The psychopathology and particularly the personality disorders of sex offenders were compared to general inmates of the Colorado Department of Corrections. Using the MCMI-III (Millon, 1994, 1997), sex offenders in general were found to have more varied types of personalities than general population inmates. Specifically, they were more schizoid, avoidant, depressive, dependent, self-defeating, and schizotypal. General population inmates had the more classically criminal personality characteristics of antisocial, narcissistic, and sadistic. Multivariate analysis showed the Dependent, Narcissistic, Antisocial, and Schizotypal scales to be the most differentiating. Sex offenders were also found to have more affective psychopathology such as anxiety, dysthymia, PTSD, and major depression. A similar trend was found when comparing child molesters to rapists. The child molesters were more neurotic, affective, and socially impaired than the rapists. Multivariate analysis showed the Dependent scale to be the most important in differentiating these two types of sex offenders.

This study documents the development of an adult sex offender risk assessment tool. A sample of 494 sex offenders were followed for an average of 30 months. A risk scale was developed based upon criminal and therapeutic outcomes. The final risk scale included prior juvenile felony convictions, prior adult felony convictions, failure of the first or second grade, not being employed, victim being intoxicated, the perpetrator reporting not being sexually aroused during the crime, possession of a weapon during the crime, denial in therapy, sexual deviance in therapy, and motivation in therapy. The risk scale provided significant relative risk ratios against program failure at 12 and 30 months. Overall, those scoring high on the risk tool were 372% as likely to fail as those scoring low.

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The Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III (MCMI-III) is well suited for use in corrections settings. The MCMI-III's scales correlate with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) personality disorders (frequently found in correctional settings), and the publisher offers a corrections-specific interpretive package. To further elucidate the usefulness of the MCMI-III with offenders and assess its efficacy, the authors administered the test to more than 10,000 inmates of the Colorado Department of Corrections. Scale scores were compared to intake judgment and outcome variables across mental health, substance abuse, and violence variables. A number of scales were found to predict several mental health variables such as subsequent diagnosis, medication prescription, and therapy time. Substance abuse scale elevations corresponded to subsequent intake recommendations. Although more modest, the aggressive personality disorder scales and several of the neurotic scales correlated with future institutional violence. The authors discuss the relevance of these findings to screening, triage, and correctional assessment.