A History of the Assessment of Sex Offenders

1830-2020

D. Richard Laws

• Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781787693616
• Topic: Sozialwissenschaften
• Subtopic: Soziologie

Most forensic psychologists, psychiatrists and social workers involved in the assessment of sex offenders today have a good grasp of where the field stands. Many of their colleagues do not have an appreciation of why we are where we are. This book is an attempt to bridge that gap, to provide some historical background of sex offender assessment from 1830 to the present.
Topics covered in this book include early efforts to identify and describe criminal populations statistically; the introduction of phrenology as a description of brain function; the efforts of criminal anthropologists to develop criminal taxonomies; the technology of anthropometry to identify individuals by measurement of bodily structure; and the introduction of fingerprinting which replaced anthropometry and remains largely unchanged to the present day. The guiding principle of the book is to help the reader understand that all of this represents a continuous thread of development and, disparate as they might seem, all of them are connected.
This book is essential reading for undergraduates in psychology and sociology, as well as professionals in training and early stages of practice.

Part I

Introduction

Professionals who work with sex offenders or general criminal offenders as well as informed citizens will initially note some features in this book that seem unusual. The first seven chapters appear to be devoted to the historical assessment of general criminal offenders while the remaining six chapters are focused on sex offenders. Some readers may incorrectly conclude that there are two books here. In this regard, it is important to remember that, prior to the demonization of sex offenders that seriously took hold in the mid-twentieth century, they were treated as just another type of criminal subject to the same consequences as the general offender. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that methods developed in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries would have been applied to both classes of offender. The time frame covered in this book ranges from the early decades of the nineteenth century to the present day.

Chapter 1

Contemporary Psychological Assessment

What is psychological assessment? Generally speaking, a psychological assessment is a process in which a professional uses the theory and procedures of psychology to obtain detailed information about another person. The purpose of this procedure is to ascertain how an individual functions in the present as well as to predict their behavior in the future. This process has typically focused on detailed personal interview; review of historical records, if any; interview of collateral persons; and administration of psychometric instruments. In the early twentieth century, psychological tests would have been employed to identify “mental disorders” supposedly related to “sexual criminality.” Today it remains common for psychological evaluators to administer standardized psychometric instruments to both criminal and sex offenders and these data are incorporated in court or agency reports. While these instruments may be useful in uncovering personality disorders, sex offenders rarely show evidence of profound mental disorders. Following are examples of instruments in two categories: traditional psychometric instruments applicable to all offenders and offense-specific instruments primarily targeted at sex offenders.

Traditional psychometric assessments. Following are descriptions of commonly used instruments.

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2. The MMPI is intended to assess personality traits and psychopathology in persons believed to have mental health problems. The MMPI-2 contains 567 true/false questions. The test has a large research base and is quite familiar to professionals. The MMPI-2 has 10 clinical scales that assess major areas of mental disorder and four validity scales which assess test-taking attitude and truthfulness.

Scales that might be useful with sex offenders are:

• Depression (D). Poor morale, lack of hope, and general dissatisfaction with life.

• Psychopathic Deviate (Pd). Complaints about family, authority figures, self-alienation, and boredom.

• Psychasthenia (Pt). Inability to resist actions or thoughts however maladaptive they may be.

• Hypomania (Ma). Overactivity – behavioral and cognitive – grandiosity, irritability, and egocentricity.

• Social Introversion (Si). Uncomfortable in social situations and avoids them, limited social skills, and preference for being alone or with a small group of friends.

The MMPI was initially developed in 1943 (Buchanan, 1994). It has undergone a number of revisions that update it to be consistent with contemporary thought regarding personality disorders and mental illness. The first major revision (MMPI-2) was released in 1989. The instrument is supported by a large empirical database.

Sample items. The following examples provide the flavor of the MMPI-2:

• I usually feel that life is worthwhile and interesting (False = Depression).

• I seem to hear things that other people can’t hear (True = Schizophrenia).

• I have been disappointed in love (True = Psychopathic Deviate).
(Retrieved May 21, 2018 from https://psychcentral.com/lib/minnesota-multiphasic-personality-inventory-mmpi/).

Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI-III). The MCMI-III is based on Millon’s theory of personality (Millon, Millon, Davis & Grossman, 2009). Compared to the MMPI-2 which has 567 questions, the MCMI-III is fairly brief at 175 true/false questions but quite comprehensive in its scope. The test contains 29 scales, 24 are personality and clinical scales and the remaining 5 are used to determine how the person approached and took the test.

MCMI-III scales that might have relevance to sex offenders would include: Avoidant, Histrionic, Narcissistic, Antisocial, Aggressive (Sadistic), Compulsive, Passive-Aggressive, and Alcohol and Drug Dependence.

While relatively brief the MCMI-III appears to have a broader reach than the MMPI-2 and has a strong theoretical basis. Many evaluators are said to prefer it because it has a multiaxial format.

Sample items. Following are three typical items from the Compulsive Personality Disorder subscale:

• I always make sure that my work is well-planned and organized.

• A good way to avoid mistakes is to have a routine for doing things.

• I always see to it that work is finished before taking time out for leisure activities.
(Retrieved May 21, 2018 from https://psychcentral.com/lib/millon-clinical-multiaxial-inventory-mcmi-iii).

Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI). This instrument is a 344-item self-report inventory. It is wide ranging, containing 22 scales in four areas of interest to assessors: clinical scales, treatment intervention scales, interpersonal scales, and validity scales.

Sample items. Following are three items illustrative of the PAI:

• I get a kick out of doing dangerous things.

• I have impulses that I fight to keep under control.

• I will take advantage of others if they leave themselves open to it.

In my view the PAI, unlike the MMPI-2 and MCMI-III, could serve as a useful clinical backup to the sex offense-specific inventories to be described in the following section. The following would be particularly useful:

• Clinical scales: Borderline features, antisocial features, alcohol problems, and drug problems.

• Treatment consideration scales: Aggression, nonsupport, stress, and treatment rejection.

• Interpersonal scales: Dominance and warmth.

• Validity scales: Positive impression and negative impression.

Thus, 11 out of the22 scales of PAI could potentially be useful with sex offenders.

(Retrieved May 21, 2018 from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/9781118625392.wbecp284).

The three tests described above were not chosen because I believe in their superiority over other similar measures. Rather they were chosen as being highly illustrative of the traditional psychometric approach to assessment.

Sex offense-specific instruments. In the forensic evaluation of sex offenders it is more common to use instruments that are directly targeted at criminal or sexual offending. Instruments such as these, often used in combination, can provide a very rich picture of sexual history and sex offending behavior. They are called “offense-specific” because they deal with beliefs, attitudes, and modes of sexual offending. The traditional psychometrics tell us something about an offender’s psychological status but they only touch on highly unconventional behavior obliquely or by inference. Here, I want to describe four of these instruments, three that deal with offending behavior and one that deals with the risk of engaging in that behavior. I will not consider the background or current status of actuarial risk assessment. I have covered this more completely in an earlier work (Laws, 2016, pp. 73–119, Appendix I) and interested readers should co...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Part I: Introduction
• Part II: Assessment of Criminal and Sex Offenders: 19th and 20th Centuries
• Part III: Assessment of Sex Offenders: 20th and 21st Centuries
• Part IV: Assessment of Sex Offenders: Possible Futures
• Part V: Conclusions
• Index