sentence aggravation - Mitigation Aide

Autism Spectrum Disorder in Prison

Dr. Jennifer Weeks — Mon, 06 May 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Table of Contents
Overview
Summary
Implications for Mitigation
Implications for Aggravation
Reference

Overview

As I have written previously, we are seeing more individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder in criminal cases. Research and assessment for individuals with ASD is lagging behind this increase.

Summary

This study, published in 2023 in the Revista Espanola de Sanidad Penitenciaria, specifically looked at ASD in the prison system via a systematic review of 14 peer reviewed scientific articles published in journals.

Findings of the Study on Autism Spectrum Disorder in Prison

Analyzing the articles revealed that many inmates diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder also present with self-harm. They also exhibit higher rates of disruptive behavior in jail. There are currently no assessment tools validated with ASD individuals to assess a predisposition for violent or disruptive behavior. Whether that behavior is directed internally or externally.

The subjective experiences of the ASD inmates can be well summarized here:

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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.
Autism Spectrum Disorder in Prison

We are seeing more individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder in criminal cases. Research on individuals with ASD in the justice system is lagging.
Autism and Male Sexuality: What do we know about it?

It is critically important for all in the criminal justice system to understand the effects of Autism and male sexuality.

The post Autism Spectrum Disorder in Prison 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
- Does the SAPROF-SO Predict Recidivism Risk?
  
  What level of accuracy does the SAPROF-SO provide for predicting recidivism as compared to other, validated assessments? A look at a 170 sample study.
- 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.
The post What Risk Assessment Tools Can You Use for CSEM Cases? first appeared on Mitigation Aide.

What Do We Know About Upskirting?

Dr. Jennifer Weeks — Mon, 27 Nov 2023 13:00:00 +0000

Table of Contents
Overview
Summary
Implications
Reference

Overview

There has been disappointingly little research performed on Upskirting, however a new review is shedding light on the topic.

Summary

If your work involves problematic sexual behavior, you have likely heard the term upskirting.

It is a term used to describe the nonconsensual photographing of women’s or girl’s bodies. This is often literally up a skirt, down a blouse or of the clothed genital region.

Why Do People Engage in Upskirting?

Some people who engage in this behavior keep the images for their own personal consumption and often use them as

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

Distress in Adult Baby Diaper Lover Participants

How does indulging in the Adult Baby Diaper Lover (ABDL) fetish affect the view of those who are being investigated or arrested?
What do we know about Adult Baby Diaper Lovers?

How could a client’s engagement in kink or fetish play be reflected in the courtroom?

The post What Do We Know About Upskirting? first appeared on Mitigation Aide.

Understanding the Involuntarily Celibate (Incel) Subculture

Dr. Jennifer Weeks — Mon, 30 Oct 2023 12:00:00 +0000

Table of Contents
Overview
Summary
Implications for Aggravation
Reference

Overview

The incel subculture thrives on reinforcing the beliefs of disillusioned men. I take a look “red-pilled” beliefs on behavior and sentencing outcomes.

Summary

The Involuntarily Celibate, or incel, community sometimes comes to attention after an incident that brings them to the news. However, this is a subculture whose beliefs are becoming more common. It’s time to dig into the research literature on this topic.

Study on Incel Subculture

In a study published in 2022, O’Malley et al studied the incel subculture on two forum sites, one specifically created for incels. The study analyzed over 8,000 posts looking for themes and group norms of the culture.

First some definitions:

An incel is a person who is involuntarily celibate. This means they have not had sex for at least six months despite having a desire to have a sexual relationship.

Conversely, what sets an involuntarily celibate individual apart from a non-incel who has not had sex in the past six months are their beliefs.

They become “red-pilled.”

They believe we all live under a
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
- 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.
- Do Biological And Sociological Incest Offenders Differ?
  
  Sexual abuse is often perpetrated by incest offenders, there is little research that specifically focuses on this type of offending.
- Are the Brains of Pedophiles Different?
  
  How does the data compare to non-pedophilic child sex offenders?
The post Understanding the Involuntarily Celibate (Incel) Subculture 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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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

Does the SAPROF-SO Predict Recidivism Risk?

What level of accuracy does the SAPROF-SO provide for predicting recidivism as compared to other, validated assessments? A look at a 170 sample study.
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?

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

Do Biological And Sociological Incest Offenders Differ?

Dr. Jennifer Weeks — Mon, 03 Jul 2023 19:42:33 +0000

Table of Contents
Overview
Summary
Implications
Reference

Overview

Sexual abuse is often perpetrated by incest offenders, there is little research that specifically focuses on this type of offending.

Summary

Research on child sexual abuse tends to focus on contact offending in a general sense or on abuse perpetrated by non-family members.

In a meta-analysis published in 2017 the authors, Pullman et. al, sought to study whether there were differences between biological and sociological incest offending.

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

Measuring Incestuous Sexual Interest in a Sample of Fathers

A study to set a baseline for incestuous sexual offenders for evaluations and risk assessments using a community sample of fathers from North America.
Do Biological And Sociological Incest Offenders Differ?

Sexual abuse is often perpetrated by incest offenders, there is little research that specifically focuses on this type of offending.
Denial Matters for Incest Offenders

How does denial affect recidivism and are there links between incest and non-incest offenders?

The post Do Biological And Sociological Incest Offenders Differ? 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

Does the SAPROF-SO Predict Recidivism Risk?

What level of accuracy does the SAPROF-SO provide for predicting recidivism as compared to other, validated assessments? A look at a 170 sample study.
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?

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

What do Polish University Students Think about Pornography?

Dr. Jennifer Weeks — Tue, 30 Aug 2022 19:34:21 +0000

Table of Contents
Overview
Summary
Implications for Mitigation
Reference

Overview

In this summary, we look at a study that tries to define what is considered “normal” pornography use among young adults ages 18 to 26.

Summary

A hot topic for those of us in the profession is, “What is normal pornography use?”

We use terms like pornography addiction or problematic sexual behavior and create definitions of what is problematic. There are also many claims made about the harms of young children being exposed to pornography at an early age.

There is one pretty big problem with these assumptions: We don’t really have a standard for what “normal” porn usage is.

A Study to Define “Normal” Pornography use

The present study looked to address

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

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.
What do Polish University Students Think about Pornography?

In this summary, we look at a study that tries to define what is considered “normal” pornography use among young adults ages 18 to 26.

The post What do Polish University Students Think about Pornography? first appeared on Mitigation Aide.

What is the Dark Shadow of Sexual Offending?

Dr. Jennifer Weeks — Fri, 06 May 2022 12:00:00 +0000

Table of Contents
Overview
Summary
Implications for Mitigation
Implications for Aggravation
Reference

Overview

The truth about sexual offending history in non-contact offenders.

Summary

The Dark Shadow of offending is something that is often talked about in sentencing hearings but not necessarily by name. The phrase was coined by Biderman and Reiss in 1967 and refers to the differences between the known criminal reoffending that occurs compared to what is reported based on known offending.

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!

The post What is the Dark Shadow of Sexual Offending? first appeared on Mitigation Aide.