Journal international sur la santé mentale d'urgence et la résilience humaine

Abstrait

Differences in Risk Scores among Intrafamilial and Extrafamilial Sexual Offenders

Holly C. Johnson, Lee A. Underwood, Linda J. Baum and Mark Newmeyer

Adult male sexual offenders are not classified easily as they are a heterogeneous population representing all professions, cultures, ethnicities, and ages. These differences make it difficult to categorize offenders into specific groups. This study examined differences between the type of adult sex offender (ie., intrafamilial, extrafamilial, biological) regarding risk scores as measured by the Static-99 and to determine if there were victim age differences for intrafamilial and extrafamilial offenders. The sample comprised 178 adult males and 14 adult females with ages ranging 18-68 years. Participants were selected from archival data of completed sex offender treatment records and specific psychological evaluations performed for individuals mandated for treatment as a condition of probation or parole in an outpatient treatment program in a southeastern state in the United States. Results indicated that intrafamilial offenders were found to have significantly lower risk factors when compared to extrafamilial offenders. No differences in risk were found between intrafamilial and biological offenders. The study also demonstrated that sexual offenders that were closer to the victim in terms of familial status were more likely to have younger victims than those who were non-related. Specifically, the average age for biological offenders was approximately four years younger than that of the extrafamilial offenders while intrafamilial offenders did not differ significantly from either group. Findings, implications, and suggestions for future research are discussed.