Postrelease Specialization and Versatility in Sexual Offenders Referred for Civil Commitment

Harris, Danielle Arlanda; Knight, Raymond A.; Smallbone, Stephen; Dennison, Susan

doi:10.1177/1079063210384276

Cited by 43 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 44 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…30,31 Instead, the convicted sex offender is characterized by a more general pattern of antisocial behavior. 32 The current study was designed to improve on earlier research with a longer-term follow-up into the adulthood (mean age, 51 years) of individuals with documented cases of childhood sexual and physical abuse and neglect and matched control individuals. We hypothesized that compared with physically abused and neglected children and matched control individuals, those with documented histories of childhood sexual abuse are at greater risk for being arrested for a sex crime and committing a larger number of sex crimes, are younger at their first arrest for a sex crime, and are more likely to specialize in sex crimes.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

A Prospective Examination of Whether Childhood Sexual Abuse Predicts Subsequent Sexual Offending

Widom

Massey

2015

JAMA Pediatr

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

IMPORTANCE Childhood sexual abuse has been assumed to increase the risk for sexual offending. However, despite methodological limitations of prior research, public policies and clinical practice have been based on this assumption. OBJECTIVE To empirically examine the commonly held belief that sexually abused children grow up to become sexual offenders and specialize in sex crimes. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTSThis prospective cohort study and archival records check included cases and control individuals originally from a metropolitan county in the Midwest. Children with substantiated cases of physical and sexual abuse and neglect (aged 0-11 years) were matched with children without such histories on the basis of age, sex, race/ethnicity, and approximate family social class (908 cases and 667 control individuals). Both groups were followed up into adulthood (mean age, 51 years). The court cases were from 1967 to 1971; the follow-up extended to 2013.MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Criminal history information was collected from federal and state law enforcement agency records at 3 points in time and from state sex offender registries.RESULTS Overall, individuals with histories of childhood abuse and neglect were at increased risk for being arrested for a sex crime compared with control individuals (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 2.17; 95% CI, 1.38-3.40), controlling for age, sex, and race/ethnicity. Specifically, individuals with histories of physical abuse (AOR, 2.06; 95% CI, 1.02-4.16) and neglect (AOR, 2.21; 95% CI, 1.39-3.51) were at significantly increased risk for arrest for sex offenses, whereas for sexual abuse, the AOR (2.13; 95% CI, 0.83-5.47) did not reach significance. Physically abused and neglected males (not females) were at increased risk and physically abused males also had a higher mean number of sex crime arrests compared with control individuals. The results did not provide support for sex crime specialization. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCEThe widespread belief that sexually abused children are uniquely at risk to become sex offenders was not supported by prospective empirical evidence. These new findings suggest that early intervention programs should target children with histories of physical abuse and neglect. They also indicate that existing policies and practices specifically directed at future risk for sex offending for sexually abused children may warrant reevaluation.Among males, the cumulative hazard rate curves for abuse/ neglect overall (log-rank statistic = 8.735; df = 1; P = .003) and neglect (log-rank statistic = 8.650; df = 1; P = .003) differed from male control individuals. There was a nonsignificant trend for physically abused males (P = .06), but not for sexually abused males (P = .37). For females, there were no significant differences.

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 99%

A Prospective Examination of Whether Childhood Sexual Abuse Predicts Subsequent Sexual Offending

Widom

Massey

2015

JAMA Pediatr

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Furthermore, current research suggests that sexual offenders rarely restrict their criminal activities to sexual offenses (Harris, Knight, Smallbone, & Dennison, 2011;Lussier, 2005). Moreover, CSA-W rated the probability that they would abuse another child in the future much higher than those CSA who did not work with children (these differences showed the highest effect sizes).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 76%

Risk Factors for Sexual Offending in Men Working With Children: A Community-Based Survey

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Identifying risk factors for sexual abuse in men who work with children and who have already abused a child could lead to more appropriate screening and prevention strategies and is thus of major scientific and societal relevance. A total of 8,649 German men from the community were assessed in an extensive anonymous and confidential online survey. Of those, 37 (0.4%) could be classified as child sexual abusers working with children, 90 (1.0%) as child sexual abusers not working with children, and 816 (9.4%) as men who work with children and who have not abused a child. We assessed the impact of working with children as an individual risk factor for self-reported child sexual abuse and compared personal factors, pedophilic sexual fantasies, deviant sexual behaviors, antisocial behaviors, and hypersexuality among the three groups. Most interestingly, working with children was significantly associated with a self-reported sexual offense against children, however, it explained only three percent of its variance. Child sexual abusers working with children admitted more antisocial and more sexually deviant behaviors than child sexual abusers not working with children and than men working with children who have not abused a child. Our findings support some of the suggestions made by other researchers concerning factors that could be considered in applicants for child-or youth-serving institutions. However, it has to be pointed out that the scientific basis still seems premature.

show abstract

“…In one assessment, Rydberg, Grommon, Huebner, and Bynum () found that sex offenders with an offense conviction against a child victim experienced more residence mobility than other contact sex offenders in preresidency and postresidency restriction time periods. The challenge to the development of a targeted policy arises in how to identify a small group of offenders who specialize in child molestation and differentiate this population from the versatility observed among those convicted of sexual offenses (Harris, Knight, Smallbone, and Dennison, ; Harris, Mazerolle, and Knight, ). Even with knowledge of offense specialization, little research has examined systematically whether repeat child molesters use consistent strategies to gain access to victims (Leclerc, Proulx, and Beauregard, ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effect and Implications of Sex Offender Residence Restrictions

Huebner

Kras

Rydberg

et al. 2014

Criminology & Public Policy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

M i c h i g a n S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y Eric Grommon I n d i a n a U n i v e r s i t y -P u r d u e U n i v e r s i t y I n d i a n a p o l i s Breanne Pleggenkuhle S o u t h e r n I l l i n o i s U n i v e r s i t y -C a r b o n d a l e Research SummaryWe evaluated the efficacy of sex offender residence restrictions in Michigan and Missouri using a quasi-experimental design with propensity score matching. First, we examined the implementation of the laws and found that sex offenders in both states were less likely to live in restricted areas after the implementation of the laws than the prerestriction sample, but the differences were not statistically significant. In our outcome analysis, we find little evidence that residence restrictions changed the prevalence of recidivism substantially for sex offenders in the postrelease period. In Michigan, trends indicate that the implementation of the laws led to a slight increase in recidivism among the sex offender groups, whereas in Missouri, this effect resulted in a slight decrease in recidivism. Technical violations also declined for both groups in Missouri. The small effect sizes, inconsistent results across states, and the null results between sex offender and non-sex offender models cast doubt on the potential usefulness of the laws to influence individual patterns of recidivism broadly. Policy ImplicationsThe results caution against the widespread, homogenous implementation of residence restrictions. Instead, we advocate individualization in sex offender programming and call for the development of risk-centered models of residence restrictions that draw on the established literature. In addition, the research highlights the practical challenges in defining restricted areas, enforcing restrictions, and promoting successful returns to the community. Furthermore, a call for reframing the focus of sex offender reentry to include collaborative treatment groups and enhanced communication and services between key stakeholders is made. Finally, we close with a discussion of several best practice models that provide alternative housing sources for individuals sentenced under residence restrictions without a suitable home plan.Keywords residence restrictions, recidivism, parole, sex offenders, geographic information systems, collateral consequences of incarceration. taken place in the absence of the legislation. We use a quasi-experimental design with propensity score matching to estimate the efficacy of residence restriction legislation. This research design allows for a multistate evaluation of policy further increasing the internal and external validity of the research observations (Shadish, Cook, and Campbell, 2002). Data, Sample Selection, and MeasuresData for the current study were obtained from two sources. Recidivism and parolee movement information were culled from official records maintained by the Michigan and Missouri Department of Corrections. Address data for schools and childcare facilities were obtained from the Missouri State Police, the Missouri S...

show abstract

Postrelease Specialization and Versatility in Sexual Offenders Referred for Civil Commitment

Cited by 43 publications

References 44 publications

A Prospective Examination of Whether Childhood Sexual Abuse Predicts Subsequent Sexual Offending

A Prospective Examination of Whether Childhood Sexual Abuse Predicts Subsequent Sexual Offending

Risk Factors for Sexual Offending in Men Working With Children: A Community-Based Survey

The Effect and Implications of Sex Offender Residence Restrictions

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About