Empathy deficits and adolescent sexual offending: A systematic review of the evidence base

Baly, Andrew; Butler, Stephen

doi:10.1016/j.avb.2017.07.007

Cited by 10 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…Indeed, Byrne et al [ 74 ] developed a treatment protocol with modules designed to increase the capacity to get in contact with, identify and verbalize emotions and the related body signals. The high levels of restricted affectivity might be in line also with the literature showing a lack of empathy levels amongst child molesters (e.g., [ 75 , 76 ]) and might support the importance of providing this subgroup of prisoners with a therapeutic pathway focused on improving empathic skills [ 77 ]. It should be noted that the group of prisoners who had committed crime against the person had higher levels of restricted affectivity than the other two groups, in line with data indicating more generalized difficulties in emotional awareness and regulation amongst non-sexual violent offenders [ 14 ].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

DSM-5 personality trait facets amongst child molesters: an exploratory comparison with other types of offenders

et al. 2021

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Background DSM-5 provided a dimensional model of personality disorders which may be more clinically informative for the assessment and management of prisoners than a categorical one, as diagnoses of personality disorders alone cannot explain the type of violence. The role of DSM-5 personality facets is however understudied in child molesters, and no study compared these clinical features between individuals who have committed sex crime against children and those who have committed other types of crime. The present study compared DSM-5 personality trait facets between prisoners who had committed sex crime against children, prisoners who had committed property crime (i.e., robbery, fraud) and those who had committed crime against the person (i.e., homicide, assault or violence not implying a sexual element). A further aim was to explore which facets were associated with sex crime against children as compared with the other types of crime, controlling for socio-demographics (age, gender), psychiatric comorbidity (presence of any psychiatric diagnoses) and general psychopathy traits. Methods One hundred sixty-seven prisoners participated (91 had committed sex crime against children, 25 property crime, and 51 committed a crime against the person) and completed the Personality Inventory for the DSM-5 and the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised. Results Prisoners who had committed sex crime against children reported higher Restricted Affectivity traits than those who had committed property crime and crime against the person and higher Irresponsibility traits than those who had committed property crime. The results of a multinomial logistic regression analysis showed that on the one hand being a man, having a higher age, and the presence of a psychiatric comorbidity were more likely to be related to sex crime than property crime, on the other hand higher Irresponsibility personality traits, being a man, and the presence of a psychiatric comorbidity were more likely to be related to sex crime against children than crime against the person. Conclusions The Irresponsibility facet might be specific to child molesters and can differentiate this group from offenders who have committed other crime types. This facet might be considered a key target of a tailored assessment and treatment planning during clinical practice with child molesters.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

DSM-5 personality trait facets amongst child molesters: an exploratory comparison with other types of offenders

et al. 2021

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“…A meta-analysis reported a weak relationship between low empathy and sex offending (Jolliffe & Farrington, 2004). Another meta-analysis of 16 studies suggested the role of empathy deficits (facet 2 domain) in sexual offending remains inconclusive (Baly & Butler, 2017).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Interpersonal and Affective Facets and Items of the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) in Predicting Child Sex Offending*An earlier version of this study was presented at 2019 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology.

Sohn

Reyes

Kim³

2020

J Interpers Violence

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Psychopathy of child sex offenders in non-Western and Asian population is not frequently reported. The study examined psychopathic traits assessed by the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) in three groups of male offenders, child sex offender, adult sex offender, and nonsex offender groups. Out of 451 offenders included in the sample, 445 recidivated after a follow up of 11 years: 27 child sex offenders, 174 adult sex offenders, and 244 nonsex offenders. Adult sex offenders scored higher in four facets and total scores compared with nonsex offenders. Child sex offenders had more problems in interpersonal (facet 1) and affective (facet 2) traits than nonsex offenders. More specifically, child sex offenders scored higher in failure to accept responsibility (item 16, Cohen’s d = 0.80) and callous/lack of empathy (item 8, Cohen’s d = 0.59) of facet 2 and pathological lying (item 4, Cohen’s d = 0.58) and glibness/superficial charm (item 1, Cohen’s d = 0.48) of facet 1 than nonsex offenders. Both child sex offenders and adults sex offenders were found to be more psychopathic than nonsex offenders. While facets 1, 2, and 3 did not separate child and adult sex offending, child sex offenders scored significantly lower in antisocial problems (facet 4) than adult sex offenders. Despite the limitation of using a sample of mostly high-risk offenders, our findings indicate that higher PCL-R scores in specific facets (1 and 2) and items (1, 4, 8, and 16) are more predictive of child sex offending and suggest insight for treatment strategies of child sex offenders.

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“…Research on the relationship between empathy and aggression in offenders has largely been based on male forensic populations (Jolliffe & Farrington, 2004; van Langen et al, 2014), who typically exhibit elevated levels of psychopathic traits, characterized by a general lack of empathy and remorse (Coid et al, 2009). Research into the relationship between low empathy and high aggression in offenders has, however, yielded heterogeneous results (Baly & Butler, 2017; Beven et al, 2004; Vachon et al, 2014). Based on self-report questionnaires, some studies found that offenders have lower empathy levels than controls (Domes et al, 2013; Jolliffe & Farrington, 2004; Mariano et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Utility of Physiological Measures in Assessing the Empathic Skills of Incarcerated Violent Offenders

Palix

Abu‐Akel

Moulin

et al. 2021

Int J Offender Ther Comp Criminol

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Since lack of empathy is an important indicator of violent behaviors, researchers need consistent and valid measures. This study evaluated the practical significance of a potential physiological correlate of empathy compared to a traditional self-report questionnaire in 18 male violent offenders and 21 general population controls. Empathy skills were assessed with the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) questionnaire. Heart-Rate Variability (HRV) was assessed with an electrocardiogram. The RMSSD (Root Mean Square of the Successive beat-to-beat Differences), an HRV index implicated in social cognition, was calculated. There were no group differences in IRI scores. However, RMSSD was lower in the offender group. Positive correlations between RMSSD and IRI subscales were found for controls only. We conclude that psychometric measures of empathy do not discriminate incarcerated violent offenders, and that the incorporation of psychophysiological measures, such as HRV, could be an avenue for forensic research on empathy to establish translatable evidence-based information.

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Empathy deficits and adolescent sexual offending: A systematic review of the evidence base

Cited by 10 publications

References 69 publications

DSM-5 personality trait facets amongst child molesters: an exploratory comparison with other types of offenders

DSM-5 personality trait facets amongst child molesters: an exploratory comparison with other types of offenders

Interpersonal and Affective Facets and Items of the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) in Predicting Child Sex Offending*An earlier version of this study was presented at 2019 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology.

The Utility of Physiological Measures in Assessing the Empathic Skills of Incarcerated Violent Offenders

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