Sexual Offender Evaluations

  • Sexual Homicide
  • Civil Commitment of Sexually Violent Predators
  • Megan’s Law Sex Offender Evaluations
  • Internet Pornography Forensic Psychological Evaluations
  • Rape Trauma Syndrome/PTSD in Sexual Abuse Cases
  • Sexual Offender Evaluations
Static Risk Factors Related To Sexual Recidivism

Static factors such as prior sex offense history are based on the defendant’s history and are unchangeable. They include but are not limited to:

  • Number of prior sexual offenses.
  • Prior violent offenses, prior nonviolent offenses.
  • Beginning sex offending at a young age (25 years of age or younger).
  • Deviant victim choices (unrelated and stranger victims, male victims).
  • Antisocial personality disorder and/or psychopathy.
  • Sex offender treatment termination.
  • Sexual deviancy indicated by types of offending, diagnosis, and plethysmographic assessment.>
  • Substance abuse problems.
  • Single marital status.
  • Violation of community supervision.
  • History of high sexual drive strength.
  • History of offense planning.
Dynamic Risk Factors Related To Sexual Recidivism

Dynamic risk factors are changeable and subject to remediation. They affect the offender once he is released into the community and must be a matter of focus for probation and parole officers and treatment providers. They include some of the following:

  • Negative affect and/or depression, anger, frustration, hostility.
  • General self regulation and sexual regulation problems.
  • Noncompliance with supervision.
  • Alcohol and/or drug use.
  • Association with criminal lifestyle and criminal peers.
  • Attitudes supporting and condoning sexual interest in children.
  • Current younger age.
  • Living alone.
  • Sexual preoccupation.
  • Sexual interest in children, emotional identification with children, child oriented lifestyle.
  • Intimacy deficits.
  • Conflicts or absence of intimate partners.
  • Access and use of pornography.
  • Rape myths supporting sexual violence towards women.
Risk Assessment Standards:
  1. Incorporate actuarial risk assessment instrument(s) when appropriate based on the specific characteristics of the offender being evaluated.
  2. Be current with research addressing sexual violence risk factors and apply them to the specific offender.
  3. Incorporate an assessment of dynamic risk factors such as substance abuse/intoxication, poor coping skills, and anger management deficits and associate these issues to the defendant’s patterns of offending;
  4. Consider diagnostic categories relevant to sexual disorders, i.e., paraphilias including pedophilia, sexual sadism, exhibitionism, etc. The examiner must be aware that multiple paraphilias (sexual disorders) within the same offender may elevate his risk level.
  5. Assess whether the defendant qualifies for antisocial personality disorder and psychopathy in particular. Psychopathy (severe criminal personality) and sexual deviancy have been collectively correlated with sexual recidivism, especially in rapists.
  6. Consider remediation issues, i.e., sex offender treatment, intensive community supervision, access to victims.