The past two decades have seen a movement toward harsher legal sanctions and lengthy, restrictive treatment programs for sex offenders. This has not only been the case for adults, but also for juveniles who commit sex offenses. The increased length and severity of legal and clinical interventions for juvenile sex offenders appear to have resulted from three false assumptions: (1) there is an epidemic of juvenile offending, including juvenile sex offending; (2) juvenile sex offenders have more in common with adult sex offenders than with other juvenile delinquents; and (3) in the absence of sex offender-specific treatment, juvenile sex offenders are at exceptionally high risk of reoffending. The available data do not support any of the above assumptions; however, these assumptions continue to influence the treatment and legal interventions applied to juvenile sex offenders and contributed to the application of adult interventions to juvenile sex offending. In so doing, these legal and clinical interventions fail to consider the unique developmental factors that characterize adolescence, and thus may be ineffective or worse. Fortunately, a paradigm shift that acknowledges these developmental factors appears to be emerging in clinical areas of intervention, although this trend does not appear as prevalent in legal sanctions.

/pdf/juvenile-sex-offenders-a-case-against-the-legal-and-clinical-5063j4kt2j.pdf

Juvenile sex offenders: a case against the legal and clinical status quo.

Childhood sexual abuse has often been implicated in the etiology of adolescent sex offending behavior. Victimization rates in the literature vary according to whether data are collected prior (22%) or subsequent (52%) to treatment. Previous research suggests that the incidence of sexual abuse varies as a function of victim age and gender. Sexual abuse histories were collected from 87 adolescent male sex offenders following an average of 13 months of clinical interactions. Offenders were categorized according to the age and gender of their victims; groups were comparable in age and socioeconomic status. It was found that 75% of adolescent offenders who ever assaulted 1 male child reported sexual abuse in comparison to only 25% of those who assaulted female children, peers, or adults. Results suggest that sexual victimization may be an important explanatory variable for adolescent sexual assaults against male children.

Sexual abuse histories of adolescent male sex offenders: differences on the basis of the age and gender of their victims

The present study compared the severity of posttraumatic symptomatology and the differential expression of the PTSD symptom clusters with six child and trauma-related variables. The independent variables were gender, age at time of trauma, acute versus repeated traumas, injured versus not injured, witnessed versus experienced, and threat to caregiver versus no threat to caregiver. The dependent variables were presence of the diagnosis of PTSD, the overall symptom severity score, and four PTSD diagnostic cluster scores. Forty-one traumatized subjects under 48 months of age were studied. The diagnosis of PTSD was present more often when traumas involved threats to the caregivers. When traumas involved threats to the caregivers, the subjects expressed fewer numbing symptoms, more hyperarousal symptoms, and more new fears and aggression. Implications for clinical practice and research are discussed, including the need for increased awareness that very young children can be affected severely when involved in situations that threaten their caregivers.



Cette etude a compare la severite de la symptomatologie posttraumatique et de l'expression difftrentielle des groupes a symptǒme PTSD (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder en anglais) avec des variables dans les characteristiques de l'enfant et du trauma. Les variables independantes consistaient en le sexe, 1'ǎge au moment du trauma, les traumas seveAres contre les traumas repetes, blesses contre non blesses, vus contre experimentes, et la menace a l'encontre du mode de soin contre pas de menace a l'encontre du mode de soin. Les variables dependantes etaient la presence du diagnostic de PTSD, le score de severite du symptǒme, et les scores de groupe. Quarante-et-un sujets de moins de 48 mois ont ete etudies. Lorsque le trauma impliquait des menaces a l'encontre des modes de soin les sujets exprimaient moins de symptǒmes d'engourdissement, plus de symptǒmes &excitation, plus de nouvelles peurs et d'agressions et les enfants avaient plus tendance a ěre diagnostiques comme atteints de PTSD. Les implications pour la pratique clinique et la recherche seront discutees.

Symptom expression and trauma variables in children under 48 months of age

This paper reviews the existing literature on selected issues in relation to child and adolescent sex abuse perpetrators. The relatively recent recognition of this phenomenon and the multiple problems of definition in this field may have affected the figures for incidence and prevalence. Among known cases a high proportion of young sex abuse perpetrators have suffered earlier adversities such as sexual and physical victimisation, dysfunctional family relationships and peer isolation. Despite a slender research data base on which to draw, treatment programmes for this client group have proliferated and many of these have not been adequately evaluated. There is a pressing need for the adoption of agreed definitions of outcome targets and measures and establishing longterm outcome studies with this group of children and adolescents.

Child and adolescent sex abuse perpetrators: A review of the research literature

While most sexual offender treatment programs take an aggressive, confrontational approach that targets the offenders' denial, research has shown that this common approach does not alter actual criminogenic factors related to reoffence rate. Furthermore, this approach can alienate and demoralise offenders, who often report ""not getting anything out of it."" Over the past 40 years, William Marshall and colleagues have developed and refined a motivational, strength-based approach emphasising warmth, empathy, and support for the offenders. Backed by research, this positive approach does not ignore criminogenic factors, but presents them to clients as targets for the development of strengths rather than as deficits to be overcome. The approach has paid off: such programmes in both prison and community settings consistently achieve a broad range of treatment targets and reduce recidivism for both sexual and nonsexual crimes. This book presents the evolution and distinctive features of Marshall's positive approach to treating sexual offenders. The first five chapters review research and theory on sexual offender treatment, including assessment, procedural factors, personal and interpersonal factors (such as therapist features, therapeutic alliance, and group climate), problems with common cognitive-behavioural approaches, and evaluation of treatment programmes. The last three chapters describe three treatment programs developed by Marshall and colleagues for the Canadian prison system: the Preparatory Program, which engages sexual offenders in the process of change before the main treatment program begins; the Primary Program, which targets criminogenic factors that are known to predict reoffence (problems with attitudes and cognitions, self-regulation, relationships, and sexual issues); and the Deniers' Program, which also targets criminogenic factors but is tailored to the specific needs of those who deny committing a sexual offence. This landmark volume will challenge how sexual offender treatment is typically conducted. It is essential reading for psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, counsellors, and parole and probation officers working with sexual offenders.

Rehabilitating sexual offenders: A strength-based approach.

A specialized approach to the treatment of adolescent sexual offenders is presented. Etiological issues leading to treatment innovation are discussed with particular attention given to the utilization of cognitive-behavioral methodologies for the amelioration of impulse control problems and deviant sexual arousal. Preandpost-treatment data are presentedforfifteen adolescent child molesters of prepubescent females and twelve adolescent child molesters of prepubescent males. Adolescent child molesters of both young males and females demonstrated stable responses to deviant stimuli across baseline conditions (two assessments, one to four months apart), but a marked reduction in deviant arousal at a two-month treatment interval (39.3% reduction to male pedophilic cues, p <.05; 33.5% reduction to female pedophilic cues, p <.01) using plethysmographic assessment. Contrastingly, arousal to description of consensual sexual activity with a same age female remained high across baseline and treatment conditions crea...

The Use of Specialized Cognitive-Behavioral Therapies in the Treatment of Adolescent Sexual Offenders

Aggressive Sex Offenders

Recent research has focused on attempting to provide a conceptual framework for understanding the perpetration of child sexual abuse. Identification of variables differentiating clinical subtypes of child molesters is central to theory assessment andpractice specificity and innovation. The present study utilized the MMPI to assess the impact of thefollowing variables in a sample of 90 incestuous molesters: a) history of physical abuse as a child; b) history of sexual abuse as a child; c) presence of substance abuse during the molestation; d) number of incidents of perpetrated sexual molestation; e) relationship to the child; f) victim's age; and g) type of molestation. Results revealed statistical differences between child molesters on variables b, c, and d with particular clinical relevance found for variable b. Implications of the findings are discussed.

An Examination of Variables Differentiating Clinical Subtypes of Incestuous Child Molesters

A chiral bag including quarks, gluons, and pions is calculated perturbatively to second order. It is shown that the nonlinear boundary condition specifies not only that the bag energy be a minimum, but also specifies precisely the amount of deformation of the bag surface. To second order it is shown that the deformation of the nucleon is zero, and that the ..delta.. has an oblate (prolate) shape for spin projections of Vertical Barm/sub z/Vertical Bar = (3/2) ((1/2)). For the realistic cases considered, the square of the eccentricity varies from 0.048 to 0.188. The radii of the nucleon and ..delta.. are also calculated and the effects of the pion mass are discussed quantitatively. The breaking of the Goldberger-Treiman relation due to nonzero pion mass is evaluated and a violation of 4.5 to 8% is obtained which agrees well with the observed result of 6.5%.

John A. Hunter

Papers

The Use of Specialized Cognitive-Behavioral Therapies in the Treatment of Adolescent Sexual Offenders

Aggressive Sex Offenders

An Examination of Variables Differentiating Clinical Subtypes of Incestuous Child Molesters

Deformation of the Chiral Bag