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

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

Overview

This study, with over 2000 participants, explores the risk factors that can lead to this less researched form of childhood sexual abuse, known as Father Daughter Incest or FDI.

Summary

There is an extensive body of research on child sexual abuse perpetrators. However, there is substantially less on the sub population of individuals who commit incest sexual offenses.

Past research has shown that girls who live with stepfathers and not biological fathers are at greater risk of incest sexual abuse.

Other noted risk factors that have come from the research include poor marital or partner relationship, low income, domestic violence, and low levels of mother daughter closeness.

How was this Study on Father Daughter Incest Conducted?

This study attempted to determine risk factors for incest sexual offending using a more robust method than previous research studies.

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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.

The post What are the Risk Factors for Father Daughter Incest? first appeared on Mitigation Aide.

Overview

What works best for treating sexually violent persons in civil commitment programs? Results from both treatment providers and patients.

Summary

The topic of this journal article is one that is not frequently studied or, perhaps, thought about. 

Dr. Vincent and colleagues, as part of adherence to the Risk Needs Responsivity Model, studied the patient satisfaction of individuals who were civilly committed and thus mandated to treatment in their civil commitment programs.

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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.

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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.

The post Patient Satisfaction in Civil Commitment Treatment Programs first appeared on Mitigation Aide.

Overview

Sexually Violent Predator evaluations carry heavy consequences. This study examines the reliability of these evaluations in California from 2012 to 2017.

Summary

Sexually Violent Predator (SVP) assessments are conducted in different ways in different states. However, in all states, the results of these evaluations carry heavy consequences. 

Evaluators are often left making SVP opinions based on vague statutes and non-uniform evaluations.

Often, different evaluators come to differing conclusions for the same individual based on the same information, thus calling into question the reliability of these evaluations.

How does California do Sexually Violent Predator Evaluations

This study sought to address the reliability of SVP evaluations in California.

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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.

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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.

The post Sexually Violent Predator Evaluations: Are they reliable? first appeared on Mitigation Aide.

Overview

Using the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) scale and two risk assessment measures to evaluate likelihood of treatment completion and reduce recidivism with trauma informed care.

Summary

There is a growing trend in treating sexual offenders from a lens of trauma informed care. 

Trauma informed care is a significant break from the traditional manner sex offender treatment has previously been delivered.

As with any culture shift, there are many skeptics. This research article seeks to provide evidence to support the trauma informed care paradigm.  

The Study Evaluating Efficacy of Trauma Informed Care

The current study used the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) scale as a measure of trauma and assessed the relationship between ACE scores, recidivism and treatment completion. 

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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.

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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.

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Did you arrive here looking for information about childhood trauma, or adverse childhood experiences? Dr. Weeks offers a free, scientifically-validated, anonymous assessment on her personal blog. Take the Adverse Childhood Experience Questionnaire.

The post Can Trauma Informed Treatment Affect Recidivism? first appeared on Mitigation Aide.

Overview

A look at the data and results of an August 2022 study of 141 sexual offenders. The study further emphasizes the recidivism prediction abilities of the CPORT.

Summary

Evaluators conducting evaluations and risk assessments CSAM offenders do not have a validated actuarial risk assessment measure for this population. For contact offenses, there are several, with the Static-99R being the most widely used.

To combat this, Seto and colleagues created the CPORT. 

However, the CPORT authors provide the following provisos:

• It should not be used with more than 1 missing data point
• Until it has been validated more widely, should not be used as a measure to predict recidivism

The CPORT Validation Study

This study, published in August of 2022, sought to directly replicate the original CPORT validation study with a population of individuals from Scotland. They were charged with offenses related to images of child sexual abuse.

The authors were able to use data for 141 individuals with a fixed follow up period to measure recidivism of 5 years.

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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.

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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.

The post Does the CPORT Predict Risk in a Scottish Population? first appeared on Mitigation Aide.

Overview

What benefit can using a dynamic risk assessment in conjunction with the standard static assessments provide?

Summary

Static risk assessments such as the Static-99R are a mainstay for assessing sex offender risk for most sexual crimes (not those involving pornography).  While they have proven validity, they do not assess for dynamic risk factors which also influence recidivism risk. 

As a brief recap, static risk factors are those that cannot change.  This includes things like arrest history, gender of the victim, age, etc.  Dynamic risk factors are potentially changeable risk factors that can such as criminogenic needs or social supports. 

The post Does adding the SOTIPS improve risk assessment? first appeared on Mitigation Aide.

Overview

What is the best course of action for treating denial in sexual offenders and how does denial affect recidivism?

Summary

Addressing denial in treatment is a topic that comes up more in family court cases or probation violations than it does in sentencing issues.  A client on probation may be violated by probation due to “failing” out of treatment.  One way a client can do this is by not acknowledging their offense.  In family court, individuals with a founded case are often required to attend treatment regardless of legal outcome and even if they maintain their innocence in the accusation. 

The post The Ethics of Denial in Treatment of Offenders first appeared on Mitigation Aide.

Overview

How do Adverse Childhood Experiences impact overall criminal histories, in addition to histories of sexual crimes?

Summary

As the sexual abuser treatment field moves toward a trauma informed care model, more research is being conducted on the experiences of childhood trauma of those individuals who are convicted of sexual crimes. 

The post Trauma Histories of Sexual Offenders first appeared on Mitigation Aide.

Overview

How does alcohol and substance abuse affect the likelihood of violent and/or sexual offenses?

Summary

This study, published in 2000, is considered very old by academic standards.  However, it is one of the first to address alcohol and drug abuse in sexual offenders using the standardized measures of the MAST and DAST.  Prior to this research, there was anecdotal evidence and conjecture about the role of substance abuse in sexual offending but no hard data. 

The post Substance Abuse Issues in Sexual Offenders first appeared on Mitigation Aide.