scholarly journals Implicit Theories and Offender Representativeness in Judgments About Sexual Crime

Sexual Abuse ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 276-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig A. Harper ◽  
Ross M. Bartels

Implicit theories structure the way people understand and respond to various human actions. Typically, people believe attributes are either fixed (entitists) or malleable (incrementalists). The present study aimed to examine (a) whether attitudes toward sexual offenders differ depending upon one’s implicit theory about human nature and sexual offenders, and (b) whether implicit theories are associated with judgments made about different types of child abusers. A sample of 252 community participants was recruited. Their attitudes, implicit theories, and political orientation were assessed via self-report. One of three vignettes describing an incidence of child sexual abuse was then presented. The cases were identical except the perpetrator was either an adult male, an adult female, or a male juvenile. Participants then made judgments about the offender’s deserved sentence and moral character. Entitists (across both domains) held more negative attitudes than incrementalists, although the magnitude of the difference was greatest when examining implicit theories about sexual offenders. Compared with those with an incremental theory of sexual offenders, entity theorists judged sexual offending to be more (a) indicative of the perpetrator’s moral character and (b) deserving of punishment. However, scores were greater toward the adult male relative to the adult female and juvenile. The findings suggest that implicit theories about sexual offenders are domain specific. They also indicate that judgments made by those with an entity theory (about sexual offenders) are affected by whether a case is representative of a stereotypical sexual offender. Implications of the findings are discussed, along with limitations and future research.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Patrice A Bourke

<p>Child sexual offending is a great area of concern to the public and researchers alike. The damaging effects of Child Sexual Abuse are numerous and frequently enduring. Research in sexual offending has tended to focus on therapeutic interventions and effectiveness as well as the aetiological aspects of offending. Much of this research has focused on offender deficits associated with sexual crimes that are the target of intervention programs. There has been little attention paid to the view that sexual offenders appear to learn from their previous offending and in some cases acquire a considerable degree of offence related competency. In other words, some sexual offenders appear to develop high levels of expertise. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether there are 'expert' offenders within the child sexual offending arena who display greater competence in utilising grooming techniques, selecting targets, interpreting and evaluating social and environmental cues, and who possess extensive offence scripts. In this exploratory study, 47 male child sexual offenders were interviewed in New Zealand prison based Sexual Offender Rehabilitation Units about their offences as well as their lives prior to and post offending. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and analysed using Grounded Theory to generate a model of offence specific decision making. Results indicated that child sex offenders vary on the above dimensions and effectively span the range from 'novice' to 'expert' offenders with respect to the quality of their decision making and their domain relevant knowledge structures. By using the general principles of expertise as a conceptual framework, a developmental model of expertise in child sex offenders in New Zealand was constructed. The implications of the constructed model for theory and treatment are discussed and suggestions are made for the direction of future research.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Patrice A Bourke

<p>Child sexual offending is a great area of concern to the public and researchers alike. The damaging effects of Child Sexual Abuse are numerous and frequently enduring. Research in sexual offending has tended to focus on therapeutic interventions and effectiveness as well as the aetiological aspects of offending. Much of this research has focused on offender deficits associated with sexual crimes that are the target of intervention programs. There has been little attention paid to the view that sexual offenders appear to learn from their previous offending and in some cases acquire a considerable degree of offence related competency. In other words, some sexual offenders appear to develop high levels of expertise. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether there are 'expert' offenders within the child sexual offending arena who display greater competence in utilising grooming techniques, selecting targets, interpreting and evaluating social and environmental cues, and who possess extensive offence scripts. In this exploratory study, 47 male child sexual offenders were interviewed in New Zealand prison based Sexual Offender Rehabilitation Units about their offences as well as their lives prior to and post offending. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and analysed using Grounded Theory to generate a model of offence specific decision making. Results indicated that child sex offenders vary on the above dimensions and effectively span the range from 'novice' to 'expert' offenders with respect to the quality of their decision making and their domain relevant knowledge structures. By using the general principles of expertise as a conceptual framework, a developmental model of expertise in child sex offenders in New Zealand was constructed. The implications of the constructed model for theory and treatment are discussed and suggestions are made for the direction of future research.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Kirsten Keown

<p>In the field of forensic psychology, child sexual offenders (CSOs) are often hypothesised to hold abnormal beliefs that facilitate the onset and maintenance of their offending. This idea has had considerable impact upon current CSO assessment and treatment practices. However, despite its intuitive appeal, empirical evidence supporting the hypothesis is unfortunately lacking. Information regarding the role that cognition plays in child sexual offending has been gathered almost exclusively using self report (i.e. interview and questionnaire) methods. In interview studies, CSOs talk at length about their offending and their statements are analysed for the presence of so-called cognitive distortions: utterances deemed to represent abnormal, offence-facilitating beliefs. In questionnaire studies CSOs and controls rate the veracity of listed cognitive distortion items and their answers are compared. In general, interview and questionnaire studies have tended to find that CSOs endorse cognitive distortions, which seemingly supports the notion that they hold offence-supportive beliefs. However, serious issues plague the use of these self-report methods because endorsement of cognitive distortions might reflect phenomena other than beliefs. The primary aim of this thesis was to examine the idea that CSOs hold offence-supportive beliefs using methods designed to side-step issues associated with self-report methods. Across three studies, three cognitive experimental techniques were for the first time applied to the study of CSO cognition. In Study One, CSOs and offender and community controls completed an experimental procedure called the lexical decision task. Against hypotheses, when compared to controls CSOs did not interpret offence-related sentences in line with distorted beliefs. A possible explanation for this finding was that CSOs' offence-supportive beliefs were insufficiently activated during testing. To investigate, in Study Two half the CSO and half the offender control participants were primed with images of scantily-clad children before commencing experimental testing. During testing, CSOs and offender controls read sentences describing children behaving in potentially sexualised ways. Participants were then given a surprise recognition test in which half the sentences were re-presented in an unambiguously sexual form, and half in an unambiguously nonsexual form. Contrary to hypotheses, neither primed nor control child sexual offenders showed memory biases for sexualised sentences, suggesting they did not interpret the original sentences in line with offence-supportive beliefs. Finally, in Study Three, CSOs' beliefs were examined using interview methods, and CSOs' and offender controls' beliefs were measured using a questionnaire as well as an experimental technique that used sentence reading times to implicitly measure beliefs. As hypothesised, CSOs showed evidence of holding offence-supportive beliefs according to the interview and questionnaire measures, but against predictions they demonstrated no experimental evidence of such beliefs. In fact, the three methods showed virtually no agreement regarding the belief-types each CSO was deemed to hold, raising important questions about the phenomena measured by each method. Overall, the results of this thesis did not support the stance that CSOs generally hold offence-supportive beliefs that set them apart from others. The implications of these findings for theory and treatment are discussed and directions for future research are suggested.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Kirsten Keown

<p>In the field of forensic psychology, child sexual offenders (CSOs) are often hypothesised to hold abnormal beliefs that facilitate the onset and maintenance of their offending. This idea has had considerable impact upon current CSO assessment and treatment practices. However, despite its intuitive appeal, empirical evidence supporting the hypothesis is unfortunately lacking. Information regarding the role that cognition plays in child sexual offending has been gathered almost exclusively using self report (i.e. interview and questionnaire) methods. In interview studies, CSOs talk at length about their offending and their statements are analysed for the presence of so-called cognitive distortions: utterances deemed to represent abnormal, offence-facilitating beliefs. In questionnaire studies CSOs and controls rate the veracity of listed cognitive distortion items and their answers are compared. In general, interview and questionnaire studies have tended to find that CSOs endorse cognitive distortions, which seemingly supports the notion that they hold offence-supportive beliefs. However, serious issues plague the use of these self-report methods because endorsement of cognitive distortions might reflect phenomena other than beliefs. The primary aim of this thesis was to examine the idea that CSOs hold offence-supportive beliefs using methods designed to side-step issues associated with self-report methods. Across three studies, three cognitive experimental techniques were for the first time applied to the study of CSO cognition. In Study One, CSOs and offender and community controls completed an experimental procedure called the lexical decision task. Against hypotheses, when compared to controls CSOs did not interpret offence-related sentences in line with distorted beliefs. A possible explanation for this finding was that CSOs' offence-supportive beliefs were insufficiently activated during testing. To investigate, in Study Two half the CSO and half the offender control participants were primed with images of scantily-clad children before commencing experimental testing. During testing, CSOs and offender controls read sentences describing children behaving in potentially sexualised ways. Participants were then given a surprise recognition test in which half the sentences were re-presented in an unambiguously sexual form, and half in an unambiguously nonsexual form. Contrary to hypotheses, neither primed nor control child sexual offenders showed memory biases for sexualised sentences, suggesting they did not interpret the original sentences in line with offence-supportive beliefs. Finally, in Study Three, CSOs' beliefs were examined using interview methods, and CSOs' and offender controls' beliefs were measured using a questionnaire as well as an experimental technique that used sentence reading times to implicitly measure beliefs. As hypothesised, CSOs showed evidence of holding offence-supportive beliefs according to the interview and questionnaire measures, but against predictions they demonstrated no experimental evidence of such beliefs. In fact, the three methods showed virtually no agreement regarding the belief-types each CSO was deemed to hold, raising important questions about the phenomena measured by each method. Overall, the results of this thesis did not support the stance that CSOs generally hold offence-supportive beliefs that set them apart from others. The implications of these findings for theory and treatment are discussed and directions for future research are suggested.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Kirsten Keown

<p>In the field of forensic psychology, child sexual offenders (CSOs) are often hypothesised to hold abnormal beliefs that facilitate the onset and maintenance of their offending. This idea has had considerable impact upon current CSO assessment and treatment practices. However, despite its intuitive appeal, empirical evidence supporting the hypothesis is unfortunately lacking. Information regarding the role that cognition plays in child sexual offending has been gathered almost exclusively using self report (i.e. interview and questionnaire) methods. In interview studies, CSOs talk at length about their offending and their statements are analysed for the presence of so-called cognitive distortions: utterances deemed to represent abnormal, offence-facilitating beliefs. In questionnaire studies CSOs and controls rate the veracity of listed cognitive distortion items and their answers are compared. In general, interview and questionnaire studies have tended to find that CSOs endorse cognitive distortions, which seemingly supports the notion that they hold offence-supportive beliefs. However, serious issues plague the use of these self-report methods because endorsement of cognitive distortions might reflect phenomena other than beliefs. The primary aim of this thesis was to examine the idea that CSOs hold offence-supportive beliefs using methods designed to side-step issues associated with self-report methods. Across three studies, three cognitive experimental techniques were for the first time applied to the study of CSO cognition. In Study One, CSOs and offender and community controls completed an experimental procedure called the lexical decision task. Against hypotheses, when compared to controls CSOs did not interpret offence-related sentences in line with distorted beliefs. A possible explanation for this finding was that CSOs' offence-supportive beliefs were insufficiently activated during testing. To investigate, in Study Two half the CSO and half the offender control participants were primed with images of scantily-clad children before commencing experimental testing. During testing, CSOs and offender controls read sentences describing children behaving in potentially sexualised ways. Participants were then given a surprise recognition test in which half the sentences were re-presented in an unambiguously sexual form, and half in an unambiguously nonsexual form. Contrary to hypotheses, neither primed nor control child sexual offenders showed memory biases for sexualised sentences, suggesting they did not interpret the original sentences in line with offence-supportive beliefs. Finally, in Study Three, CSOs' beliefs were examined using interview methods, and CSOs' and offender controls' beliefs were measured using a questionnaire as well as an experimental technique that used sentence reading times to implicitly measure beliefs. As hypothesised, CSOs showed evidence of holding offence-supportive beliefs according to the interview and questionnaire measures, but against predictions they demonstrated no experimental evidence of such beliefs. In fact, the three methods showed virtually no agreement regarding the belief-types each CSO was deemed to hold, raising important questions about the phenomena measured by each method. Overall, the results of this thesis did not support the stance that CSOs generally hold offence-supportive beliefs that set them apart from others. The implications of these findings for theory and treatment are discussed and directions for future research are suggested.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Kirsten Keown

<p>In the field of forensic psychology, child sexual offenders (CSOs) are often hypothesised to hold abnormal beliefs that facilitate the onset and maintenance of their offending. This idea has had considerable impact upon current CSO assessment and treatment practices. However, despite its intuitive appeal, empirical evidence supporting the hypothesis is unfortunately lacking. Information regarding the role that cognition plays in child sexual offending has been gathered almost exclusively using self report (i.e. interview and questionnaire) methods. In interview studies, CSOs talk at length about their offending and their statements are analysed for the presence of so-called cognitive distortions: utterances deemed to represent abnormal, offence-facilitating beliefs. In questionnaire studies CSOs and controls rate the veracity of listed cognitive distortion items and their answers are compared. In general, interview and questionnaire studies have tended to find that CSOs endorse cognitive distortions, which seemingly supports the notion that they hold offence-supportive beliefs. However, serious issues plague the use of these self-report methods because endorsement of cognitive distortions might reflect phenomena other than beliefs. The primary aim of this thesis was to examine the idea that CSOs hold offence-supportive beliefs using methods designed to side-step issues associated with self-report methods. Across three studies, three cognitive experimental techniques were for the first time applied to the study of CSO cognition. In Study One, CSOs and offender and community controls completed an experimental procedure called the lexical decision task. Against hypotheses, when compared to controls CSOs did not interpret offence-related sentences in line with distorted beliefs. A possible explanation for this finding was that CSOs' offence-supportive beliefs were insufficiently activated during testing. To investigate, in Study Two half the CSO and half the offender control participants were primed with images of scantily-clad children before commencing experimental testing. During testing, CSOs and offender controls read sentences describing children behaving in potentially sexualised ways. Participants were then given a surprise recognition test in which half the sentences were re-presented in an unambiguously sexual form, and half in an unambiguously nonsexual form. Contrary to hypotheses, neither primed nor control child sexual offenders showed memory biases for sexualised sentences, suggesting they did not interpret the original sentences in line with offence-supportive beliefs. Finally, in Study Three, CSOs' beliefs were examined using interview methods, and CSOs' and offender controls' beliefs were measured using a questionnaire as well as an experimental technique that used sentence reading times to implicitly measure beliefs. As hypothesised, CSOs showed evidence of holding offence-supportive beliefs according to the interview and questionnaire measures, but against predictions they demonstrated no experimental evidence of such beliefs. In fact, the three methods showed virtually no agreement regarding the belief-types each CSO was deemed to hold, raising important questions about the phenomena measured by each method. Overall, the results of this thesis did not support the stance that CSOs generally hold offence-supportive beliefs that set them apart from others. The implications of these findings for theory and treatment are discussed and directions for future research are suggested.</p>


Sexual Abuse ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 416-445 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie Henshaw ◽  
James R. P. Ogloff ◽  
Jonathan A. Clough

This article reviews the current literature pertaining to those who engage in child pornography offending. The basic characteristics of online child pornography offenders (CPOs) and related typologies are briefly presented prior to reviewing the comparative literature pertaining to CPOs and child contact sexual offenders. In general, CPOs have been found to be relatively high functioning and generally pro-social individuals with less extensive and diverse offending histories than contact offenders. CPOs also display high levels of sexual pre-occupation, deviant sexual interests, and deficits in interpersonal and affective domains that surpass those of contact offenders. Although further research is required to replicate and clarify preliminary findings, the available evidence indicates that existing sexual offender risk assessment tools and treatment programs are not suitable for use with CPOs, and thus require revision and empirical evaluation prior to widespread use among this population. The article concludes with implications for clinical practice and directions for future research.


2010 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 227-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jo Thakker ◽  
Theresa A. Gannon

AbstractSexual offending is frequently seen by the lay person as being a result of an innate abnormality that is relatively fixed and unchangeable. Accordingly, sexual offenders are seen as more likely to recidivate than other types of offenders. In fact, this is not the case, and most sexual offenders do not re-offend. Also, contemporary research has shown that treatment programs driven by cognitive behaviour therapy significantly reduce rates of sexual offender recidivism. Nevertheless, while there has been a great deal of research on the treatment of child sexual offenders, the treatment of rapists has received comparatively less attention. Thus, the main aim of this article is to summarise current knowledge of sexual offender treatment, paying specific attention to the needs of rapists. In particular, we pay attention to the content of sexual offender treatment programs, and the relevance of this content to rape. We also discuss therapeutic issues of relevance for rapist treatment that are typically ignored or underestimated in the research literature. Finally, based upon our analysis of the literature, we present a schematic overview of rape treatment and identify important areas for further research.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-184
Author(s):  
Carollyne Youssef

Purpose While most studies utilise quantitative methodologies to examine issues relevant to sexual offending behaviour, such as treatment programmes and risk assessments; substantially fewer studies have utilised qualitative methods, and specifically Layder’s Adaptive Theory (AT) as a methodology; and there is a paucity of research examining community maintenance programmes altogether. The purpose of this paper is to report on the use of AT to the understanding of the significance of community maintenance programmes for high-risk sexual offenders. Design/methodology/approach Using AT as a unique framework, this study examined an Australian sample of services providers and high-risk sexual offenders participating in a community maintenance programme. In particular, the current research aimed to develop an understanding of community maintenance programmes for released sexual offenders, in a bid to develop a theoretical framework for these programmes. The research had three subject groups, service providers, programme participants who had not reoffended and programme participants who had sexually reoffended. Findings It appears that this methodology is a useful approach to studies within forensic rehabilitation and offender research. Common, reoccurring themes have been gathered through this approach, which would not have been possible with a quantitative methodology. Research limitations/implications While this research methodology was applied to a small sample size, its use suggested that AT was an informative and useful research approach to utilise in offender research more broadly, yielding rich in-depth information. Practical implications Utilising AT provided an in-depth understanding and exploration of experiences for offender populations as well as staff delivering programmes, which enhances the efficacy of programmes delivered by incorporating “user feedback” and allows programme developers to utilise such feedback to improve programmes. An AT approach to offender rehabilitation has been useful in providing exploratory information in the absence of any conceptual or theoretical frameworks and with a very little extant information. Given maintenance programmes are quite understudied, this approach allowed for common themes to emerge in order to guide future research as well as the development of a paradigm. It is worth considering the utility of this methodology for a variety of forensic research, particularly areas which remain understudied. Social implications Sexual offending behaviour is a significant societal concern. A better understanding of what makes programmes more effective for those who use them and run them, will assist in reducing recidivism, which will benefit the community at large. Originality/value Layder’s AT has not been used with an offender population in the past, and specifically within the sexual offending realm, thus this paper offers a unique and effective approach to offender research.


2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ciara Staunton ◽  
Sean Hammond ◽  
Derek Perkins ◽  
Sharon Lambert

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review the status of biosignal measures of female sexual arousal with a view to examining the feasibility of such procedures in a forensic context. Although adult women represent the minority of sexual offenders, female perpetrated sexual abuse has been gaining increasing attention in the forensic psychological literature as criminal justice is confronted with female offending populations to a greater extent than previously recognised. Design/methodology/approach – Psychological assessments of sex offenders have tended to be over-dependent on the use of self-report measures (i.e. an individual's appraisal and report of their emotional state of sexual arousal). There is a dearth of empirical knowledge concerning the psychophysiological assessment of female sexual interest in general and especially so for female sex offenders. Physiological measures are those that rely on directly observable physiological responses of the individual in order to identify patterns of sexual interest or arousal. Findings – Because deviant sexual interest (in children or the use of violence) as assessed by penile plethysmography, has been established as one of the strongest predictors of recidivism in male sex offenders (and as a viable alternative to self-report methodologies), an analogue measurement approach for female sex offenders is desirable. This paper considers: first, theoretical problems (e.g. what does female physiological arousal mean in terms of sexual arousal/desire?; second, technical measurement problems (e.g. reactivity of the measure in within subject designs); and third, procedural/ethical problems (e.g. invasiveness of the application). Originality/value – While a number of physiological assessment devices are considered in this paper, the paper discusses the labial photoplethysmograph as a promising method for female sexual offender populations.


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