of childhood trauma, mental illness, and substance abuse and its impacts on female sexual offenders.
Female Sexual Offender Recidivism

An analysis of the recidivism rates of female sexual offenders and likely factors that would increase risk of reoffense.

The post Forensic Recidivism Tools for Women first appeared on Mitigation Aide.

What Risk Assessment Tools Can You Use for CSEM Cases?

Dr. Jennifer Weeks — Tue, 12 Mar 2024 17:53:13 +0000

Table of Contents
Overview
Summary
Implications
Reference

Overview

With the CSAM cases continuing to proliferate, the question for evaluators remains: What risk assessment measures can you use for these cases without co-occuring contact offending behaviors? There is currently only one risk assessment tool specifically designed for CSAM. It has limited use due to some issues with psychometrics and validity in all populations.

Summary

Authors Helmus et. al, sought to address with their submitted for publication in January of 2024. They provided their manuscript to ATSA members. This study reviewed all of the research to date on the following measures and assessed them in reference to their predictive accuracy with CSAM cases. The measures studied were:

CPORT
Risk Matrix 2000/Sex
OASys Sexual Reoffending Predictor – Indecent Images
Static-99R
STABLE-2007
ACUTE- 2007
Post Conviction Risk Assessment (PCRA)
Level of Service Inventory- Ontario Revision (LSI-OR)
Mitigation Aide is full of useful content for criminal defense, attorneys, public defenders, forensic mental health professionals, sentence mitigation experts, and researchers!

Don't miss out, upgrade your membership today! There's a FREE 30-day trial waiting for you!

Are you looking for more assistance with your sentence mitigation reports? Contact Dr. Jennifer Weeks, a recognized expert witness and forensic psychologist.

Continue exploring Mitigation Aide for the information on mental health necessary to ensure your clients are treated fairly in the criminal justice system.

Related Research
- Volitional Impairment in Sexually Violent Predator Cases
  
  Survey of SVP evaluators finds wide disagreement on volitional impairment. Calls for structured, evidence-based methods and clearer reporting.
- CSAM Offending: A New Meta-Analysis
  
  CSAM Offending meta-analysis (2025) updates recidivism rates: low official reoffense, higher self-report, and key CSAM-only vs mixed differences.
- Comparing the Static-99R and CPORT
  
  There is a prevalence of Child Sexual Abuse Materials cases and no fully validated risk assessment measure for these cases. Looking at the Static-99R and CPORT.
The post What Risk Assessment Tools Can You Use for CSEM Cases? first appeared on Mitigation Aide.

Should the CPORT Be Used for CSAM Risk Assessment?

Dr. Jennifer Weeks — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 21:21:21 +0000

Table of Contents
Overview
Summary
Implications
Reference

Overview

Analysis of a meta-study trying to validate the forensic use of the Child Pornography Offender Risk Tool (CPORT) for actuarial CSAM risk assessment.

Summary

Those in the field know the criminal justice system prefers to have an actuarial risk assessment measure to aide in decisions for sentencing, treatment needs, etc.

There are long standing and validated risk assessment measures for contact sexual offenses. However, there are no validated risk assessment measures for non-contact, Child Sexual Abuse Materials (CSAM) offenders.

CPORT and Risk Assessment

The CPORT was created several years ago by Dr. Michael Seto and colleagues. However, this measure is not without its difficulties. The authors note in the manual that it should not be used as a risk assessment measure.

Despite this statement, many evaluators are using the CPORT as a risk assessment tool.

The Study

An article published this year (2023)

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Don't miss out, upgrade your membership today! There's a FREE 30-day trial waiting for you!

Are you looking for more assistance with your sentence mitigation reports? Contact Dr. Jennifer Weeks, a recognized expert witness and forensic psychologist.

Continue exploring Mitigation Aide for the information on mental health necessary to ensure your clients are treated fairly in the criminal justice system.

Related Research

Comparing the Static-99R and CPORT

There is a prevalence of Child Sexual Abuse Materials cases and no fully validated risk assessment measure for these cases. Looking at the Static-99R and CPORT.
What Risk Assessment Tools Can You Use for CSEM Cases?

CSAM cases continue to proliferate, the question remains: What risk assessment measures can be used for cases without co-occuring contact offending behaviors?
Should the CPORT Be Used for CSAM Risk Assessment?

Analysis of a meta-study trying to validate the forensic use of the Child Pornography Offender Risk Tool (CPORT) for actuarial CSAM risk assessment.

The post Should the CPORT Be Used for CSAM Risk Assessment? first appeared on Mitigation Aide.

Mixed Offenders are not all the Same

Dr. Jennifer Weeks — Mon, 17 Jul 2023 12:00:00 +0000

Table of Contents
Overview
Summary
Implications
Reference

Overview

It has been known for quite some time that there are two categories of CSAM offenders, internet-only and mixed offenders.

Summary

CSAM offenders have no history of a contact sexual offense. Mixed offenders are, generally, defined as a CSAM offense with a historical or concurrent contact sexual offense. For years, mixed offenders were all lumped into one group and were not studied on their own to determine if they were a homogeneous group.

The Study: Mixed Offenders

In a study published in 2022, Babchishin, et. al., looked further into the issue. Specifically looking at whether or not the order in which a contact offense occurred in relation to the CSAM offense has any impact on the risk of recidivism.

The original data sample for this study was comprised of 387 Canadian men.

Mitigation Aide is full of useful content for criminal defense, attorneys, public defenders, forensic mental health professionals, sentence mitigation experts, and researchers!

Don't miss out, upgrade your membership today! There's a FREE 30-day trial waiting for you!

Are you looking for more assistance with your sentence mitigation reports? Contact Dr. Jennifer Weeks, a recognized expert witness and forensic psychologist.

Related Research

CSAM Offending: A New Meta-Analysis

CSAM Offending meta-analysis (2025) updates recidivism rates: low official reoffense, higher self-report, and key CSAM-only vs mixed differences.
Intellectual Disabilities and Sexual Recidivism

Does the Static-99R or the MnSOST-R accurately predict recidivism in individuals with Intellectual Disabilities or Borderline Intellectual Functioning?
Comparing the Static-99R and CPORT

There is a prevalence of Child Sexual Abuse Materials cases and no fully validated risk assessment measure for these cases. Looking at the Static-99R and CPORT.

The post Mixed Offenders are not all the Same first appeared on Mitigation Aide.

Can ACE or LSI Scores Predict Recidivism?

Dr. Jennifer Weeks — Wed, 07 Jun 2023 19:36:46 +0000

Table of Contents
Overview
Summary
Implications
Reference

Overview

Beyond the standard actuarial testing, can these other studies help predict recidivism? How do these scores affect treatment needs?

Summary

When we talk about recidivism, we are usually talking about actuarial measures such as the Static-99R or the Stable or Acute 2007. This research article assesses whether or not there are other measures that can predict recidivism.

Predict Recidivism and Provide Trauma Informed Care

As the field slowly moves toward trauma informed care, the authors studied the association between recidivism and scoring on the Adverse Childhood Experiences Scale.

Mitigation Aide is full of useful content for criminal defense, attorneys, public defenders, forensic mental health professionals, sentence mitigation experts, and researchers!

Don't miss out, upgrade your membership today! There's a FREE 30-day trial waiting for you!

Are you looking for more assistance with your sentence mitigation reports? Contact Dr. Jennifer Weeks, a recognized expert witness and forensic psychologist.

Related Research

CSAM Offending: A New Meta-Analysis

CSAM Offending meta-analysis (2025) updates recidivism rates: low official reoffense, higher self-report, and key CSAM-only vs mixed differences.
Intellectual Disabilities and Sexual Recidivism

Does the Static-99R or the MnSOST-R accurately predict recidivism in individuals with Intellectual Disabilities or Borderline Intellectual Functioning?
Comparing the Static-99R and CPORT

There is a prevalence of Child Sexual Abuse Materials cases and no fully validated risk assessment measure for these cases. Looking at the Static-99R and CPORT.

The post Can ACE or LSI Scores Predict Recidivism? first appeared on Mitigation Aide.

Is there a relationship between Compulsive Sexual Behavior and Paraphilias?

Dr. Jennifer Weeks — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 18:30:39 +0000

Table of Contents
Overview
Summary
Implications for Mitigation
Reference

Overview

A 2022 scientific study on the likelihood of sexual offending by individuals presenting Compulsive Sexual Behavior. Also explores the relation to paraphilias.

Summary

The inclusion of Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder (CSBD) in the ICD-11 has helped to provide legitimacy to the concept of CSB, often called sexual addiction or compulsivity. However, there is still a dearth of research on the topic.

One question seen in academic and treatment circles is: Is there an association between CSBD and paraphilic interests?

This question is often brought up particularly in relation to sexual offending as CSB is often a measure of dynamic risk.

The Study about Compulsive Sexual Behavior

This study, published in 2022, sought to investigate sexual responses

Mitigation Aide is full of useful content for criminal defense, attorneys, public defenders, forensic mental health professionals, sentence mitigation experts, and researchers!

Don't miss out, upgrade your membership today! There's a FREE 30-day trial waiting for you!

Are you looking for more assistance with your sentence mitigation reports? Contact Dr. Jennifer Weeks, a recognized expert witness and forensic psychologist.

Related Research

Hypersexuality and Paraphilias in Individuals with ASD

Despite increases in legal contact for people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), very little research exists about ASD, hypersexuality and paraphilias.
Is there a relationship between Compulsive Sexual Behavior and Paraphilias?

A 2022 scientific study on the likelihood of sexual offending by individuals presenting Compulsive Sexual Behavior. Also explores the relation to paraphilias.
Were Men with Paraphilic Infantilism Mistreated in Childhood?

Can childhood mistreatment lead to pedophilic behaviors? Is there correlation between adult baby/diaper lovers (Paraphilic Infantilism) and pedophilic desires?

The post Is there a relationship between Compulsive Sexual Behavior and Paraphilias? first appeared on Mitigation Aide.

What is the Experience of LGBTQ people on the Sex Offender Registry?

Dr. Jennifer Weeks — Mon, 27 Jun 2022 12:00:00 +0000

Table of Contents
Overview
Summary
Implications for Mitigation
Reference

Overview

How does it differ from straight, cisgender individuals?

Summary

While there is some research relating to the experiences of individuals on sex offender registries, there is no published data that specifically looks at the experiences of anyone in the LGBTQ community who is also required to register as a sexual offender on a SORNA registry.

A new survey conducted by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law was recently published whose aim was to gather general information regarding all individuals’ experiences of being on the registry as well as to specifically ascertain the experiences of non-cisgendered individuals.

The online survey was conducted between March and November of 2020 and data from 964 individuals was analyzed. Of all the respondents, 20% identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer/pansexual and/or transgender. The authors stated that the percentage of LGBTQ people in the sample was almost 4 times greater than the national estimate of LGBTQ people in the US.

A summary of the findings:

42% of all respondents reported incomes that were below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level.
30% of LGBTQ and 20% of straight cisgender respondents were unemployed.
- This was at a time when the national unemployment rate was between 4.4% to 14.8%.
The LGBTQ respondents, when compared to the straight cisgender respondents, more often had three or more victims (17% v 9%).
Almost half of the LGBTQ individuals had a victim who were images vs. less than ¼ of the straight cisgender adults
64% of all respondents reported dissatisfaction with their defense
Over half of all respondents were incarcerated but more LGBTQ individuals were incarcerated than straight cisgender respondents. (65% v 53%).
10% of the LGBTQ individuals reported that the mandated psychological treatment they attended included elements that are known as conversion therapy.
66% of all respondents reported being verbally insulted or abused, 45% reported being threatened with violence and 37% were robbed or vandalized and most attributed the motivation for the attacks to their being on the registry.
Lifetime suicidality rates are very high (71% total) with LGBTQ people reported a prevalence of 77% versus 69% for cisgender straight respondents.
Over half of all respondents reported having supportive family or friends who help them (LGBTQ 59%; cisgender 66%)

Overall, the experiences of the LGBTQ persons on the SORNA registry are similar to those of their male, cisgender straight counterparts.

Implications for Mitigation

This study provides implications not necessarily for mitigation but for post-conviction restrictions. As a result of being on the SORNA registry, almost all individuals experience negative consequences beyond their incarceration and probation. These negative consequences increase dynamic risk of recidivism. Therefore, less restrictive registry measures would not potentially contribute to an increased risk of recidivism.

Reference

Meyer, I.H., Bouton, L., Maszak-Prato, S, Semple, L. & Lave, T.R. (2022). LGBTQ People on sex offender registries in the US. https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/SORS-LGBTQ-May-2022.pdf

The post What is the Experience of LGBTQ people on the Sex Offender Registry? first appeared on Mitigation Aide.

Characteristics of Male Internet Only Child Pornography Offenders

Dr. Jennifer Weeks — Wed, 27 Apr 2022 12:00:00 +0000

Table of Contents
Overview
Summary
Implications for Mitigation
Reference

Overview

How do Internet Only CSAM Offenders (Child Sexual Abuse Material) differ from non-offenders and offenders with a contact offenses?

Summary

While this is an older article (2012), it needs to be included here. It is an oft-cited study that articulates both the psychological and demographic characteristics of men who have been convicted of possessing child sexual exploitation material (CSEM).

It has provided a great deal of insight into the perpetrators of this type of crime.

Internet Only CSAM Offenders: The Study

The subjects were all men in federal custody with a history of a contact or a CSAM offense.

Mitigation Aide is full of useful content for criminal defense, attorneys, public defenders, forensic mental health professionals, sentence mitigation experts, and researchers!

Don't miss out, upgrade your membership today! There's a FREE 30-day trial waiting for you!

Are you looking for more assistance with your sentence mitigation reports? Contact Dr. Jennifer Weeks, a recognized expert witness and forensic psychologist.

Continue exploring Mitigation Aide for the information on mental health necessary to ensure your clients are treated fairly in the criminal justice system.

Related Research

Autism Spectrum Disorder and Sexual Offending

There is an increasing number of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder offending sexually. Research about sex offending and neurodivergence is limited.
Comparing the Static-99R and CPORT

There is a prevalence of Child Sexual Abuse Materials cases and no fully validated risk assessment measure for these cases. Looking at the Static-99R and CPORT.
What Risk Assessment Tools Can You Use for CSEM Cases?

CSAM cases continue to proliferate, the question remains: What risk assessment measures can be used for cases without co-occuring contact offending behaviors?

The post Characteristics of Male Internet Only Child Pornography Offenders first appeared on Mitigation Aide.