Violent offenders: Appraising and managing risk, 2nd ed.

States have increasingly subject juvenile sexual offenders to sex offender registration and commitment under sexual predator laws in recent years. These statutes assume that sexual offenders present a sustained risk to recommit sexually violent crimes over an extended time period. Implicit in this assumption is that criminal sexual behavior is a product of some form of stable trait or condition that continues to push the juvenile toward sexually violent behaviors as they get older. This article examines these assumptions in light of the available research on the stability of sexually offending behavior in juveniles. The difficulties attendant to applying adult offender risk assessment models to juvenile sexual offenders are addressed. The available evidence indicates that the development and persistence of sexually criminal behavior is poorly understood, making the prediction of sustained sexual offending in juveniles that is required by some sexual predator statutes a particularly difficult task.

What we do not know about juvenile sexual reoffense risk.

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.

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

Self-harm is prevalent in incarcerated adults, yet comparatively few studies of self-harm in detained youth (and even fewer in low- and middle-income countries) have been published. We examined the prevalence and correlates of self-harm in a sample of 181 young people (mean age 15.0 years, SD = 2.3) detained in the youth justice system in Sri Lanka. Structured face-to-face questionnaires assessed demographic characteristics, family and social background, substance use, self-harm history (including frequency, method, and intention), bullying victimization, physical and sexual abuse (victimization and perpetration), and exposure to self-harm/suicide by others. Seventy-seven participants (43%) reported a lifetime history of self-harm, 19 of whom (25%) who reported doing so with suicidal intent. Fifty participants (65% of those with a history of self-harm) reported engaging in self-harm impulsively, with no prior planning. A history of self-harm was associated with being female, prior sexual abuse victimization, prior exposure to self-harm by friends, and a lifetime history of self-harm ideation. High rates of substance use, bullying victimization, parental incarceration, and exposure to suicide were reported across the sample. Young people detained in the youth justice system in Sri Lanka are a vulnerable group with high rates of self-harm, substance use, and psychosocial risk factors. Strategies for identifying and preventing self-harm, and targeted psychological interventions designed specifically to address impulsivity, may contribute to more positive outcomes in this marginalised population.

https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/2/209/pdf

Self-Harm among Young People Detained in the Youth Justice System in Sri Lanka.

This paper reports on a follow-up of a sample of 303 adolescent male sex offenders from New South Wales, Australia. Adult rearrest and reconviction data were obtained for 292 of these individuals. The mean observation period between their adjudication as adolescents and their follow-up as adults was 7.3 years. Seventy-five (25%) received further convictions for sexual offenses prior to their 18th birthday. As adults, 25 (9%) came to the attention of police for further alleged sexual offenses, including 14 (5%) who received convictions for these offenses. Of these, 11 (79%) also received new convictions for nonsexual offenses. Overall, 61.3% of subjects received convictions for nonsexual offenses as adults. Results suggest considerable diversity and persistence in delinquent and criminal behavior, and challenge assumptions about high transition rates from adolescent to adult sexual offending.

A prospective longitudinal study of sexual recidivism among adolescent sex offenders.

Juvenile sex offenders charged with their first sexual offence were compared with recidivist juvenile sex offenders who had been charged with more than one sexual offence on a number of factors related to sexual offending. Participants were 70 male juvenile sex offenders, aged 13–21 years who were awaiting court disposition. Negative family history, negative family characteristics, school and learning problems, social skill deficits, deviant sexual experiences, deviant sexual fantasies, and cognitive distortions were assessed for their direct and mediating roles in recidivism. Path analysis indicated that poor social skills, learning problems, and deviant sexual experiences were causally related to recidivism of sexual offending. Poor social skills were directly related to recidivism, whereas cognitive distortions and deviant sexual fantasies mediated the role of learning problems and deviant sexual experiences. There was a significant association between deviant sexual experience and learning problems. The findings support the role of cognitive distortions and deviant sexual fantasies in recidivist sexual offending for this sample. The causal role identified for poor social skills and learning problems in recidivism for sexual offending has implications for treatment and therefore deserves further attention.

Predictors of Recidivism in Australian Juvenile Sex Offenders: Implications for Treatment:

In the decade 1989 - 99 there have been significant changes in the patterns of substance use in the Australian community. Juvenile offenders have been a sentinel population of these emerging trends. The social and personal costs associated with adolescent substance use, especially where it leads to increased criminal offending requires urgent attention. This study was a replication of the 1989 and 1994 surveys of young people in detention in New South Wales, Australia. The 300 voluntary participants from nine detention centres had a similar demographic profile to participants of the previous surveys. They were predominantly male (90%) with a mean age of 16.5 years and an over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Straits Islander peoples. The patterns of lifetime alcohol and tobacco use were stable over the decade, with particular increases in amphetamine, opioid and cocaine use since 1994. The more concerning pattern of at least weekly substance use revealed significant increases in cannabis, opioid an...

Patterns and correlates of substance use amongst juvenile detainees in New South Wales 1989-99.

This study evaluated a series of pre‐sentence reports of a sample of juvenile sex offenders with the aim of providing information on the offence characteristics, developmental history and clinical profile of Australian juvenile sex offenders. The contents of 70 reports representing all juvenile sex offenders in contact with the New South Wales Juvenile Justice Department for the period 1996 to 1998 were analysed according to a structured protocol developed by the authors. The protocol assessed offence characteristics, developmental, cognitive, educational, psychosexual, and psychosocial factors. The profile findings indicated that juvenile sex offenders in New South Wales have problems across multiple domains of functioning, including the intra‐personal, social, educational, and sexual. The profile was similar to studies of juvenile sex offenders in the USA and Britain. The findings provide important information to those who adjudicate and care for this group of young people.

Offence and clinical characteristics of Australian juvenile sex offenders

All of the available studies describing the demographic and offence characteristics of juvenile sex offenders have been derived from studies conducted outside Australia. Consequently, it remains to be established whether Australian samples are comparable to their overseas counterparts with respect to these characteristics. Accordingly, this study evaluated a series of pre-sentence reports with the aim of identifying relevant characteristics of juvenile sex offenders.

Profi ling Australian juvenile sex offenders: Offender and offence characteristics

The aim of this study was to develop a measure of quality for Single Expert Reports (known as child custody evaluations or CCEs in the United States) and assess their psychometric properties. The Quality Measure for Child Custody Evaluations (QM-CCE) was derived from a previous survey of judges, lawyers and psychologists that identified 30 key components of a CCE plus an item assessing Overall Quality. Forty-four students enrolled in Master of Psychology programs in New South Wales (N = 44), Australia read seven mock reports and rated the quality using the QM-CCE. Inter-rater reliability was within the acceptable to excellent range across reports (ICC = .79 − .95). Exploratory Factor Analysis found a single dimension that underpins the measure. Internal consistency of the sub-scales was excellent (α = .98). Inter-rater reliability was also excellent (ICC = .99). Although the single item, Overall Quality, was highly correlated with the Multi-item Response, systematic patterns of difference were found. Given the promising psychometric properties of the QM-CCE, it may be a useful instrument not only for research purposes but for evaluators to improve the quality of their work and for legal professionals to decide the weight accorded to the CCE. 

Katie Seidler

Papers

Predictors of Recidivism in Australian Juvenile Sex Offenders: Implications for Treatment:

Patterns and correlates of substance use amongst juvenile detainees in New South Wales 1989-99.

Offence and clinical characteristics of Australian juvenile sex offenders

Profi ling Australian juvenile sex offenders: Offender and offence characteristics

The development and psychometric properties of a quality measure for child custody evaluations