Sex offender risk assessments in the child protection context: Helpful or not?

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Broadley
Keyword(s):  
Child Protection ◽  
Sex Offender ◽  
Risk Assessments

Sex Offender Risk Assessments in the Child Protection Context. Helpful or Not?

2012 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Broadley
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Sex Offender ◽  
Low Risk ◽  
Risk Assessments ◽  
Assessment Instruments ◽  
Dynamic Risk ◽  
Sex Offender Risk Assessment ◽  
Dynamic Risk Assessment

When a convicted or alleged child sex offender is living, or having contact, with his own children or stepchildren, the obvious worry is that these children are victims or will become victims of sexual abuse. One way of determining the risk of this occurring is for the convicted or alleged offender to undergo a forensic sex offender risk assessment. In this article I raise questions regarding the usefulness of sex offender risk assessments within the statutory child protection context. Most importantly, I ask whether static and dynamic risk assessment instruments can accurately predict the risk an alleged or convicted sex offender poses to his own children. I conclude that ‘high’, ‘moderate’, and ‘low’ risk outcomes of forensic sex offender risk assessments in the child protection context are unreliable and can result in error, and explain that these errors have consequences that, within the child protection context, have consequences that can be dangerous to children.

scholarly journals Use and perceived utility of structured violence risk assessments in English medium secure forensic units

2009 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 129-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reena Khiroya ◽  
Tim Weaver ◽  
Tony Maden
Keyword(s):  
Sex Offender ◽  
Risk Measures ◽  
Risk Assessments ◽  
Violence Risk ◽  
Risk Matrix ◽  
Risk Appraisal ◽  
Psychopathy Checklist ◽  
Perceived Utility ◽  
Dynamic Factors ◽  
Psychopathy Checklist Revised

Aims and MethodWe surveyed the usage and perceived utility of standardised risk measures in 29 forensic medium secure units (a 62% response rate).ResultsThe most common instruments were Historical Clinical Risk–20 (HCR–20) and Psychopathy Checklist – revised (PCL–R); both were rated highly for utility. the Risk Matrix 2000 (RM2000), Sex Offender Risk Appraisal Guide (SORAG) and Static-99 were the most common sex offender assessments, but the Sexual Violence Risks–20 (SVR–20) was rated more positively for its use of dynamic factors and relevance to treatment.Clinical ImplicationsMost medium secure units use structured risk assessments and staff view them positively. As HCR–20 and PCL–R/PCL–SV (Psychopathy Checklist – Screening Version) are so widely used they should be the first choices considered by other services.

scholarly journals The child protection offender register: An analysis of the proposed New Zealand child sex offender register

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Rebecca Eaton
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Sex Offenders ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Sex Offender ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Current Management ◽  
Sex Offender Registry ◽  
Management Measures ◽  
A Current ◽  
Current Proposal

<p>Sex offender registries are prominent and controversial methods of managing sex offenders once released into the community. The purposes and form of these registers vary between jurisdictions. A current proposal has been made for the development and implementation of such a register in New Zealand which would focus on child sex offenders specifically. In determining whether this intervention would be justified and serve a practical purpose, this paper looks at the risk posed by child sex offenders and the current measures in place to manage this risk. This paper finds that the proposed child sex offender register will enhance the current management measures and information sharing arrangements regarding child sex offenders. Various rights and interests are affected by the implementation of a sex offender registry; the inherent tension being between freedom of expression and privacy. This paper looks at whether the current proposal achieves an appropriate balance between these rights. Whilst an appropriate balance is achieved by the register itself, this balance will have to be more carefully considered in the development of the proposed disclosure scheme.</p>

Children and Young People on the UK Sex Offender Register

2009 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 491-500 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terry Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Young People ◽  
Sex Offenders ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Sex Offender ◽  
Law Enforcement Agencies ◽  
Sexual Offences ◽  
Children And Young People ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Uk

AbstractA number of countries now use sex offender registers as a policy to improve levels of public protection by ensuring that law enforcement agencies are better informed on the whereabouts of sex offenders in their communities. These policies are designed in part to improve child protection. The paradox is that some people on the register are themselves children and young people who have committed sexual offences. This article examines the development of the UK sex offender register and the registration of children and young people aged 10-17. It looks at attempts to provide alternative forms of registration and implications for the future in terms of children's rights.

Actuarial methods for violence and sex-offender risk assessments

2003 ◽  
pp. 750-755
Author(s):  
Shoba Sreenivasan ◽  
Patricia Kirkish ◽  
Thomas Garrick ◽  
Linda Weinberger
Keyword(s):  
Sex Offender ◽  
Risk Assessments ◽  
Actuarial Methods

scholarly journals On Sex Offender Registry

Lex Russica ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 140-150
Author(s):  
A. Yu. Klyuchnikov
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Sexual Offenders ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Sex Offender ◽  
Criminal Responsibility ◽  
The United States ◽  
Law Enforcement Agencies ◽  
Federal Register ◽  
Administrative Supervision

The paper examines the experience of the United States of America in recording and classifying convicted sexual offenders. The Federal register is a comprehensive criminal and administrative law tool for crime prevention. It has its origins in similar state registers. The author examines the principles of maintaining the register, the grounds for inclusion in the register and exclusion from it, the volume of data to be published, the frequency of data updates, and conducts a criminological characterization of the Institute. The paper analyzes the case law of the Supreme courts of the United States regarding the constitutionality of the rules and principles that form the institution of the registry, their retroactive application, and compliance with procedural and material guarantees of a fair trial. The author concludes that it is possible to introduce a similar Federal register in Russia, but taking into account the shortcomings identified in the study. Currently, the efforts of the legislator in this part are obvious (increasing criminal responsibility for violent sexual crimes with the establishment of restrictions on freedom, the emergence of new tools of "deterrence" in the hands of law enforcement agencies, such as administrative supervision). However, the measures are not comprehensive, often overlap, and do not achieve the stated goal (execution of restrictions under administrative supervision after serving the restriction of freedom). The author believes that it can be an independent institution, implemented from the stage of execution of the sentence, accessible to law enforcement agencies and victims, and in cases provided for by law — for social and educational institutions, guardianship authorities, family and child protection.

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